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You really shouldn't "be scared" of the idea that some of us would prefer not to live in Lakewood. However, one might take into account that everyone has a different of what "a nice place to live...good schools" means. I find Lakewood undesirable, someone else might find my area/neighborhood undesirable. You just have to look around, which you obviously are aware of.
on the level of diversity, open-mindedness and tolerance of high schools in Lakewood. I want to make sure I make the best decision for him, because he is having some anxiety about leaving his school and friends (because at 14, friends are the most important thing ) I want to make sure I enroll him in a school where he will excel and be excepted.
Many thanks~Virgo canner
I am not sure what you are really trying to say but I have an idea. I think I have an idea and Lakewood has a lot of gang bangers who are not open minded about certain things. Just something to think about.
I am not sure what you are really trying to say but I have an idea. I think I have an idea and Lakewood has a lot of gang bangers who are not open minded about certain things. Just something to think about.
OP, don't let MingMing scare you here.
There's a some of parts of Lakewood that are somewhat sketchy (Colfax area between Wadsworth/Sheridan, pretty much anything right along Sheridan Boulevard), but there are no areas filled with "gangbangers."
Take a look at this when considering high schools.
Schools in Lakewood are Alameda, Bear Creek, Green Mountain, and D'Evelyn. D'Evelyn has the best results, but is very hard to get into. Bear Creek and Green Mountain both seem to be very decent. Alameda is bad, but not as bad as you might expect with as high of a poverty rate as there is around there.
For nearby suburbs...based on current scores, Wheat Ridge looks to be OK-ish, Arvada High is pretty bad, Jefferson should be avoided at all costs, Columbine/Chatfield/Dakota Ridge have great educational standards, but they're not exactly the greatest places when it comes to racial/ethnic/class diversity.
I am not sure what you are really trying to say but I have an idea. I think I have an idea and Lakewood has a lot of gang bangers who are not open minded about certain things. Just something to think about.
There's a some of parts of Lakewood that are somewhat sketchy (Colfax area between Wadsworth/Sheridan, pretty much anything right along Sheridan Boulevard), but there are no areas filled with "gangbangers."
Take a look at this when considering high schools.
Schools in Lakewood are Alameda, Bear Creek, Green Mountain, and D'Evelyn. D'Evelyn has the best results, but is very hard to get into. Bear Creek and Green Mountain both seem to be very decent. Alameda is bad, but not as bad as you might expect with as high of a poverty rate as there is around there.
For nearby suburbs...based on current scores, Wheat Ridge looks to be OK-ish, Arvada High is pretty bad, Jefferson should be avoided at all costs, Columbine/Chatfield/Dakota Ridge have great educational standards, but they're not exactly the greatest places when it comes to racial/ethnic/class diversity.
Your post has some good info and some that I do disagree.
First, Arvada has many more high schools than Arvada High that I believe are more well regarded, so why did you not mention them. Since I do not children in school, I am not aware of test scores.
I have up and down Sheridan for decades, all around Sloans Lake and Edgewater and many times take a connection bus to downtown at Colfax. There is much activity and events at the Lake and at the many different good restaurants along Sheridan in Edgewater and it does not seem problematic.
I do not consider this area such a bad place and I have never run into a problem when I was young or now that I am old and disabled. I have often walked along Colfax to St. Anthony's Hospital and been to the Pig and Whistle and other stores, years ago--again, I never ran into any problems.
I am not saying that there have never been problems or that that problems cannot happen. I am saying I have not seen any extreme problems. The area is a big gathering place and recently, President Obama gave a speech near Sloan's Lake. There were thousands around this lake, have you heard of any problems? The Asian Boat Festival is held there every year and it attracts a huge crowd, again, where are the problems? The area is home to a Orthodox Jewish Community, do you know of any problems?
Perhaps being a ex New Yawker and having lived in Harlem in the height of crime problems and having grown up near the ghetto East Side of Buffalo--I have a different prospective and certainly are more aware of situations and people around me that can cause problems. Since I am more aware and experienced, my direct and current observations have more credence that those who voice opinions with just assumptions based of what they may think.
Sometimes the bad descriptions of area from people who go over board with assumptions, that they derive from driving down the road from the sterile suburbs; shake and shiver when they see people of color, can be more damaging than what the alleged situations that they describe.
We will see how much problems are there and develop, when the new West Rail Line opens with a station just south of Colfax. I will be making connections at that stations and perhaps there will be problems. I will report back and give you my assessment.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 10-20-2012 at 02:44 PM..
Sometimes the bad descriptions of area from people who go over board with assumptions, that they derive from driving down the road from the sterile suburbs; shake and shiver when they see people of color, can be more damaging than what the alleged situations that they describe.
So true. I love the city. One of my neighbors has a barcalounger in his front yard where he sits and drinks his tallboys. OK by me.
Schools in Lakewood are Alameda, Bear Creek, Green Mountain, and D'Evelyn. D'Evelyn has the best results, but is very hard to get into.
Having moved here after the kids were done with school, can you (or someone else) explain how one "gets in" to a high school? I gather it's not necessarily your "local" one.
Having moved here after the kids were done with school, can you (or someone else) explain how one "gets in" to a high school? I gather it's not necessarily your "local" one.
D'Evelyn is a magnet school; it has no attendance area. Students who attend D'Evelyn were selected in a lottery. Very few kids leave the school, so there are virtually no open spots for new students in 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.
As for the Lakewood schools, the obvious high school not mentioned is Lakewood High School. LHS has an excellent IB program that students from all over the western side of town apply to get into. Many students are high achieving students from West and Southwest Denver for whom it is easier to travel to the Lakewood IB program than to go to George Washington HS in Denver and attend the IB program there.
In Arvada, and the northern parts of Jefferson County, you will also find Arvada West HS, Pomona HS, Standley Lake HS, and Ralston Valley HS. Of those, Ralston Valley and Standley Lake are the two best, but none of the high schools is bad. To the west of Lakewood is Golden which is where you will find Golden High School. It, too, is a good school.
I would agree with the statement that Jefferson HS in Edgewater should be avoided. I have also made my thoughts known about Alameda. Those two schools have quite a few problems socially and academically.
Now, about the TCAP. Because the TCAP/CSAP tests are local to Colorado, the scores of a school can only be used to compare different schools inside of Colorado. If you wish to compare your school with that in another state, you need to use a different measuring stick like the ACT test. Remember, though, that in Colorado, every student takes the ACT during his or her junior year. This tends to deflate the scores somewhat. In states where the ACT is not mandatory, only the college-bound students take the test and that group will have a higher average as a whole. Still it is the best you can do online.
My recommendation is to visit. All schools are willing to give you a tour, and even have your child attend classes as part of a shadowing program.
Your post has some good info and some that I do disagree.
First, Arvada has many more high schools than Arvada High that I believe are more well regarded, so why did you not mention them. Since I do not children in school, I am not aware of test scores.
I didn't go into them because, at that point, you're getting pretty far away from Lakewood proper. And, yes, Arvada West, Pomona, and, Ralston Valey are better schools than Arvada. Not knowing stuff about budget/how far from work she's willing to be/etc., I left them out. I left out Evergreen, Standley Lake, Conifer, and the entirety of the rest of the Denver Metro Public School area systems as well.
As for the rest of the post...there's a reason that I said "somewhat sketchy." I have friends who live right in that area. Is it really unsafe? No, not at all. But do you see police sirens more than in many other neighborhoods? Yeah, you do. The real data seems to bear that out as well.
Set the date range at anything over 1 month, and you'll see that it's more dense near Colfax and Sheridan, and Sheridan and Alameda. Once again, I wouldn't say that the area is horrid, but it's not the best part of the city either.
This map shows it as well:
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
I didn't go into them because, at that point, you're getting pretty far away from Lakewood proper. And, yes, Arvada West, Pomona, and, Ralston Valey are better schools than Arvada. Not knowing stuff about budget/how far from work she's willing to be/etc., I left them out. I left out Evergreen, Standley Lake, Conifer, and the entirety of the rest of the Denver Metro Public School area systems as well.
As for the rest of the post...there's a reason that I said "somewhat sketchy." I have friends who live right in that area. Is it really unsafe? No, not at all. But do you see police sirens more than in many other neighborhoods? Yeah, you do. The real data seems to bear that out as well.
Set the date range at anything over 1 month, and you'll see that it's more dense near Colfax and Sheridan, and Sheridan and Alameda. Once again, I wouldn't say that the area is horrid, but it's not the best part of the city either.
This map shows it as well:
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
I do not dispute these statistics. You seem to have a balanced opinion. Of course, denser areas have more crime--they have more people. Poorer areas have more street crime and that cannot be denied.
Sometimes people do overact and over judge and over stereotype people and places and cause the neighborhoods to have more of a bad reputation than justified. That hurts property values, individual good people, and cause and minimizes development that is beneficial. What is more harmful is that it hurts the opportunities and and feelings of self worth of younger children who we will hope will not turn into adult criminals. So, when I interact with people in these challenged neighborhoods, I always try to think of the children and want them to have positive reinforcement that they have value.
I have been to every neighborhood of Denver on foot and on the bus which definitely puts you into close proximity of interaction and danger than just driving through a neighborhood. When I was younger, I loved to walk and take urban hikes. I walked the full length of Broadway from Denver to Englewood and Federal from North Denver to Loretta Heights. I will admit I ate my way along these byways so it did not trim my waistline.
I walked from Downtown Denver to Aurora, on Colfax, to where the new Medical Center is now located. I walked into five points from Downtown before there was rail--of course to find a place to eat. I was privileged to meet Daddy Bruce, have lunch many times, when I was detailed to bring a large donation of food from a food brokerage warehouse. I walked from Downtown Denver, through North Denver, to Arvada before the area was gentrified and it was considered tougher with Hispanic gangs. I did all this walking, many decades ago, when these areas was much more challenged than what it is today.
Today, I have trouble walking. Just a few years ago, I was pushing my walker to the Kaiser Hospital and I fell over a snowbank and all I had went flying, including my wallet. Along came these three young black men--tough and hard looking. They picked me up, gave me my wallet, lifted my walker over the snow and went on their way. So, it is difficult to judge; perhaps it was a code of honor not to attack the disabled. There has been many such examples of good behavior that I did not expect, but I have seen.
Yet, in all my years in this city, I have never had a severe problem with any individual and perhaps is that I see and engage individuals, not a group and so react to not anger anyone. Maybe that is the trick, I learned in my youth in the tougher cities of the east which have real authentic ghettos vs. Denver which has none.
Livecontent
Last edited by Yac; 10-24-2012 at 07:02 AM..
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) I want to make sure I enroll him in a school where he will excel and be excepted.
So true
