Moving to Parker, Colorado in 4 weeks (Denver, Loveland: houses, schools, gated)

[deedotcuzo]

Originally Posted by Kibbiekat

Coming from FL, DCSD schools might not seem so bad. What does it really matter now, that you already are moving and have decided on Parker?

The schools are run be corporate education reformers. If you aren't familiar, look it up. They are destroying our schools little by little. A lot of people are fighting it though, and I have hope we will prevail.

Schools are better in Colorado compared to Florida. The reason school remains a topic of discussion is because I've been told that, unlike Florida that you have to cheat your way around the "better" schools, Colorado allows you to chose other schools, given that they have the capacity for new enrollment.

My step brother, who lives in the Aurora area, has his daughter in the Cherry Creek school district and he's delighted. That was another possibility for me.

I have family she can stay after school until I go get her. Yeah, it's a drive but I don't mind the sacrifice if the schools in Cherry Creek are significantly better. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time I have to do long drives for schooling purposes with my girls.

[poppunk]

Originally Posted by davidv

Not a fan of Douglas County Schools (both Highlands Ranch and Parker are in Douglas County). They underperform. Search Douglas County schools in this forum as this has been discussed several times.

Parker is pretty far out if you like to do things in the city like pro sports, shows, orchestra, cultural events, etc. Douglas County has little to offer in this regard.

You are calibrated differently than the OP on schools. I moved to the metro a year ago, and was probably dealing with something very similar to the OP; we had to pay for Catholic school where we lived because we couldn't afford to live where the schools were not crap.

My kid is in a public school that's probably not even as good as the school the OP mentioned, and after nearly a full year of it, it's awesome. Even the "not a fan" schools you mentioned here are generally awesome. Schools in this metro area are much better across the board than most people realize when they are compared to other very populated places.

[deedotcuzo]

Originally Posted by poppunk

You are calibrated differently than the OP on schools. I moved to the metro a year ago, and was probably dealing with something very similar to the OP; we had to pay for Catholic school where we lived because we couldn't afford to live where the schools were not crap.

My kid is in a public school that's probably not even as good as the school the OP mentioned, and after nearly a full year of it, it's awesome. Even the "not a fan" schools you mentioned here are generally awesome. Schools in this metro area are much better across the board than most people realize when they are compared to other very populated places.

you totally get me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel the same way, when you have experienced what I had with my girls, at this point, anything is an upgrade for me.

I don't even feel the schools are safe down here.

My little one got her hair cut by another kid recently, where was the teacher? right in the classroom busy with the other 25 other little kids.

and incidents happens, I totally get that, but in schools down here due to overcrowding, it happens way more than it should. I've had to sign accident reports so many times in less than a year, nothing that my daughter has done but rather kids doing to her.

and this is just the non-academic aspects of the school.

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by deedotcuzo

Wow, tons of info!

Thank you!

You are welcome. I live in Highlands Ranch and I know what is happening in the district thanks to my wife being super involved. Things are not the best but it is not the end of the world by far. There are still a lot of great teachers in the district and I believe the board will be turning over very soon. Best of luck to you and your family!

[deedotcuzo]

Originally Posted by Timmyy

You are welcome. I live in Highlands Ranch and I know what is happening in the district thanks to my wife being super involved. Things are not the best but it is not the end of the world by far. There are still a lot of great teachers in the district and I believe the board will be turning over very soon. Best of luck to you and your family!

Thanks so much!

[davidv]

Originally Posted by poppunk

You are calibrated differently than the OP on schools. I moved to the metro a year ago, and was probably dealing with something very similar to the OP; we had to pay for Catholic school where we lived because we couldn't afford to live where the schools were not crap.

My kid is in a public school that's probably not even as good as the school the OP mentioned, and after nearly a full year of it, it's awesome. Even the "not a fan" schools you mentioned here are generally awesome. Schools in this metro area are much better across the board than most people realize when they are compared to other very populated places.

Oh I get it. Probably more than most. I work in a high school here and I have extensive dealings with teachers from the worst part of the country -- especially Florida and Texas.

The fact of the matter is this: one of the most important indicators of student achievement in public schools is family income. Rich areas outperform poor areas. Douglas County has the highest concentration of wealth in the metro area (3.6% poverty), yet it doesn't have the highest achievement in the metro area. It is outclassed by Cherry Creek, Littleton, and is on par with Jeffco schools. All of those districts have much higher rates of poverty, yet better results.

What I wonder is why people who have a chance to make a new start choose to go with the good schools, when they could move into an area that has better schools.

Originally Posted by deedotcuzo

Schools are better in Colorado compared to Florida. The reason school remains a topic of discussion is because I've been told that, unlike Florida that you have to cheat your way around the "better" schools, Colorado allows you to chose other schools, given that they have the capacity for new enrollment.

My step brother, who lives in the Aurora area, has his daughter in the Cherry Creek school district and he's delighted. That was another possibility for me.

I have family she can stay after school until I go get her. Yeah, it's a drive but I don't mind the sacrifice if the schools in Cherry Creek are significantly better. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time I have to do long drives for schooling purposes with my girls.

This works until you cannot choice in your child because the school is full. A family must renew its choice application every year, and it can be rejected if the space is needed for students that live in the (growing) district.

Right now, you could choice your child into an elementary and probably a middle school, but the high schools are pretty much closed to out of district students. That is a big eye opener for parents when their child can go to elementary and middle school, then gets rejected at the high school level.

[emm74]

Originally Posted by davidv

This works until you cannot choice in your child because the school is full. A family must renew its choice application every year, and it can be rejected if the space is needed for students that live in the (growing) district.

Right now, you could choice your child into an elementary and probably a middle school, but the high schools are pretty much closed to out of district students. That is a big eye opener for parents when their child can go to elementary and middle school, then gets rejected at the high school level.

I didn't realize that you had to choice in every year. In DPS, once you choice in, your seat is yours until you graduate or otherwise choose to leave. You wouldn't move to the next (elem to middle, middle to high) school if it's a boundary school and you aren't in the boundary even if it's a feeder school, but you don't have to keep choicing in every year.

[deedotcuzo]

Originally Posted by davidv

Oh I get it. Probably more than most. I work in a high school here and I have extensive dealings with teachers from the worst part of the country -- especially Florida and Texas.

The fact of the matter is this: one of the most important indicators of student achievement in public schools is family income. Rich areas outperform poor areas. Douglas County has the highest concentration of wealth in the metro area (3.6% poverty), yet it doesn't have the highest achievement in the metro area. It is outclassed by Cherry Creek, Littleton, and is on par with Jeffco schools. All of those districts have much higher rates of poverty, yet better results.

What I wonder is why people who have a chance to make a new start choose to go with the good schools, when they could move into an area that has better schools.




This works until you cannot choice in your child because the school is full. A family must renew its choice application every year, and it can be rejected if the space is needed for students that live in the (growing) district.

Right now, you could choice your child into an elementary and probably a middle school, but the high schools are pretty much closed to out of district students. That is a big eye opener for parents when their child can go to elementary and middle school, then gets rejected at the high school level.

She's in first grade.

The thing is, we fell in love with the place. Then we researched the school, we couldn't find any negatives... Until I posted here.

The soon to be neighbors also spoke highly of the school my daughter is set to attend.

But based on what I've been reading here, they're wrong.

Is not that I chose good over better, I chose the neighborhood that fit our needs and based upon research, the school has good reviews so it seemed to fit perfectly.

[mic111]

Originally Posted by deedotcuzo

I agree, I looked up their inventory.

It's either Ikea or online at this point/

You should wait to check out American Furniture Warehouse for yourself. They have furniture at all price points. So while you will see some very cheap stuff that is cheaply made you can find more expensive stuff that lasts. While I haven't been recently I loved the choices they had when I bought. I wanted solid wood, not particle board and I'm still using what I bought about 20 years ago. I also bought decently high quality leather pieces that are still here over 10 years later. I also have antique pieces, some vintage 1960 pieces and some custom crafted pieces that I ordered on-line. But I love AFW for reasonably priced decent quality furniture.

[sandsthree]

Originally Posted by davidv

What I wonder is why people who have a chance to make a new start choose to go with the good schools, when they could move into an area that has better schools.

Great question! I thought we had done our research and while I knew there were concerns about the district, I liked what I saw and was told about our neighborhood school. As a teacher coming from another state, I went into our neighborhood school with excitement and a positive outlook about the education and school climate/culture I thought we were entering. Unfortunately it didn't work for my student primarily due to issues that, from my perspective, were building specific issues vs. district level issues. Knowing what I know now that we've been here for almost two years, and if I had to do it all over again, I would have considered SE Aurora in the Cherry Creek school district instead of anywhere in the DCSD system. For us, it's worked out and we found a new charter that's been a great fit this year (night and day compared to our neighborhood school). And while I definitely don't think charters are the answer to the problems (in fact they likely create more problems), it's working for us and our kid. We're already exploring options for middle school as it will be here before we know it and I don't know if our charter will work for us for MS. A couple new charters (k-12 and 7-12) were just approved so switching to something like that at the entry point of 7th grade might make more sense. Other areas we were interested in, we just couldn't afford the housing costs. Fingers crossed there will be more change, for the better, in DCSD soon.