IEP Support in Cherry Creek School District (Aurora, Littleton: apartment, renting)

[bluey_bingo]

I am moving from Central Jersey to the Littleton area for my job, and have been looking at school choices for my 6-year old child who is on the spectrum and has an IEP. Once we settle on a school, the arduous task of house hunting will likely begin!

The conventional wisdom seems to be that Cherry Creek district schools are the best in the area (closely followed by Littleton Public Schools). At the same time, there seems to be a lot more variation between schools within the same district, compared to what we are used to in Jersey (granted, NJ school districts are much smaller since almost every town has its own district). Instead of focusing on ratings and scores, I have tried to read opinions on various forums (including here) and feedback on niche.com and greatschools.org.

This is all the more important since there are no rankings of schools based on special education support. Our kiddo is high functioning and goes to an integrated kindergarten classroom with ICR (in-class resource) support. I am not sure if ICR is a thing here, but I would love to hear from members here about their experience with schools in CCSD or surrounding districts, especially in terms of inclusion and IEP support.

We are gravitating towards Heritage Elementary School or Belleview Elementary School, both of which feed into Campus Middle School and Cherry Creek High School. Can anyone share their experience (first-hand or word-of-mouth!) about these schools that may help choose between them (or even offer a better alternative)?

Also, based on school attendance zones, it appears that the serving area for Heritage Elementary is Centennial or Englewood, while Belleview serves Greenwood Village. Is there any preference between these neighborhoods for raising a young family? I see a lot of love for South Aurora (which falls in CCSD), but cannot figure out which are the better regarded schools in this area. Again, any help will be appreciated.

I understand these are a lot of questions (especially since a lot of it revolves around special education), and would appreciate local knowledge and feedback. We will likely be renting for the first year or two (2+ bedroom apartment or townhome within $2500), so want to make sure that our impending move is a good introduction to life in Colorado! Thank you in advance.

[vunderbar]

Since these are very specific questions, you may get better responses by checking out some Facebook groups. For example, here's a link to Cherry Creek School District Moms' Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/791586008519062

[bluey_bingo]

Thank you for the suggestion!

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Centennial, Englewood, and Greenwood Village mailing addresses blur any boundaries between the various areas. Not all Englewood addresses are in the Cherry Creek School District boundaries. We had an Englewood address and our neighborhood was surrounded by Centennial and Greenwood Village. Make sure you have a good realtor who knows all of this.

[davebarnes]

ZIP Codes are not based on municipal boundaries.
Municipal boundaries are not 100% correlated with school district boundaries.
This is not NJ.
School districts are huge with 20-50 thousand students.

[bluey_bingo]

Thank you, @davebarnes and @Dreaming of Hawaii.
Yes, I am quickly realizing how vast the districts are and how they encompass multiple municipalities.
Will definitely check with a realtor and/or the school, before finalizing a home.

[history nerd]

CCSD teacher and parent here. Personally I would feel comfortable sending my kids basically anywhere in the district. But I also am not a huge believer in school rankings, especially not in CO where the testing is all jacked up.

I'm less familiar with the west side of the district but conventional wisdom for SE Aurora is that CT and Grandview feeders are better than Eaglecrest and Smokey feeders. Personally I would challenge that as I think those differences reflect socioeconomic factors much more than quality of instruction or opportunity.

You will definitely get more house for your buck out here than on the west side of CCSD, and I really don't think you get worse schools. (As much as some folks will swear up and down that kids need to go to Creek for HS.)

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by history nerd

CCSD teacher and parent here. Personally I would feel comfortable sending my kids basically anywhere in the district. But I also am not a huge believer in school rankings, especially not in CO where the testing is all jacked up.

I'm less familiar with the west side of the district but conventional wisdom for SE Aurora is that CT and Grandview feeders are better than Eaglecrest and Smokey feeders. Personally I would challenge that as I think those differences reflect socioeconomic factors much more than quality of instruction or opportunity.

You will definitely get more house for your buck out here than on the west side of CCSD, and I really don't think you get worse schools. (As much as some folks will swear up and down that kids need to go to Creek for HS.)

All three of my kids went through Cherokee Trail, and two of them are at CSU right now. The third, ironically, is on the spectrum. He slipped through the cracks, though, because he's very high functioning. It's a good thing the OP has an IEP at an early age.

As far as the feeder schools go, my wife worked at Laredo Middle School. It feeds into Smoky Hill. OP doesn't have to worry about this for a bit, but I would be hesitant to send my kiddo there. It's a pretty rough school. It's a mixture of upper middle class white and Asian kids and lower income Black and Hispanic kids. Fights and drugs are both fairly commonplace. It's got a pretty awesome alumni list, though. Bowen Yang (SNL), Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins head coach), Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers head coach), Ryan Walters (Purdue head football coach), Dan Soder (stand-up comedian and actor), Jenny Cavnar (Fox Sports broadcaster), and Marshall Zelinger (9 News reporter) all went to Laredo.

[history nerd]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

All three of my kids went through Cherokee Trail, and two of them are at CSU right now. The third, ironically, is on the spectrum. He slipped through the cracks, though, because he's very high functioning. It's a good thing the OP has an IEP at an early age.

As far as the feeder schools go, my wife worked at Laredo Middle School. It feeds into Smoky Hill. OP doesn't have to worry about this for a bit, but I would be hesitant to send my kiddo there. It's a pretty rough school. It's a mixture of upper middle class white and Asian kids and lower income Black and Hispanic kids. Fights and drugs are both fairly commonplace. It's got a pretty awesome alumni list, though. Bowen Yang (SNL), Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins head coach), Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers head coach), Ryan Walters (Purdue head football coach), Dan Soder (stand-up comedian and actor), Jenny Cavnar (Fox Sports broadcaster), and Marshall Zelinger (9 News reporter) all went to Laredo.

This is exactly why I tried to include both my own perspective as a career educator in the area and the conventional wisdom which is basically what you articulated.