Need Help With Detailed Schools Questions (Denver, Boulder: relocate, work, health)

[Denver_Maybe]

My family is preparing to relocate to Denver in the next ~60 days. We have three children ages 9 (entering 4th grade), 5 (entering kindergarten) and 3. We are very interested in schools, but having some trouble gathering info because many of the schools and district offices are closed through July. We’ve explored online resources and reached out to PTAs and teachers in the general area. However if there’s anyone on the board who can provide any insight on the following detailed questions, you’d be helping us out immensely!

We’ve narrowed our selection based on what we can tell about commutes, home prices, and general neighborhoods. For now our short list includes:

Denver County School District – Westerly Creek or Bill Roberts
Cherry Creek School District – Belleview, Cottonwood Creek, Dry Creek, Heritage, Homestead, or Walnut Hills
Littleton School District – Lenski, Peabody, or Wilder
Jefferson County School District – Leawood
Douglas County School District – Northridge

The questions we’d like to answer are:

1. How does the G&T program work? Can G&T students transfer in based on national tests (ERB, Wechsler) or must they wait and retest locally? Is the G&T program based on differentiated learning within the primary classroom? Is there a pullout program within the school? Is there a pullout program to another campus?
2. How much homework do students have on a typical weeknight?
3. How are students prepared for the CSAP?
4. What is the math curriculum (e.g. Everyday, Singapore, Saxon)?
5. Do students have recess? How often? For how long?
6. Do students receive / have access to music instruction? How often? For how long? Are private music lessons available?
7. Do students receive / have access to art instruction? How often? For how long?
8. Do students receive / have access to foreign language instruction? How often? For how long? What languages?
9. What clubs and other after school activities are available?
10. Is there a volunteer hours requirement for families?
11. Is there a nurse on campus?

Thanks in advance!

[Katiana]

The answers will be different for every school district, and to a certain extent, for every school.

[2bindenver]

what about a commute? Shouldn't that influence the neighborhoods you would want to live in?

[rebagirl]

I can't give specific information on each of these questions, but I did a lot of school research the past year and a half.

For questions 1,2,3,and 10--You will need to speak with someone personally from the school of choice.

For question 4--You will find curriculum guides and adoptions on each district site.

For questions 5,6,7,8,9,and11--Almost all of these questions are answered on each individual school's website. Sometimes it requires digging deeper, such as looking at a particular teacher's page.

Also, even though the school offices are closed, you may still be able to reach the principals by email. I am a teacher, and I know that most principals check all messages regularly. (In which case you could ask just about anything)

I hope this helps.

[Denver_Maybe]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

what about a commute? Shouldn't that influence the neighborhoods you would want to live in?

Hi. We've tried to account for the commute, as best as we can. I'd be working downtown. So we're operating under the assumption that Stapleton, Cherry Creek, and Littleton would all be about equidistant or at least roughly equal with respect to effort and down time - likely driving in from Stapleton, but taking light rail from the Cherry Creek or Littleton areas. The Douglas and Jefferson County schools would be further out, I realize, but we're keeping them on the list for now, with that proviso in mind.

Are these reasonable assumptions?

Thanks in advance.

[2bindenver]

My 11 yo DD just graduated from Northridge Elem. in DougCo this year. She was not in the Discovery Program. She participated in Choir, Select Choir & DCSD Honor Choir.

The school choir sang the National Anthem at the Rockies game a few weeks ago.

Housing ranges from $200,000 to 900,000 that feed into Northridge.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Denver_Maybe

Hi. We've tried to account for the commute, as best as we can. I'd be working downtown. So we're operating under the assumption that Stapleton, Cherry Creek, and Littleton would all be about equidistant or at least roughly equal with respect to effort and down time - likely driving in from Stapleton, but taking light rail from the Cherry Creek or Littleton areas. The Douglas and Jefferson County schools would be further out, I realize, but we're keeping them on the list for now, with that proviso in mind.

Are these reasonable assumptions?

Thanks in advance.

Stapleton is in Denver, part of DPS. Has an ele. school, I believe. No HS or MS. I'm not sure what schools the Stapleton kids attend. Stapleton is also the closest to downtown. Jefferson County is large, and is all one school district. Some of its closer-in schools are not *that* far from downtown. I would suggest MapQuest or google maps to give you some perspective. I also agree with rebagirl that many of the schools may still have personnel around, especially at their central offices. Many Douglas Co. schools are on yr-round schedules, so you could contact them (though I think they may all be on break right now).

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

My 11 yo DD just graduated from Northridge Elem. in DougCo this year. She was not in the Discovery Program. She participated in Choir, Select Choir & DCSD Honor Choir.

The school choir sang the National Anthem at the Rockies game a few weeks ago.
Housing ranges from $200,000 to 900,000 that feed into Northridge.

How cool is that! I bet you were one proud mama!

[Denver_Maybe]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Stapleton is in Denver, part of DPS. Has an ele. school, I believe. No HS or MS. I'm not sure what schools the Stapleton kids attend. Stapleton is also the closest to downtown. Jefferson County is large, and is all one school district. Some of its closer-in schools are not *that* far from downtown. I would suggest MapQuest or google maps to give you some perspective. I also agree with rebagirl that many of the schools may still have personnel around, especially at their central offices. Many Douglas Co. schools are on yr-round schedules, so you could contact them (though I think they may all be on break right now).

Thanks all.

We've had some success stirring up contacts via PTA lists, central offices, etc., but I'm definitely still interesed in the board's input - lots of experts out here!

I do understand that Stapleton is closest as the crow flies, but no light rail (yet), so I'm counting it as about a push (concerning the commute to downtown) vs. the Littleton-Downtown or Littleton-Mineral stations on the D line, or any of the Belleview through Dry Creek stops on the F line. Does that seem right?

And yep I understand re the size / sprawl of the Douglas and Jefferson county districts, hence our short list of only a very few schools in those districts, (relatively) close to the above mentioned light rail stations (I think).

Thanks again.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by Denver_Maybe

Thanks all.

We've had some success stirring up contacts via PTA lists, central offices, etc., but I'm definitely still interesed in the board's input - lots of experts out here!

I do understand that Stapleton is closest as the crow flies, but no light rail (yet), so I'm counting it as about a push (concerning the commute to downtown) vs. the Littleton-Downtown or Littleton-Mineral stations on the D line, or any of the Belleview through Dry Creek stops on the F line. Does that seem right?

And yep I understand re the size / sprawl of the Douglas and Jefferson county districts, hence our short list of only a very few schools in those districts, (relatively) close to the above mentioned light rail stations (I think).

Thanks again.

As I was thinking about this, I began to wonder how you came up with your inital list. There are hundreds of elementary schools in metro Denver. There are 34 in the Boulder Valley School District alone, and another 29, I believe in St. Vrain Valley SD. Those are the two districts in Boulder County. I know if I were moving with kids, schools would be important to me. I think you can rest assured that the districts you are considering are "good" districts with good schools throughout.

As far as us "experts" on the board, people will interpret things through their experiences. A parent may have had a very bad experience with a certain school and tell you "stay away from there", whereas another parent will tell you just the opposite. Also, in growing areas such as Stapleton, school attendance areas may change, so your careful selection process may end with your kids not attending your chosen school. As I stated on another thread, a neighbor of mine had this experience. She chose a school for her kids, then they got sent to another school due to overcrowding, and she was very disappointed, not b/c the other school was bad, but b/c she had her heart set on them attending a different one. Then she thought everything would be better when they got to attend the school she had chosen, and it wasn't, because no school is perfect.

Jefferson County and Douglas County aren't so much sprawled as they are just large, county-wide districts.

My answers to the specific questions are similar to rebagirl's. In regards to nurses, I know in Boulder Valley (not on your list), the school nurses are mostly supervisory and not at schools much to provide care. Most care is done by paraprofessionals who have some health room training.

[Denver_Maybe]

Originally Posted by Katiana

As I was thinking about this, I began to wonder how you came up with your inital list.

Thanks again. We built this list by looking at the Colorado school performance map, posted elsewhere on this board, and focusing in on districts / campuses that are convenient to (existing) light rail.

Stapleton doesn't make that cut, but we've tossed it in b/c we have friends there, like the area and the attitude, etc. We're also looking at Lowry / Vanguard School for the same reasons.

I've used several other online resources to drill into the school ratings - greatschools.net (tifwiw), just4kids.org (makes some adjustments for SES), and raw data downloaded from cde.state.co.us (which I can manipulate to my heart's content).

All this, though, is really just a reflection of how schools do on standardized testing, w/ some subjective commentary thrown in from greatschools. So that still leaves our questions...

Still gathering data and info; thanks for all your help.