Stapleton Grade 1 kids schools and sports (Help) (Denver, Louisville: home, neighborhood)

[fromUK]

1) Narrowed my search to Stapleton, but have a 7 year old who loves baseball and needs a good to great education, am worried that the 2 elementary schools are not that good and do not challange the kids.

2) Secondly am worried that he will not have a kids baseball league to join and other sports particularly karate so he can make new friends.

3) We are an Asian family and very sociable but worry that our 7 year old will have limited ability to make new friends as Stapleton seems for younger families, is there an area within it that has more grade 1/2 aged kids - anyone help inform us some more.

It will be interesting to see the neighborhood on Halloween to see how many families walk aroud and how many grade 1 kids there are.

[denverian]

I have no clue. I live in Stapleton, but my kids are 6 mo. We have one kid on our block who's 8, and he plays baseball and hockey, but not sure where. I know other younger kids who are involved in karate, but again, not sure where. It's my understanding that the grade schools are very good and lots of parental involvement.

[TeamFoster]

Most people in Denver have an outdoor life style. There are many many sports league choices here. Even the county should have sports leagues to join. I haven't heard of any grade schools that have sports programs, but I know there are several different leagues in the area. Arapahoe county has South Surburban Recreation. There should be something similar in the Stapleton area. South Suburban is rec level. I imagine any parks and rec organization will be recreation level. If you want to go beyond that then club/league's are the way to go. I found that if the parent is involved then the child will get a good education. I know parents who complain about their childs school, but who aren't involved. Other parents at the same school are happy because they are involved.

[redheron]

What is so great about Stapleton that could overcome not so great, non-challenging school(s)?

Just curious because I am trying to choose a neighborhood too, and any neighborhood that does not have stellar elem-middle-high schools is automatically disqualified. This really narrows down the search.

[steveindenver]

Parental involvement, above average household incomes. Parents not working two and three jobs. Stay at home mothers...

[tfox]

Originally Posted by redheron

What is so great about Stapleton that could overcome not so great, non-challenging school(s)?

Just curious because I am trying to choose a neighborhood too, and any neighborhood that does not have stellar elem-middle-high schools is automatically disqualified. This really narrows down the search.

What makes a "stellar school"? I'm assuming you're basing your criteria on CSAP scores, or the state Performance Reports which are based entirely on CSAP scores? These are somewhat imperfect indictators. Naturally, horrid CSAP scores are clearly a warning sign, but choosing a school based on one school getting marginally higher CSAP scores ignores a whole host of other factors as to what goes into making a good school.

Interesting to mention this because I think the Stapleton schools DO get pretty high CSAP scores (not surprising given parental income there). IMO that by itself doesn't mean too much, though I have heard good things about the Stapleton schools. (As a note, a Stapleton High School is in the planning stages -- kids in elementary school now in the stapleton schools will all attend that new high school, not an existing Denver High School).

[Katiana]

I agree with most of what tfox says, but I will say this: beware of promises about schools. I lived through Louisville's great school growth, and things did not always pan out quite the way the school officials said they would, or the way some people thought they heard. Things change, etc.

Generally, a school will not be built in anticipation of need. The existing school the students attend will have to be over-crowded before the new school is built. This usually results in overcrowded conditions, portables and such for a period of time. That is not necessarily bad, but it has its issues. Also, a high school usually has a pretty large attendance area. It may well have kids other than from Stapleton attending it.

[steveindenver]

Stapleton High has been planned since the inception of the area, has a plot picked out (the first it turned out was not suitable for reasons I won't bore anyone with) and funding in the process of completion. Furthermore the Stapleton area will fill the school to capacity. While it will be possible for children outside of the home area to enroll this will be handled via an election process as it happens with all other schools.

DPS is not located in exurbia and as such the problems, while equally as real are different.

CSAP's at Westerley are average, the other elementary is a bit higher but not stellar. Be weary of CSAP driven schools.

[fromUK]

Thanks for the information its great feedback. Please please ask your neighbors who have Grade 1 aged kids about actitivies and schools in the area to get their opinion, it would be appreciated.

Also the comment about incomes and lower CSAP scores - how do they relate?

[denverian]

Originally Posted by steveindenver

Stapleton High has been planned since the inception of the area, has a plot picked out (the first it turned out was not suitable for reasons I won't bore anyone with) and funding in the process of completion. Furthermore the Stapleton area will fill the school to capacity. While it will be possible for children outside of the home area to enroll this will be handled via an election process as it happens with all other schools.

DPS is not located in exurbia and as such the problems, while equally as real are different.

CSAP's at Westerley are average, the other elementary is a bit higher but not stellar. Be weary of CSAP driven schools.

From what I hear, Bill Roberts and Westerly Creek are both great schools. I've heard another grade school is planned for the Eastbridge neighborhood too.