Best School in BVSD? (Denver, Boulder: real estate, how much, house)

[jwcane97]

My family and I may be moving to the Broomfield area and I have read that you want to be in BVSD (I have a 9 year old). But what is the best school in the district? I see people saying any school in the district, but i saw some "C" schools listed in there and many "B" as well.

Home price isn't much of a concern, I am hoping to stay in the $500-650k range, but am willing to go up to $800k.

[OhioToCO]

Originally Posted by jwcane97

My family and I may be moving to the Broomfield area and I have read that you want to be in BVSD (I have a 9 year old). But what is the best school in the district? I see people saying any school in the district, but i saw some "C" schools listed in there and many "B" as well.

Home price isn't much of a concern, I am hoping to stay in the $500-650k range, but am willing to go up to $800k.

What is the "best school" for your child? The answer will vary by person.

If you want easy answers - out of neighborhood elementary schools the ones _considered_by_some_ to be the better ones are Douglas (Boulder County), Bear Creek and Mesa (South Boulder), Louisville and Coal Creek (Louisville). There are quite a few charter schools, but they are lottery enrollment. Look into High Peaks, BCSIS, Peak to Peak (this one is K-12). Personally, I've been playing this game just for fun, trying to open enroll my kid into Peak to Peak for three years straight, and the highest we got on the waiting list was 60-something (ha-ha). P2P is in top 100 nationally, so you get the picture.
From what I've heard, elementaries in Broomfield are hardly considered "the best in the district", and my older child has quite a few teenage friends who live in Broomfield - they are all open enrolled into Fairview, Boulder High or Peak to Peak.

Disclaimer: I think you need to figure out this question for yourself somehow - call and speak to administrators, visit schools, if possible, etc. A couple of months ago there was a similar discussion here. One poster said "Whittier Elementary is a GREAT elementary school!!!!" I laughed, because I work with a mother who has two kids going to Whittier, and she is not happy. Every time I tell her about the school my younger goes to (Heatherwood), she wishes they had similar programs at their school. I hardly think Heatherwood is "the best" either

[mic111]

Here is a list of elementary school rankings. You can change it for middle and high school. The top Boulder elementary is #5 on the list. You will note that the districts all intermingle and no one district dominates the top.
Best Schools in Colorado - CO School Rankings

BVSD is 19th of 124 districts. Of course since it has higher income folks you would expect it to do well. Douglas County is ranked 11th and Littleton is ranked 13th. Weld County is 15th. If being in a top ranked district is important than why concentrate on Boulder? When I see someone say to be in a specific district I don't understand it. There are many excellent schools spread through the districts. In our area we are Adams 12 and the schools are highly thought of. People moving from CA and other states are amazed at how much catch up their kids need to do.
Best School Districts in Colorado - CO District Rankings

To me it seems finding a good school that matches your child, in a neighborhood you like, that minimizes the commute so that your not away from home that much, would all be top considerations. There are many good schools in Colorado.

Peak to Peak mentioned above is rated 174. Meridian Elementary our local elementary in Broomfield (Adams 12 district) is 107 as is Heatherwood Elementary in Boulder. They both rank the same. So why pick Heatherwood (BVSD) over Meridian (Adams 12) just because it is BVSD? Whittier Elementary, also mentioned above is 306.

Your criteria are of course your own. I'm just trying to point out that the guidance you have been given to only look at BVSD might not be in your best interests.

[brown_dog_us]

fwiw, my kids go to Bear Creek. It's a great school, but I don't know if it's the best. I think you would be wise to look at the neighborhoods that feed into your top 5-8 schools. The neighborhoods will be very different, and I bet one of them will be a great fit for your family.

[OhioToCO]

Originally Posted by mic111

Here is a list of elementary school rankings. You can change it for middle and high school. The top Boulder elementary is #5 on the list. You will note that the districts all intermingle and no one district dominates the top.
Best Schools in Colorado - CO School Rankings

BVSD is 19th of 124 districts. Of course since it has higher income folks you would expect it to do well. Douglas County is ranked 11th and Littleton is ranked 13th. Weld County is 15th. If being in a top ranked district is important than why concentrate on Boulder? When I see someone say to be in a specific district I don't understand it. There are many excellent schools spread through the districts. In our area we are Adams 12 and the schools are highly thought of. People moving from CA and other states are amazed at how much catch up their kids need to do.
Best School Districts in Colorado - CO District Rankings

To me it seems finding a good school that matches your child, in a neighborhood you like, that minimizes the commute so that your not away from home that much, would all be top considerations. There are many good schools in Colorado.

Peak to Peak mentioned above is rated 174. Meridian Elementary our local elementary in Broomfield (Adams 12 district) is 107 as is Heatherwood Elementary in Boulder. They both rank the same. So why pick Heatherwood (BVSD) over Meridian (Adams 12) just because it is BVSD? Whittier Elementary, also mentioned above is 306.

Your criteria are of course your own. I'm just trying to point out that the guidance you have been given to only look at BVSD might not be in your best interests.

These ratings are based strictly on test scores. Test scores don't reflect the quality of the school, if you ask me. If test scores is the only thing that's important for OP in the school, then these are good tools, otherwise, they are just an additional piece of data. Test scores, especially at the elementary level, correlate strongly with demographics, so, if anything, they are reflective of the relative affluence of a particular community.
However, what's interesting, are test score trends. K-12 schools, such as Peak to Peak are especially interesting to follow through these ratings. They go from 174 as an elementary, to 49 as middle, to 5 as a high school. I doubt their demographics change that much, so they must be doing something right.

[jwcane97]

Thanks for the responses. I am actually a bit concerned about my daughter having to "catch up". We live in Florida and while our school that my daughter goes to is highly rated and she is in the gifted program, I do get concerned that our state overall ranks low to middle of the pack in education.

I have been rooting around schools and found a house close to Mietlejohn (sp?) and that school seemed to be highly rated. Was also only 15 minutes from where my office would be so that is a plus. Anyone know anything about that school?

[reed303]

Originally Posted by jwcane97

Thanks for the responses. I am actually a bit concerned about my daughter having to "catch up". We live in Florida and while our school that my daughter goes to is highly rated and she is in the gifted program, I do get concerned that our state overall ranks low to middle of the pack in education.

I have been rooting around schools and found a house close to Mietlejohn (sp?) and that school seemed to be highly rated. Was also only 15 minutes from where my office would be so that is a plus. Anyone know anything about that school?

Need the correct name of school.
No school in BVSD has a name even close to above. Closest name I could find was Milliken in Weld County RE-5j, which is 30+ miles from Boulder (east of Johnstown)

Elementary Schools

[Katarina Witt]

Here is the school the OP was referencing. It is in the Jefferson County SD. Jeffco has some great schools.

JEFFCO Public Schools - Meiklejohn Elementary

[mic111]

Don't know anything about the school but that would be way to close to Rocky Flats for me. But everyone needs to make up their own mind on that. OP, you might want to do some research on Rocky Flats if you aren't aware of it.

[coloradoalimony]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Here is the school the OP was referencing. It is in the Jefferson County SD. Jeffco has some great schools.

JEFFCO Public Schools - Meiklejohn Elementary

The Jeffco School Board just suffered a takeover by the same religious fundamentalist whackjobs who took over Douglas County schools. The highly respected superintendent of Jeffco resigned immediately rather than deal with them. Look for some kind of voucher system to be rammed in to allow the local parochial schools to get tax dollars, and you can expect many schools to take steep nosedives, as will the district overall, just like Douglas. The most experienced teachers will begin retiring in droves, to be replaced with new teachers who will start at dramatically reduced salaries, which means that only those who can't get a job in Boulder, Denver, Adams, Littleton or other districts will be hired. As time goes on, schools will have to be closed and consolidated because of decreased enrollment, both from people putting their kids in private schools at taxpayer's expense, and because people with school-age kids will avoid moving there. Eventually, property values will suffer, because a good school district is one of the major factors in keeping real estate prices high.