City living with kids - D11/ Palmer High (Colorado Springs, Stratton: low income, credit)

[leiluna]

We are looking for a new home to settle in as my oldest gets ready for high school (currently in 7th grade). My husband's former boss has offered him a job in Colorado Springs and we're interested. We have enjoyed visiting your city and would ideally love to live in/close to the city and its amenities.

My daughter is currently in an IB program for middle school and she enjoys the topics and diversity. I see Palmer in D11 offers the IB program and is close to a neighborhood of interest to us - Shooks Run.

I have read that D11 has budget challenges. And that there aren't a whole lot of kids in city limits. I guess I'm looking for anyone's personal experiences with the school or perhaps a nearby alternative. For example, some older threads mention Coronado High. While we'd give up the IB focus we would consider Coronado if it's a better environment for families in the city.

I'm hoping to find a city environment where there are a decent number of kids around and where, with proper class selection, my children can find other motivated students. We will also be visiting again in February, but I was hoping to get advance thoughts from current residents. I appreciate any insights!

[otowi]

I think there are 4 high schools in the city with IB - Palmer, Sand Creek, Rampart and Discovery Canyon.

If you want to be in the city rather than suburbs, I think Palmer is the only choice. Being as urban as it is does present some unique issues for Palmer - like being downtown during lunch period, urban traffic, etc.

D11 just passed a mill levy which should help with the budget issues. Palmer has about 1700 students and most of them are from in the area, so I think it is exaggeration to say that there aren't kids in the city limits.

If it is academic challenge and rigor your daughter particularly wants - then IB is not the only choice. Coronado I think still leads the area for most college credits that a student can earn on campus while maintaining a comprehensive, diverse curriculum. It is not as urban as Palmer in terms of location, but is definitely closer to Shooks Run than the other IB schools. The Academy School District 20 schools are pretty consistent in offering rigor in high school, but are generally a little less diverse.

If you would be coming this year, it sounds like you would have a year of middle school to figure out the ideal high school placement. Most of the high schools offer open houses in January/February as opportunities for parents to visit and learn about the schools programs, etc., and most invite parents to schedule visits/tours. If you choose to have your daughter attend a school out of area from where you live, you will need to permit her in and provide transportation in most cases. Some schools are near capacity so timely permits become crucial in those cases - the permit window starts in November for the follow school year.

I would say that at every high school in our city, with proper class selection, your children can find other motivated students.

[TCHP]

D11 does struggle with funding from time to time. As the largest district in Cos, it does not have the sheer volume of kids in it there once was, which means a large percentage of population does not value funding education. But it is far from being out of children and as otowi points out, a recent mill levy override did pass and we are already seeing updates in the schools my kids attend.

For sheer volume of neighborhood kids, you may need to be north, east, or southwest. In a six block radius of my place there are about 10 kids of various ages. Compared to the previous mentioned places, they may have two dozen kids in the same geographic area. But, that doesn't mean they lack for experience. While I wouldn't call Colo Spgs an urban city, being closer to the city center does provide a different experience for kids growing up than what is found from being in the 'burbs. Palmer, because of its central downtown location, does have a campus that is spread out on various blocks of the city and will require students to move around that space and deal with weather, traffic, and other pedestrians. If your children are focused on their education and not easily distracted, Palmer does offer a unique environment in that regard that isn't found anywhere else in the region. Access to parks, paths, cafes, etc are all within close proximity whereas other schools have much more isolated campuses.

Palmer does offer an accredited IB program as well as numerous AP and Honors classes. Coronado does not have an IB program but does offer the similar types of AP and honors and may offer more college credits than Palmer. The Wasson Campus offers the district's Early College program where students can get an even larger percentage of concurrent college enrollment classes and students there can finish high school with an associates degree. Something I've noticed with my daughter's club sports activities with girls in other local districts is that the academic challenges of Honors and AP are nearly identical throughout the region and she is often having homework conversations with girls in D20, D38, and D12 about assignments they are ALL working on that are identical.

High school here is 9-12 grades so you will have a single year of middle school for your oldest if you move this summer. If you are looking at Shooks Run for housing then you will be in the North JHS area. You would have to permit into Galileo, Mann, Holmes or West. I am in the North JHS and Palmer boundaries, yet we did not attend any of them. As my kids were completing GT programs in grade school, we evaluated their move to junior high and eventually high school. We chose to go with Holmes and then into Coronado.

When we were looking, West and Sabin offered dedicated GT programs. North had just converted to IB philosophy with no GT and Holmes offered several dedicated GT classes while mainstreaming other requirements. We toured each school, met with their reps and got some basic over views of Palmer, Coronado, and Doherty. I had cousins in Palmer so I was also getting first hand info from them.

West was a great continuation of their dedicated GT programs we had in Stratton Elementary. Its west side location was quaint, teachers seemed very engaged and dedicated to the program. However, west is a k-8 school, so there was a broad range of kids on the ground at any time. Also, it was three stories of stair to climb and the age of the building meant most classrooms were very small. While my wife and I liked it, our kids did not. It was off the list.

Sabin's GT program was like Wests and seemed like it would be great, but the century newer layout of the school was much preferred by my kids. It also was large. Easily twice the student body of West. Concerns about perceptions of GT kids being segregated in such a large school gave us pause. It also was the furthest drive for us and with the transition into Doherty HS, would have meant a decade of cross town commuting. It came off the list.

North's IB format was just implemented and our tour and discussions demonstrated their staff wasn't all on board with it at the time. The broad range of the student body in both personal expression as well as economic diversity was quite different than what we were coming from. Some classes we audited were clearly dominated by students and not teachers. The age of the building is similar to Wests and again my kids poo-pooed it. It came off the list.

Holmes presented to most rounded programs and sets of compromises to us Its newer construction and multi-building layout was well received by the kids. Its combination dedicated GT and mainstream meant the kids would not be segregated for the entire day, but would also mainstream with others. This meant we could run the risk of them getting bored, but our discussion with teachers seemed to indicate that they had some flexibility in the specific class program to move the higher performers further into materials and allow them to engage with tutoring opportunities with their peers.

Mann and Galileo weren't on our radar at all. Galileo had come out of a pretty bad reputation period as the former East JHS that had some less than flattering footage of them aired on ABC's 20/20 program in the 90s. With a name change, significant staff changes, and an attempt to become a math and science magnet, they put forth a great effort and it has yielded dividends for them. They are much improved. Mann was struggling with some resource officer issues that got significant local press and we didn't think they had recovered sufficiently from that yet. They are somewhat under the radar now and producing smart kids with a round of social and economic diversity. Add to these concerns that none of our kids peers were attending either of these schools so continuity was non existent for them.

Since getting rooted in Holmes, we have naturally transitioned to Coronado. My oldest daughter loves it. My two youngest are on their way there with some hope and some trepidation. My oldest is a natural athlete so Coronado's sports programs are a great addition to the academics. My youngest son is excited about their stem and robotics programs, which are pretty stellar. My youngest daughter is the one a bit intimidated by its size, but excited by some classes she wants to take. Coronado has some great music and theater programs and their groups have travelled around the country for performances. Since they just had their open house for next year, I can say they have 43 different clubs their own student led non-profit that is used to help their fellow low income students. In addition, as the primary west side D11 school, Coronado is the only D11 school that hosts a week of homecoming activities that include a bon-fire and parade down Colo Avenue that includes not just the high school but all feeder schools as well. There is a great sense of west side community in the school and area in general. I'm sure that is greatly helped by the fact that Darin Smith, the principal, is a graduate of Coronado and still live on the west side.

In case you haven't done so yet, be sure to visit the D11 web site to browse it , click on schools, view their promo videos and get an overview. https://www.d11.org/ Feel free to drop in here and get more details and info.

[leiluna]

Wow, thanks for all the detail you both provided! I'm looking forward to touring multiple schools during our visit to get a feel for where my daughter may end up thriving. I can also speak to the schools about how much of their enrolled students come from their assigned boundary. I'm looking forward to learning more.