Black Forest commute to Schriever district 49/20 (Colorado Springs, Woodmoor: new home, neighborhoods, buy)

[artbyheather]

We are moving to Colorado Springs this summer we plan on retiring in COS. We have been working with a realtor and looking for homes. (we are in Germany now) We want land and a treed property so we are house hunting in the Black Forest. My husband will be working at Schriever AFB (we are military). We are familiar with Colorado Springs as we lived there from 96-01.. At that time we lived near Austin Bluff/Templeton Gap area.. We lived in a new Hallmark home and I'd never buy a home like that again. The house literally shook when the washer went to spin cycle! (upstairs laundry).. I know not all new homes are bad. as I've read here about the Keller homes.. but we want to stay away from too much of the cookie cutter homes.. and find a home with trees land. we are looking at the high end price range of 425k

Ok.. so I guess some of my ? are .. are there areas in Black Forest that aren't so great?? We'd like to get in district 20 schools.. but some of Black Forest is in district 49 schools.. I've read that district 49 is not bad.. but I know district 20 schools are excellent.. We are hoping to find a property in the southern part of Black forest and when I find a property that looks good.. i'm excited .. then I'll see that the district is 49 and then I'm a bit bummed.. Is district 49 improving? I had read about new schools going up?

And where is the super Target? Is it on Powers?

Hubby goes in April on a TDY and will take a few days to look around in Colorado springs with our realtor to get a feel for the Black forest and areas within it.

[Charles]

Sounds like you are doing everything right. You are working with a realtor, you are telling him what you want. In this economy realtors are hungry, make him work.

You can download D20, D49 boundary maps off the internet and look at homes online and see which district they are in. Actually you can do almost everything online. The realtor can open the door but almost everything else is available online.

Black Forest is a little hodge podge with some older homes here and there and some newer homes here and there. There is a new development called Black Forest Reserve.

I work at Schriever too.

If you want trees there are some other fine neighborhoods: Bent Tree, Fox Run, Higby Estates, High Forest Ranch, Tall Pines, Kings Deer, Woodmoor, ..though these areas are a little farther away and some of them are in D38.

[artbyheather]

Thanks Charles! Do you do a long commute to work? Friends of ours are about to close on a house in the SD38 area..(our friend also working at Schriever) Actually I saw her posting her too .. Small world!.. She also mentioned Woodmoor as a really nice area.. but I'm not sure about commute time.. we'd like to keep the commute to work about a 30minute time frame.. I know that we need to keep in mind that we'll retire there and my husband won't always work at Schriever.. hmmm??

What zipcode are those neighborhoods in so I can search?

[Charles]

My commute from Kings Deer is 50 minutes. 80132.

[Moman1]

I can't speak for the schools, but I lived in Falcon Hills which is about 2 miles north of Woodman and HWY24 and 2 miles south of the edge of Black Forest. I have commuted many times to Schriever (I'm Air Force myself) and it only takes about 20 minutes from there, obviously a little longer in bad weather. However, there are many really nice homes in Black Forest. If I ever move back to COS, I would consider Black Forest myself.

Falcon (again, about 4 miles south of Black Forest on Meridian) is where they just put in a Super Walmart. I also hear they are going to put in a Lowes or Home Depot there too. It's growing leaps and bounds out there so you should be able to get into a nice property that can continue to rise in value. With this rise in business in the area and the increase revenue from it, you can only imagine how that money will find it's way into to school system too.

Hope this helps.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Moman1

I also hear they are going to put in a Lowes or Home Depot there too.

I think it is a Lowes and it is supposed to be near Meridian and 24.

[ladyjag45]

Can anyone give me an idea of the commute time from Black Forest to Schriever AFB in winter otherwise? I realize this depends on which side of Black Forest one is coming from. I have heard of a new area called Black Forest Reserve. Does this area also have homes with land as I have seen with most of this area? Any other specific areas of Black Forest that are recommended would also be helpful.

Thanks,
Mary

[hollyt00]

I teach in district 49, this is my fourth year in the district. I believe it is an improving district, it is experiencing difficulty with huge growth and not a lot of money to help with the growth. My opinion, though, always changes!!

Frankly as much as people crow about how wonderful Academy 20 is, I did a spreadsheet comparing District 12 to 20, and there was no comparison- Cheyenne Mt SD is really head and shoulders above many of the districts in town. There are good schools everywhere you go. District 49 is a good school district, especially when you compare the district to lots of other districts in the country.

Colorado school districts have more difficulty as we are ranked in the low forties, among other states, for per pupil funding. So when an area does not vote for higher taxes, or bonds, or whatever, then a district really struggles to achieve the heights some other districts are able to do, and that in a nutshell is what is D49's problem.

[Deniselk]

Most of the D49 schools that are overcrowded are the ones in Colorado Springs, not in Falcon proper. Falcon High School is brand new, and the old middle school moved into the old high school to relieve crowding. My friend who lives in Black Forest has a son that attends Meridian Ranch Elementary, which is an excellent school.

In sum, yes D49 has some issues but one really needs to look at individual schools. I, too, am sick of D20 being the holy grail of school districts.

[otowi]

As an educator, I can tell you that data about how great districts are or aren't, as well as individual schools, are not really very meaningful or useful. CSAP scores don't really tell you that much. D12 scores are not caused by great teachers (nor are they anywhere, for the most part), although there certainly are some wonderful teachers there as well as other school districts, and some bad ones, like other districts. - There are some other things going on there that have more to do with the families who choose and are able to live there than what is going on in the schools. Like any district, it has its problems - big drug problems, extreme cliquishness, bullying, etc. D12 is good, but is slow to react or be proactive about issues it likes to think it doesn't have and that only happen elsewhere. It is, I get the impression, making some progress in that regard.

I would suggest instead that if you find a neighborhood that you are comfortable in and that feels like home you will probably really like the schools there because they will reflect the neighborhood. Children can get great educations in most schools, as well as horrible educations in most schools - including in D20. Kids are not widgets and schools aren't black boxes, so each individual experience is unique. But, I might suggest that if teachers are happy in a school, there is good reason, and good things are going on there at the moment and it would be a good place to go to school. So, it is a good rule of thumb to find out how teachers working there are doing - what is the turnover rate, if nothing else. Stability and experience of staff in a school has huge impact on student learning, I believe. I also think that school-shopping is over-rated if one is already settled in an area and that for most (not all) people, the neighborhood school is the best place to be and to invest one's time in, rather than carting a kid miles across town. There is something to be said for connectedness to one's community, being involved in that neighborhood, having friends in that neighborhood, being able to walk to school, and so on, that I think many people fail to appreciate in terms of significance.