Legacy, Standley Lake, Broomfield HS-which one? (Westminster, Boulder: real estate, house, neighborhood)

[mrspabb]

Hi, all! Our family, which includes two children currently in grade school, may be moving to the Broomfield area in June. I will probably get to visit the area once or twice before then, and I want to look at the schools in particular. Based on real estate searches, the areas we like (Broadlands and McKay Landing seem to come up a lot, but are not the only ones) seem to populate Legacy, Standley Lake, and Broomfield high schools. I've looked at all of those websites, but would like some opinions from some folks who've had their kids go there. My son is "very highly gifted" according to testing done by an educational psychologist, and my daughter is also very bright and very athletic as well. (My son is not so much an athlete.) I'd like to hear about the elementary and middle schools that feed into these high schools as well of course, but it seems like the high school years are so formative, so that's why I'm looking into those right now. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Bradburn1]

Legacy is the high school for my neighborhood, Bradburn Village in Westminster. Several of my neighbors have their kids there (the majority of kids in here are middle school and elementary age) and they speak very highly of Legacy. If your son is highly gifted, there is a gifted only charter school in this area called Stargate you should look into (it's k-8, not sure of his age). Cotton creek is our elementary and Westlake is the middle, both great schools. Broomfield is also a good high school, but almost all schools in this area are frankly.

[davidv]

Interestingly, the 3 high schools are all in different districts.

Broomfield HS is in Boulder Valley, and it is the oldest and most established of the schools.

Legacy is in Adams Co. Dist. 12. It is the newest of the schools having been open for only about 10 years

Standley Lake is in Jefferson County. It is an International Baccalaureate school.

Here are some things to consider:

Since each of the schools draws from a similar population, their scores are roughly the same, so that won't help much.

You'll want to enroll your child into the a middle school that feeds into that particular high school. Your children will in all likelihood want to go to the same high school as their friends.

Legacy and Broomfield are not IB schools. You'll want to find out how many different AP classes they offer, and their policies for taking AP classes and tests. You'll want to check out the IB diploma program to see if you would prefer that to AP programs.

Because of school of choice, you can live in one district and have your child attend a school in another district on a space available basis. You are not tied to your neighborhood school.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by davidv

Interestingly, the 3 high schools are all in different districts.

Broomfield HS is in Boulder Valley, and it is the oldest and most established of the schools.

Legacy is in Adams Co. Dist. 12. It is the newest of the schools having been open for only about 10 years

Standley Lake is in Jefferson County. It is an International Baccalaureate school.

Here are some things to consider:

Since each of the schools draws from a similar population, their scores are roughly the same, so that won't help much.

You'll want to enroll your child into the a middle school that feeds into that particular high school. Your children will in all likelihood want to go to the same high school as their friends.

Legacy and Broomfield are not IB schools. You'll want to find out how many different AP classes they offer, and their policies for taking AP classes and tests. You'll want to check out the IB diploma program to see if you would prefer that to AP programs.

Because of school of choice, you can live in one district and have your child attend a school in another district on a space available basis. You are not tied to your neighborhood school.

If you are really sold on a specific school, move into its attendance area. You are not guaranteed a space through open enrollment, especially out of district.

[mrspabb]

Thank you all for taking the time to answer. Very kind of you! Looks like I'll need to check out each school in person. I'm sure you're right, Katiana, about finding a house where the preferred school is.