Another Thread about schools and moving to Denver :smack: (program, good)

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by danjmac

TCorey Elementry seems like a good school.

Very good school.
Look at Slavens K-8 also.

[danjmac]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Very good school.
Look at Slavens K-8 also.

Good to know - any stats on how many kids "choose in" into these schools relative to being "local" - prob will call them later on and ask; also interested in class size....

[davidv]

I would recommend Cherry Creek School District (Greenwood Village, Cherry Hills, Eastern Centennial) especially the area that feeds into Cherry Creek HS for a couple of reasons:

1. The elementary schools are top notch with more diversity than Highlands Ranch and even the Denver schools in the area.

2. The area is older and more established with bigger lots and mature trees.

3. It is nearest to your wife's job.

[Texas Ag 93]

Originally Posted by danjmac

Texas Ag - did your husband look at belcaro? Corey Elementry seems like a good school. Also what was the sportiness in the school? Currently we are considering stech, Bromwell and Corey.

We looked at a few in Bonnie Brae, which is close enough. The closest we came to buying elsewhere than where we ended up in Stapleton was in Cory-Merrill. Made an offer on one and could not quite come to terms with the seller/builder. It all worked out in the end. In regards to schools, I meant similar to what some other posters have mentioned- often the Elementary would be good, but the Middle school not good, for example.

[2bindenver]

Originally Posted by danjmac

Good to know - any stats on how many kids "choose in" into these schools relative to being "local" - prob will call them later on and ask; also interested in class size....

No kids "choose in" to these schools.

[blackmet]

Originally Posted by danjmac

Thank you for the messages; Stapleton looks nice but is a bit out of our 15 minutes distance of greenwood village where my wife will be working. For me I can uber to the airport from anywhere, twice a week.

With your budget and wife's work location, I'd say Greenwood Village or Centennial. Get a nice house and a nice commute for her in a good school district.

[history nerd]

Originally Posted by danjmac

Hello!
Wife got an internal offer from her company to move to Denver office which we are thinking of taking. We are ~35 and have 2 kids 4.5 and 1.5 years old. We are in NJ and live in an affluent town with some of the best public schools in the nation (Mendham, NJ). I am in consulting so no worries about moving there. I have been reading threads on here and gather that Cherry Creek might be the right place to move, but the PRE-K program might already be full. I have family members that live in Highland Ranch and simply rave about the school system there. Our Budget is 800K - 1.2MM. I have a couple of basic questions

1 - If you live in Denver Proper (cherry creek) does the school system depend on where you buy a house

2 - Is Highland Ranch school system almost as good as CCSD

3 - If we move in december , would we be able to send our kid to a school there, if not are there options for private school?

4- We are second generation Pakistani's; are both these communities well educated/ open minded?

5- What are the age demographics in these communities? I do not want to live in a retirement community

6- Should there be any other areas we should be considering?

Once this offer solidifies, we plan on visiting towards the end of the month and maybe going to a couple of open houses. Wanted to get a head start so we are not flying blind.

Thank you -

Some good comments here but I'll go ahead and add a teachers perspective.

1. If you live in Denver I'm fairly sure the district will be DPS unless you pay for private school. DPS has a bad rep but there are some good schools in the district.

2. Dougco is not as good as CCSD. I would know, I teach there. Is it a bad district that I wouldn't send my kids to? No. Is it as good as CCSD? Not even close. For the type of students coming in (wealthiest in CO) Dougco should be getting much better results like they used to before everything fell apart. Teacher turnover is a real problem. Some schools seem to have weathered the storm better than others but the atmosphere in the district is not good and ends up effecting the kids even at the best of the schools. I could say more but you can read whole threads on why these problems actually exist... I just want to let you know the problem is real.... and as an insider I'm not sure it's getting better.

3. It shouldn't be a problem getting into the neighborhood school.

6. I would say stick to the CCSD area if possible, be willing to settle on Dougco if it doesn't work out. (I assume you are looking for suburbia, if that isn't the case you have gotten some good recommendations for more urban places in this thread.)

[Gorges]

Greenwood Village. Cherry Creek schools.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by danjmac

Thank you for the messages; Stapleton looks nice but is a bit out of our 15 minutes distance of greenwood village where my wife will be working. For me I can uber to the airport from anywhere, twice a week.


Texas Ag - did your husband look at belcaro? Corey Elementry seems like a good school. Also what was the sportiness in the school? Currently we are considering stech, Bromwell and Corey.

Also we are not close to the family there (cousins) but hopefully will become better friends once we move there.

Corey is a great choice. We have friends with kids there who love it. Nice neighborhood as well.

Greenwood Village is also very nice if you want something a bit more suburban.

My parents live in Belcaro. It's very very nice.

[TigerLily24]

Originally Posted by danjmac

Hello!
Wife got an internal offer from her company to move to Denver office which we are thinking of taking. We are ~35 and have 2 kids 4.5 and 1.5 years old. We are in NJ and live in an affluent town with some of the best public schools in the nation (Mendham, NJ). I am in consulting so no worries about moving there. I have been reading threads on here and gather that Cherry Creek might be the right place to move, but the PRE-K program might already be full. I have family members that live in Highland Ranch and simply rave about the school system there. Our Budget is 800K - 1.2MM. I have a couple of basic questions

1 - If you live in Denver Proper (cherry creek) does the school system depend on where you buy a house

2 - Is Highland Ranch school system almost as good as CCSD

3 - If we move in december , would we be able to send our kid to a school there, if not are there options for private school?

4- We are second generation Pakistani's; are both these communities well educated/ open minded?

5- What are the age demographics in these communities? I do not want to live in a retirement community

6- Should there be any other areas we should be considering?

Once this offer solidifies, we plan on visiting towards the end of the month and maybe going to a couple of open houses. Wanted to get a head start so we are not flying blind.

Thank you -

A couple of points adding on to what others have already noted:
There are some addresses in unincorporated Arapahoe County that fall within the Cherry Creek School district that are listed as "Denver." It is one of the little idiosyncratic things about living here.
You want to check both the zip code and county when looking at properties to see exactly which school district covers a particular area.

The Pre-K programs fill up very quickly - the CCSD Pre-K slots were pretty much full in July this year - so being in the district is no guarantee that there will be a spot at any time of year.
There are lots of private options for preschool from Montessori to The Goddard School and everything in-between. These are the "go-to" if you need full day since there is no full day Pre-K or Kindergarten in the CCSD.
Some of the localities, Aurora for example, also have Pre-School programs through their recreation departments. This tends to be the default after the district slots fill as they sort of mirror the public school program (half days, a couple/several days a week) and the cost is about the same.

Info for the CCSD Pre-K and Kindergarten programs here:

Early Childhood Education: First Steps to Excellence
Kindergarten Roundup