Are all the elementary schools year round? (spring break, hotel)

[ebeth79]

OK, I'm a newby - well, I will be a newby soon. We are being relocated and I'm looking at putting my kids in the Cherry Creek School District. Well, I'm noticing that all the elementary schools say they are year round? We do not have year round schools here (well, I think there's one, but I don't know anything about it). Do you have a choice, like are some classes August through June and some year round? If my high schooler only goes 10 months out of the year, I'd like for their breaks to be at the same time so they could travel to visit grandparents together?

Any insight you guys have is great. Also, what do you think of the elementary and high schools in Cherry Creek?

[maciesmom]

First off the year round schools are only for elementary schools.. I wasn't aware that Cherry Creek had year round schools. I know Douglas County does but it seems they have been trying to move away from that when they can.

From everything I've heard Cherry Creek schools are excellent overall....

[maciesmom]

Just reread your post and I think I misunderstood....You have a HS as well as elem school....OK. Usually, the year round schools do offer a choice of "tracks" but it depends on what's available. The tracks that most closely match up with traditional schedules do get filled up first...I would enroll early.

[Legs1357]

Unless things have drastically changed most elementary schools in cherry creek are not year round. There are many that are, but like maciesmom was saying, they usually have several tracks. I don't know which elementary schools are considered good but cherry creek high school is usually considered the best hs in the district but smoky hill and grandview are both great schools. None of the high schools are baaaaaad by any means though. I don't know if you care or not but creek and grandview are both REALLY white

[ramanboy33]

Some are year round, some are not. Here is a link to all Cherry Creek school's schedules.

School Calendars - CCSD

[ebeth79]

If you move into a neighborhood that the child would go to a year-round school, do you have the option of enrolling them in another school within the district? All of the houses we have picked out to look at next week when we're there list yr. round schools as their elementaries. Maybe once I get there and learn more about it, I'll be comfortable with it, but I know that we travel extensively in the summers (my inlaws live in Europe) and year round school on the surface is not a good option for us. Here if you happen not to care for a school, you can apply and be transferred to another school of your choice within the same district so long as you provide the transportation.

[Katarina Witt]

Colorado is an open enrollment state, however, the outside school has to have space available. Most districts set a priority list for OE. Check the district's website.

[the3Ds]

We are in the Cherry Creek school district and my daughter's elementary school is year-round. First, let me say that as far as I know, year round school only applies to elementary schools.

As a mom who has a kindergartner right now in school, I have a 5-year age difference between my kids, so it won't be long before one is year-round and the other is on the traditional schedule.

I can only tell you what I know from our elementary school (though the calendar they give you is for all of Cherry Creek schools that do the year round schedule).

There are 4 tracks. Track A is what my daughter is on. She started school the week after 4th of July and gets 3 weeks off in September, December (though it runs into the traditional Christmas break, so she had 5 weeks off), March, and June. Her last day of school is May 29th. For me, I love it. 3 weeks is just the right amount of time off before my daughter and I go crazy. I don't know what parents do with kids who have the whole summer off.

Track B follows more closely with the traditional schedule (their breaks come during Cherry Creek's spring break, Christmas break and when school lets out). I believe they started school at the end of August.

Tracks C and D were the ones we wanted the least. They start school in July but only go for one month before they are off again. That just seemed weird.

I can tell you that when you sign up for school, the district office will give you a form and you can indicate that your other child is on the traditional calendar. They do give preference to the B track for students who have older siblings. I know there is also preference for kids if their parents want them on the same schedule.

I also know that while many of the parents in my daughter's class did a lot of grumbling at the beginning of the year about the year-round school, I haven't heard from one of them recently who didn't love it. You have to adjust your idea of the traditional school year and it's hard because you have to shop for school supplies WAY before they are even in stores, but once you dump your idea of what a school year should be, I'll bet you find it to your liking. They still have after school programs, the nearby recreation center offers day "camp" for the year round schools and for me, the A track worked perfectly because it gave us the opportunity to go on our "summer" vacation in September (when the weather is great, the crowds are down and there are flight and hotel deals). If your child is on the traditional schedule, you can still take vacation during one of the months in the summer and they will still have Christmas break off. If you want to coordinate spring breaks, you'll have to enroll your elementary school student on the B-track. Plus, if you live in an area with year-round schools, all the rest of the kids will have the same time off and other parents will be able to help you fill in the space when the kids are off of school.

[the3Ds]

Originally Posted by ebeth79

If you move into a neighborhood that the child would go to a year-round school, do you have the option of enrolling them in another school within the district? All of the houses we have picked out to look at next week when we're there list yr. round schools as their elementaries. Maybe once I get there and learn more about it, I'll be comfortable with it, but I know that we travel extensively in the summers (my inlaws live in Europe) and year round school on the surface is not a good option for us. Here if you happen not to care for a school, you can apply and be transferred to another school of your choice within the same district so long as you provide the transportation.

As someone who lived in Europe and has friends who are Dutch, they have year round schools there too. Keep in mind that the only difference between year round and traditional schools is that they don't get a traditional "summer" break. Your child is not going to be going to school non-stop. It seems they get breaks constantly. Everyone gets nearly a month off sometime during the summer.

Just from another parent's perspective: Not all the schools are year-round, but I'd be careful about taking your child out of the neighborhood school just so you can take a traditional vacation. You have moved into the Cherry Creek school district. It's packed with fellow parents and kids who will otherwise be in your child's class. I'd be careful about alienating them from potential classmates just to accomodate your vacation schedule. My daughter is constantly playing with friends from her class and it's a lot easier to get her to the neighborhood school rather than having to drive her out of our neighborhood to another one.

If your child is on A-track for example, you can take your vacation for the entire month of June. You can also take a vacation for nearly the entire month of September. September is great in Europe and you'll get better airfare deals because the summer crush has ended.

[cecilia0909]

No, we are in the Belleview school area and it's a regular school year