Colorado DISers ... where are you ?

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving tomorrow.

 

[goofy!]

Hey all!
My husband got the job!!!!

We will be moving to the Denver area very soon!
We will sell our house here and then we will be out of here hopefully our luck holds as our neighbours did they sold in 2 months at full asking price *keeping fingers crossed*


So since Dh and I will both be workingout of our home we wont need to worry so much about commute, we will be focussing our search on good schools. So far we are looking at the Highlands Ranch/Littleton area.b From what I understand those areas have some of the best schools around.


So what should I know before I do this? I am more than just a little overwhelmed at this point!

But Yay!!! Denver here we come!

I posted this on your other thread, but the Boulder Valley Schools are also some of the best in the state.

The town of Louisville (Boulder County) was ranked the #1 town in the United States to raise a family a few years ago. The surrounding towns, Boulder and Superior also are fantastic places to live and raise kids.

The schools here are a great mix of standard curriculum, focus schools and charter schools, all within the district. And we have full open enrollment, so you can go to any school in the district that you want as long as there is room. You can find IB and pre IB schools, Montessori, arts, dual immersion, core knowledge, plain old excellent BVSD standard curriculum schools and the list goes on. The high schools have CU succeed courses (University of Colorado classes right on the high school campus), AP focus, two IB and the newest - the Engineering focus strand at Centaurus.

Peak to Peak, a charter k-12 school in the BVSD district was the only high school in Colorado to be ranked in the top 40 in the entire country by Newsweek this year. The other schools routinely rank in the top of the state and country listings.

Highlands Ranch is a beautiful area with great schools. The area down there is vibrant and growing. Watch the Douglas County district though. It is incredible quality wise (my mother was one of their school psychologists for 25+ years), but they just had their bond issue voted down and are planning on making cuts such as more year round schools.

So, come up here and give us a look too. The North Metro are is a completely different feel than the South Metro area. Check and see which one fits you the best.

 

[binny]

Thanks so much


The one thing we do have to have access to is the Childrens Hospital, while DD is in therapy we will need that to be within commute distance.

 

[DenverVal]

...And we have full open enrollment, so you can go to any school in the district that you want as long as there is room.

This is the biggest joke on the planet. I am not certain how other districts process these requests, but in Adams 12, if there are more requests than room, requests are not processed on a first-come first-served basis or based on any other reasonable criteria - the names are thrown in a fishbowl and drawn by lottery. Or so they told us. So don't count on it.

Be aware that Highlands Ranch has agreements with other municipalities to provide water to its residents, and has no water rights of its own. You might want to check rates before you decide to move there. They and Aurora are the first to impose strict water rationing during periods of drought.

Good luck to you in selling your house, and congratulations to your DH for landing the job!

Children's Hospital is on the east side of town. If you choose to move to Littleton or HR, it is probably close to an hour drive, but they are on a major access route - I-225 and Colfax Ave.

 

[monsterkitty]

Thanks so much


The one thing we do have to have access to is the Childrens Hospital, while DD is in therapy we will need that to be within commute distance.

They have built a new, smaller Childrens Hospital of of I-25 and Highway 7, which is about 5 miles away from Louisville. I'm not sure they have all of the programs and treatments that the larger Childrens has.

Good luck with your move!

 

[DenverVal]

They did? Can you post the address?

 

[monsterkitty]

They did? Can you post the address?

http://www.thechildrenshospital.org/about/locations/locationsdetails.aspx?locationID=438


Children's North Campus:
Phone Number: 720-777-1340

469 W 168th Street
Broomfield, CO 80023

It is about a mile west of I-25 on Highway 7.

 

[DenverVal]

Thank you! Wish that one had the hematology department we needed - this is just a few minutes away, but we had to go to Aurora, and there's no quick route from up north.

 

[goofy!]

This is the biggest joke on the planet.

Don't know if you are referring to BVSD or Adams 12, but it works pretty well in BVSD. Granted, there are a few highly sought schools like Peak to Peak that regularly have lotteries, but for the most part, it is pretty easy to open enroll here.

We moved out of Adams 12 because we needed the special education quality that BVSD had as Adams 12 was pretty poor in that area. But otherwise, there are some great schools in the district. We have friends that have kids at Legacy and love it.

Adams 12 is a much larger district with much more diversity (excellent to not so great performing schools), so perhaps that is why it might be a joke in your district? Or did you mean that you were trying to open enroll into a Boulder school from outside the district (Adams 12?)? That is definitely a lottery system as the spots in the Boulder Schools are filled with Boulder Valley residents first and then other spots are a lottery for anybody out of district.

 

[goofy!]

Thanks so much


The one thing we do have to have access to is the Childrens Hospital, while DD is in therapy we will need that to be within commute distance.

Having a child with special needs, I can make the trip to Children's in my sleep

The commute isn't too bad from up North. In fact, it is much easier now that it is in Aurora vs when it was downtown. You can just catch the Northwest Parkway/E470 right in Louisville and get off at Colfax. And definitely check to see if the satellite hospital provides the therapy you need.

 

[goofy!]

Thank you! Wish that one had the hematology department we needed - this is just a few minutes away, but we had to go to Aurora, and there's no quick route from up north.

Actually - if you need to go again, just catch the Northwest Parkway/E-470. It will take you all the way around to Colfax and then it is just a couple of miles down Colfax.

And there is rarely much traffic on e-470 and since it it a direct route, it goes pretty quickly.

 

[binny]

Having a child with special needs, I can make the trip to Children's in my sleep

The commute isn't too bad from up North. In fact, it is much easier now that it is in Aurora vs when it was downtown. You can just catch the Northwest Parkway/E470 right in Louisville and get off at Colfax. And definitely check to see if the satellite hospital provides the therapy you need.

Thanks, I have a special needs too. I hear the neuro psych department is excellent.

 

[DenverVal]

Adams 12 is a much larger district with much more diversity (excellent to not so great performing schools), so perhaps that is why it might be a joke in your district? Or did you mean that you were trying to open enroll into a Boulder school from outside the district (Adams 12?)?

The lottery approach ticks me off. There are people like us who have valid academic reasons for choosing a different school (an attempt to match our daughter with a more suitable curriculum), whereas others simply want to go where their best friend goes, or they like a specific teacher, or that school has a better football team (fluff). A lottery doesn't differentiate between reason and fluff.

We were attempting to choice within our district. Our "home" school is Horizon, which doesn't offer the option of weighted grades and did not allow students to enroll in AP classes until Junior year. My daughter definitely needs the challenge, and is unquestionably college-bound, so we tried to enroll her at Mountain Range, which does offer these things, is reasonably close to home, and has workable transportation options. Due to the number of choice requests, they held a lottery and her name was not one of those chosen. We could have tried to choice into Legacy, but that's significantly farther from home, and we couldn't figure out how to get her home after school.

Horizon has since changed some of their policies to be more competitive with Legacy and MR, but weighted grades are not among the changes. It irritates me that the effort she expends to get As and Bs in her AP classes are indistinguishable from non-AP classes in her final GPA.

 

[DenverVal]

Actually - if you need to go again, just catch the Northwest Parkway/E-470. It will take you all the way around to Colfax and then it is just a couple of miles down Colfax.

And there is rarely much traffic on e-470 and since it it a direct route, it goes pretty quickly.

Thanks - the toll is a little steep. Actually DD was completely cleared - 'no evidence of disease' - and hopefully we will never need to go back (**knocks on wood**). The staff there is absolutely wonderful. I was very impressed with her care.

 

[goofy!]

The lottery approach ticks me off. There are people like us who have valid academic reasons for choosing a different school (an attempt to match our daughter with a more suitable curriculum), whereas others simply want to go where their best friend goes, or they like a specific teacher, or that school has a better football team (fluff). A lottery doesn't differentiate between reason and fluff.

We were attempting to choice within our district. Our "home" school is Horizon, which doesn't offer the option of weighted grades and did not allow students to enroll in AP classes until Junior year. My daughter definitely needs the challenge, and is unquestionably college-bound, so we tried to enroll her at Mountain Range, which does offer these things, is reasonably close to home, and has workable transportation options. Due to the number of choice requests, they held a lottery and her name was not one of those chosen. We could have tried to choice into Legacy, but that's significantly farther from home, and we couldn't figure out how to get her home after school.

Horizon has since changed some of their policies to be more competitive with Legacy and MR, but weighted grades are not among the changes. It irritates me that the effort she expends to get As and Bs in her AP classes are indistinguishable from non-AP classes in her final GPA.

Our open enrollment starts December 1st. If she can swing the transportation, Fairview, Boulder and Monarch have outstanding AP class selections. Boulder has the most, then Fairview and then Monarch. And it is pretty easy to open enroll in any of the high schools in the district - although I am not so sure for out of district students. Our home school is Monarch HS, but approximately 1/3 of the kids in our neighborhood open enroll at Fairview. I don't know many, if any, that have ever been turned down. The only high school that regularly has a lottery is Peak to Peak.

Fairview also has the IB program, which is quite challenging. Fairview is a bit non-traditional as it also allows students to do partial IB in that they can take IB classes for IB credit, but do not have to be going for the IB certificate. So, if they are really good at math and only want to take the math IB classes, they can.

It is not unusual for the Fairview, Monarch and Boulder High kids to graduate high school with 20+ college credits.

And all of them have weighted grades.

Oops - just noticed that Legacy was further away, so Fairview would definitely be out of the question.

 

[goofy!]

Thanks - the toll is a little steep. Actually DD was completely cleared - 'no evidence of disease' - and hopefully we will never need to go back (**knocks on wood**). The staff there is absolutely wonderful. I was very impressed with her care.

Congrats!

 

[goofy!]

Thanks, I have a special needs too. I hear the neuro psych department is excellent.

I don't think there is a department that isn't top notch! We are very fortunate to have such a facility in our area!

If your daughter is interested in cheerleading ...........I know of a great team

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Congrats Binny !!

Our grandson goes to Children's Hospital and the care at the main hospital is much better than the satelite ones. My daughter actually drives from Monument to Aurora just for the main hospital even though Co Springs has a "Children's Hospital". We find it very easy for us to get to it by hopping on C470.

We live in the Jefferson County school district and have friends with kids in Highlands Ranch. Both are definitely known for their great schools. Jeffco was great for our girls. They graduated cum laude from college. We love the area and have lived in this house for 33 years. My daughter had to move to Monument, business related, and misses Highlands Ranch. I think you would be happy with either.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

 

[binny]

Our open enrollment starts December 1st. If she can swing the transportation, Fairview, Boulder and Monarch have outstanding AP class selections. Boulder has the most, then Fairview and then Monarch. And it is pretty easy to open enroll in any of the high schools in the district - although I am not so sure for out of district students. Our home school is Monarch HS, but approximately 1/3 of the kids in our neighborhood open enroll at Fairview. I don't know many, if any, that have ever been turned down. The only high school that regularly has a lottery is Peak to Peak.

Fairview also has the IB program, which is quite challenging. Fairview is a bit non-traditional as it also allows students to do partial IB in that they can take IB classes for IB credit, but do not have to be going for the IB certificate. So, if they are really good at math and only want to take the math IB classes, they can.

It is not unusual for the Fairview, Monarch and Boulder High kids to graduate high school with 20+ college credits.

And all of them have weighted grades.

Oops - just noticed that Legacy was further away, so Fairview would definitely be out of the question.

Ok I also need to look into the IB stuff DS13 is in one now and I LOVE it for him!! They offer it in a charter school that uses the harbour method which is really great. He said "Mum its like they actually MEAN what they say! Instead of 'hey if you wouldnt mind kind of following the rules if its ok with you when you get around to it' its 'THIS is the law, THIS is what is expected.' and they dont mess around" works for me!

I don't think there is a department that isn't top notch! We are very fortunate to have such a facility in our area!

If your daughter is interested in cheerleading ...........I know of a great team

Actually they both love to cheer. Would love to know more.

 

[jsmith]

Some observations on school districts-you've all had great things to say-but-both my sons went to Westminster High-my older was valedictorian in 2003-he got an academic full ride to Clemson university-unforunately for family reasons he only stayed one year-but he excelled and graduated from CU in 2007 with 3 BAs-physics, math and economics and is currently pursuing a PhD in physics at the University of Michigan. My younger son was 7th in the class of 2007 and is currently a scholarship student at CU in areospace engineering and applied math. While District 50 does not carry the reputation that the Boulder Valley, Jeffco or Adams 12 districts do they got a very sold grounding and thru cooperation with Front Range Community College both were college sophomores when they enrolled for their first year. District 50 offers both IB and AP classes-we opted out of IB because it was too restrictive-both boys were atheletes and musicians and the IB program is all consuming -not allowing time for those extra activities-but both took a board range of AP classes. And the majority of the district 50 attendance area is in adams county-which has a MUCH lower tax base than Jeffco, Boulder or Broomfield counties.