Westminster Window

If your kid goes to North Mor, Rocky Mountain, Centennial, Cherry Drive, the Studio School or Shadow Ridge Middle, the school closes July 1, 2027. The Adams 12 board voted 4-1 Wednesday night.

Every student gets assigned to a nearby school. To pick a different one, the choice window opens Nov. 1, a month early, and the deadline is Dec. 15. In most cases you provide the ride.

Adams 12 has lost 7,400 students in eight years, Superintendent Chris Gdowski said. He expects more closures, but not for at least three years.

Share with a neighbor in one of the six boundaries.

Adams 12 board votes 4-1 to close 6 schools next year Adams 12 Five Star Schools board voted to close six elementary schools and one middle school effective July 2027 due to declining enrollment impacting over 1,500 students and 340 staff across the district.

If your child is in kindergarten through third grade, the test their school uses to catch early signs of dyslexia comes from a list the State Board of Education sets. On Oct. 14, the board votes on whether i-Ready stays on it.

i-Ready failed the state's initial review and made the approved list only after its publisher, Curriculum Associates, appealed. It cleared because no single measure got the lowest possible score, even though how accurately it identifies at-risk readers was marked "partially meets."

Westminster Public Schools and Adams 12 use a different test, DIBELS, but the board's list is the menu every district picks from.

The board takes public comment Oct. 14, in person or online. Sign up by noon Oct. 13. Share with a parent of a young reader:
https://www.westminsterwindow.com/news/article_881fd671-d0da-5fb5-aad2-1d3f62e5c7a5.html

Here's a test for your November ballot: vote on three tax measures, then close Colorado's projected $1.6 billion budget gap with whatever money your votes leave.

Amendment 87 would replace the flat 4.4% income tax with rates that rise with income. Proposition 136 would cap the rate at 4.4%. Proposition NN would let the state keep money it would otherwise refund to taxpayers.

Colorado Tradeoffs lets you vote on all three, then decide what happens to school funding, Medicaid, transportation, prisons and child care. At the end, you see how your choices compare with everyone else's. It takes about 10 minutes, works on a phone and comes in Spanish.

Try it, then share it with a neighbor:
https://www.westminsterwindow.com/news/article_e22d5db6-4615-4437-a12b-ff3811f5f342.html

Rocky Mountain Elementary sits on West 99th Avenue in Westminster, but most of its students don't live nearby.

Its boundary is split in two, Adams 12 Superintendent Chris Gdowski said at Rocky Mountain's Sept. 29 hearing. A majority of its students live in southern Federal Heights and "drive past North Star and STEM Launch on their way to get to Rocky Mountain," he said, which makes it "very challenging" for them to stay after school.

Last year, about one in three children who live in its boundary went to another school, spread across 22 schools.

The board votes Wednesday on closing Rocky Mountain and five other schools. Share with a Rocky Mountain family. https://www.northglenn-thorntonsentinel.com/adams-12-school-closures-where-neighborhood-families-went/article_5e4ea903-84e7-48c6-81bc-96798bbd2cf9.html

If your kid goes to an Adams 12 school outside your neighborhood, you know the catch: the district doesn't bus choice students. Someone in the family drives.

At each of the five closing schools that serve a neighborhood, families who left chose, on average, schools with fewer low-income students, according to district records and state data. At Rocky Mountain Elementary in Westminster, about one in three kids in the boundary went elsewhere, to 22 schools.

I asked whether the district tried to bring families back. It tried three programs. "Overall, these efforts did not attract more students," Deputy Superintendent Beau Foubert wrote.

The board votes Oct. 7. Share with an Adams 12 neighbor. https://www.northglenn-thorntonsentinel.com/adams-12-school-closures-where-neighborhood-families-went/article_5e4ea903-84e7-48c6-81bc-96798bbd2cf9.html

In what is normally a hotly contested conference race, Columbine softball is running away from the field in the Class 5A Jeffco League this season. The Rebels ran their winning streak to eight games on Monday with an 8-6 road victory at Arvada West.

5A Jeffco League softball title becoming a one-team race In what is normally a hotly contested conference race, Columbine softball is running away from the field in the Class 5A Jeffco League this season. The Rebels ran their winning streak to eight games on Monday with an 8-6 road victory at Arvada West.

Riverdale Ridge proved why it's top in the league this year, winning a 3-0 sweep to firmly control the league in the heart of the season. It’s a revenge game for the Ravens, who had never beaten Westminster volleyball in the school’s history.

Riverdale Ridge spikes Westminster in huge league matchup

State Wildlife officials Tuesday safely tranquilized a young mountain lion lounging in a tree on Eaton Street between 112th and 113th avenues, shutting the street down for a few hours while the animal was moved to the mountains.

Cougar lounges in tree in Westminster neighborhood State Wildlife officials Tuesday safely tranquilized a young mountain lion lounging in a tree on Eaton Street between 112th and 113th avenues, shutting the street down for a few hours