School: Edison Elementary

Website: http://edison.dpsk12.org

Type: Public-DPS

Tours: No formal tour schedule-to set up a tour call the school the day prior to when you want to visit.

Main Phone: (303) 455-3615

Principal: Ann Christy

Location: 3350 Quitman St Denver, CO 80212 – Highlands Neighborhood

Hours:  8:45 AM-3:30 PM

Grades:  ECE-5, Full-Day and Half-Day Kindergarten

Average Class Size: Approximately 575 children attend the school. Kindergarten and First Grade classes have 25 students or less (paras are in each Kindergarten classroom 3-4 hours daily). All other grades have an average of 27 students.

Before/After Care: Kaleidoscope Corner (some programs are grant funded, others are tuition-based). There are many enrichment programs to choose from such as language classes (German, Spanish, Chinese), Shakespeare, Chess Club, Yoga, Basketball, Dance, and Cub Scouts to name a few.

Playground: A new playground was built about four years ago with colorful, updated equipment. Several areas of the playground are for organized play. There is a small “Shakespeare” amphitheater, a community garden, and baseball field. Volunteers and community leaders helped in creating the unique learning landscape found on the school grounds.

Special & Core Programs: Edison houses Advanced Kindergarten. It is also a HGT Magnet school and each grade level has a self-contained classroom with HGT students. Edison provides many unique after school enrichment programs for the children. Their hope one day, is to manifest more of this enrichment into the school day. A popular afterschool enrichment program is the Chess Club. About 90 children participate while a teacher, along with parent volunteers run it.  The school also has a partnership with the University of Colorado Denver. They have 8-10 interns each year with many college students doing their student teaching at the school. The principal tells me it’s been a wonderful partnership. The interns learn from the teachers and their experience within the classroom, while the teachers learn innovative, educational practices from the interns. How great for the students at Edison! This experience gives the interns a “leg up” if Edison is hiring new teachers. Also, there is the PBS (Positive Behavoir Support) program. This helps keep the children on track with being rewarded for positive behavior. Edison also has one classroom with a dedicated teacher and an assistant for each of 6 autistic students.

Impressions: Edison Elementary is nestled in a quiet Highlands neighborhood. When driving up to the school, much construction was taking place outside. We later learned the school’s bathrooms were getting a well-needed renovation. The school itself looks somewhat deceiving in size from the outside. It is much larger than we thought once inside. It is an historic school building built in the 1920′s with a lot of character and architectural detail such as the dark paneled wood that is found in the foyer. The first floor hallways are wide but dark, while the second floor is very bright due to the large skylights that were installed a few years back.

We met with Ann Christy, the principal, and Larry Nelson, the vice principal, in June after the school year was over. They provided us with detailed information and were gracious enough to take us on a tour of the school and grounds. This gave us a better feel for the school itself. There seems to be a very strong sense of community at Edison. There is a PTA, a Friends of Edison group that is in charge of grant writing, and individuals including community leaders and parents who are involved in a variety of programs and projects supporting the school and its curriculum. The student body is quite diverse and thus creates a rich multicultural experience for the children. Edison seems to be a popular school in the Highlands Neighborhood. It is the only HGT program in the area and this is a big draw for many families. There were about 30-40% Choice in students for the 2008-2009 school year.

We were most amazed to learn at just how many afterschool and enrichment activities that are offered to the children. We were also very impressed with Edison’s Website which we learned is managed by an Edison parent. It is an attractive site filled with an abundance of information and is continually updated! More schools should take a look at this website to improve their existing sites.

We welcome your comments and impressions on Edison Elementary.