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Will Stapleton Residents Get Their Answers?

Posted on 07. Aug, 2009 by JM in Posts

Will Stapleton Residents Get Their Answers?

While at first it might seem that the utopian land of Stapleton isn’t all it was marketed to be, there is no doubt that the community will demand a solution. Due to lack of funding, dwindling home purchases in the area and the threat of overcrowded schools, Stapleton is finding itself in quite a pickle.  The children will end up somewhere, though parents surely expressed frustration with the lack of viable solutions presented Wednesday night.  One would think that DPS, DURA, Mayor Hickenlooper’s office, Forest City and folks from the Stapleton Foundation would have come brandishing an arsenal of possibilities to alleviate concerns. They did not.

The Stapleton Community Meeting drew a huge crowd Wednesday night. Scores of parents, TV cameras, reporters and representatives from various organizations and city departments were present at Bill Roberts Elementary to discuss the future of education in Stapleton.

After what seemed like a political filibuster consisting of a presentation of the financial situation by DURA representative Cameron Bertron, Stapleton School Survey data by Brian Weber and Justin Silverstein of the Stapleton Foundation and SUN, demographic data presentation by Ethan Hemming of DPS, the Q&A session opened up with a bang.  Amidst the hissing and booing of some overzealous parents, the mediators finally got the crowd under control and began answering the questions posed in a more orderly fashion.

The bottom line, it seems, is that there is no concrete plan. There isn’t even a liquid plan.  It was promised by David Suppes from DPS Board of Education, that options will be presented this fall so that Stapleton residents can solidify their plans for school choices by the deadlines in January.

We asked Stapleton family members who attended the meeting their thoughts on these issues as they stand today.  One thing is for certain, Stapleton residents are steadfast, they are united and they will get answers. Here are some of their thoughts:

Q: Did you find last night’s meeting to be helpful in gaining a better understanding of the issues at hand in Stapleton?

Parent 1: The most important thing I took away from the meeting is that DPS’s new projections for the number of kids per household (0.26) is so woefully off the mark there is no way TIF funding will be able to keep up (new projections will be based on the Stapleton School Survey).  All of the bellyaching about how development has been slowed by the economy is really just a mask for the underlying problem, which is that we will need more schools that what was originally planned (and provided for by TIF), and DPS will need to find funding outside of the TIF to provide for the educational needs of Stapleton.

Parent 2: Some of the data last night was informative, but I do not think it helped much in terms of clarifying the issues, and actually was somewhat misleading in terms of the focus on the bad economy and lack of ability to issue new TIF bonds.  It should be clear to DURA, DPS, Forest City, and all others that the 4 planned elementary/K-8 schools will not be sufficient for Stapleton’s projected population of 30,000 residents.  More development will only add to the problem.

Parent 3: Yes, I feel as if I understand how DURA runs and how that affects the financial situation in Stapleton.

Parent 4: Yes and no.  The fact portion wasn’t enlightening and the Q&A session was a bit scattershot.  The primary facts that stay with me are the projection of one child per every fourth house, that there is no plan for over-enrollment in 2010, and that (if I remember this correctly) there is no more bonding capacity until 2024.  One issue that was not addressed at all is the allegation made by the residents that Forest City (or builders) made representations that a school would be built in 2009/2010, unless I missed it…

Parent 5: While the various “players” made good efforts to explain the factors that led to the current crisis of capacity and the present constraints and limitations on solutions, they did not seem to very far along in identifying feasible solutions and quantifying tradeoffs for comparative purposes.

Q: How are you feeling about the future of the Stapleton schools after this meeting?

Parent 1: Unsettled. It was shocking to me that DPS convened such a meeting without having any proposals for how to address the problem.  I plan to take a wait and see approach for now, especially since I have a few years before my daughter will be elementary age.

Parent 2: Encouraged that we have such an active and engaged group of residents and parents. I think we are a very thoughtful community, and I know there is broad support for finding reasonable alternatives to a traditional DPS school in a traditional school building for the short term.

Parent 3: I am unhappy with the lack of planning and foresight that went into the schools in Stapleton. I also feel as if there has been little attempt to fix the problem. I heard a lot of reasons why Stapleton is in the current situation, but I did not hear any options or creative solutions.

Parent 4: There were exactly zero answers and close to zero ideas for resolution from DPS. Suffice it to say this does not engender a lot of confidence.

Parent 5: Not terribly optimistic. As an economist, this is how I would sum it up.  Neighboring schools and Stapleton schools are not close substitutes (i.e. residents are not terribly willing to bus or transport their kids to another neighborhood school, even if it’s a quality program).  Given the size of the impending capacity gap, without an in-neighborhood solution, three things will predictably happen. Some families will choose a private alternative, some will move to another neighborhood for a better public option, and some families that might have moved to Stapleton won’t. This will depress housing prices but will alleviate the demands on our neighborhood public schools. How this will affect the quality of the schools in Stapleton is not clear to me, at this point.

Q: What solution(s) to the overcrowding in the Stapleton schools would you like to see proposed (given the economic and logistical restrictions you heard last night)?

Parent 1: In the long run, as I mentioned above, DPS needs to come up with funding for additional schools to accommodate the much higher than projected number of children per household.  Otherwise, this problem will only get worse as the community continues to grow.  In the short-term, I would like to see DPS (and, and perhaps charters) offer options that will: (1) first and foremost, provide a high-quality education for our children and (2) keep the kids together, to the extent possible rather than bussing them all over town.  Perhaps DPS could create magnet schools (a gifted program, a language program, or an arts-based program for elementary-age children) in East Denver that would attract families.  If charters can get funding to build or expand in the area (perhaps Odyssey), that might alleviate the pressure in the short term).

Parent 2: I would specifically suggest creating a traditional DPS school that is first housed in some form of non-traditional space, like an office building or one of the empty warehouse buildings on Havana/40th.  Trailers could also be an option, but I prefer smaller schools than we have in Stapleton, so that the principals and administrators actually know the students and don’t treat them as cogs in a machine.

Parent 3: A new elementary school would be the best option. A section would be to move Odyssey out and allow Westerly Creek to expand into that space. A third would be to eliminate ECE programs (particularly at WC) in Stapleton or move them to a different location. Another, and less desirable option, would be temporary trailers on the property of each school.

Parent 4: As mentioned above there weren’t any options presented and I simply do not have the knowledge base or time to develop my own public education program for DPS in Stapleton

Parent 5: I can’t take credit for most of these, but a few suggestions follow: FEMA trailers, as a temporary solution; work with Park Hill neighborhood to fill open seats in its school with Stapleton residents and create a joint-community effort to raise quality of those schools; build onto/expand Westerly Creek, if possible; relocate Odyssey within Stapleton; develop adult living communities in Stapleton that will contribute to high value properties and keep down growth of school-age children.

Q: Do you think you’ll continue to, or apply to send your child or children to one of these schools in following years given the circumstances?

Parent 1: Too soon to tell.

Parent 2: Yes. I will work hard to solve this problem and find a great school for my daughter.

Parent 3: Yes. I believe in public schools.

Parent 4: Our plan was to send the kids to the public schools in Stapleton, although we vacillated a bit we thought as long as reports were good we’d give it a shot.  Now we’ll just wait and see.  We have until 2011 so I guess we’ll have a bit of time.

Parent 5: Yes.

Q: If not, what are the other options you are considering right now?

Parent 1: At this point, everything is on the table (public, charter, private, etc.).

Parent 2: We will stay in Stapleton, but may have to look at other schools in the area, if DPS cannot get its act together.

Parent 3: NA

Parent 4: Anything and everything EXCEPT home schooling!

Parent 5: Carson, Logan, Montessori K

Q: Do you believe that DURA, DPS, Forest City and the Stapleton Foundation will stick to their promise of proposed solutions by October?

Parent 1: No idea, but it disappoints me that they did not anticipate this problem earlier on, given that the fact that their projections were way off should have been obvious years ago.  How can you build a community specifically designed to attract families with children and then assume that the number of children per household will be the same as the rest of the city?

Parent 2: Yes, because the residents will give them no choice.

Parent 3: Possibly. I am afraid that they will tell us that.  We all agreed that proximity is a priority and the fear is that they will attempt to bus kids to nearby public schools. This would be totally unacceptable to me. Proximity in Stapleton is very different than proximity outside of Stapleton. The schools surrounding this area are not very good and I would not have chosen to move here had I know that might be an option.

Parent 4: I am positive that they will have at least one meeting, that there will be at least three proposed solutions, and that none of them will be acceptable.

Parent 5: They will try, but won’t succeed without considerable involvement, assistance and pressure from residents of the community.

Q: Do you have anything else that you would like to add?

Parent 1: It is important that we work together as a community to address this issue and not wait for DPS to take the lead.  If we stand together, we will have a much greater chance of having our voices heard and the needs of our children met.

Parent 2: We cannot allow DPS, Forest City, and our elected officials pretend this is a problem due to the bad economy. If we had moredevelopment to pay for another school, we would also have more students.  We need another funding stream for extra schools.  DPS issued bonds for to pay for new schools in Lowry and Green Valley Ranch, and will need to do the same for Stapleton.  We should push them to do so as soon as possible.  They agreed to the current TIF funding arrangement that pays for 4 elementary/K-8 schools, so it’s up to them to provide the extra school space that is needed, given that their original projections were bad.

Parent 3: Yes. I would like to re-emphasize that proximity in Stapleton is very different than proximity outside of Stapleton.

Parent 4: One, does DPS even have capacity for all these kids at other schools?  Two, Stapleton parents are getting a bad rap. The school will fall short on capacity by something like double the current enrollment.  Any other neighborhood would be just as upset.

Tags: denver schools, DPS, DURA, Forest City, stapleton dps, stapleton kindergarten, stapleton overcrowding, stapleton schools