Southeast school will ease crunch at Zach Elementary

By Cherry Sokoloski
Fossil Creek Current

With Zach Elementary School bursting at the seams, Poudre School District is scrambling to find a location for a new school in the southeast part of the district, probably near Timnath. The district would like to open a new school by 2007 or 2008.

A new school for the southeast part of the district is one of eight recommendations proposed by Superintendent Jerry Wilson in early January and approved unanimously by the school board on Jan. 23.

Zach Elementary, located south of Harmony Road on Kechter Road, opened in 2002 with room for 525 students. But with new rooftops on the rampage in southeast Fort Collins, the school quickly filled to capacity. Last year a modular classroom was added to the campus, and two more arrived for the current school year, raising the capacity to 600 students. PSD prefers to keep elementary school enrollment between 425 and 525 for maximum efficiency.

There's been considerable interest in where the new southeast school will be located. Jim Sarchet, assistant superintendent of business services for PSD, said the district is looking only at property east of Interstate 25 for the new school and is leaning toward a parcel south of downtown Timnath. Sarchet said it takes one year to construct a new school, so the district would have to break ground on a new school by this May or June to have it ready for a fall 2007 opening.

The board also approved a new elementary school for fast-growing Wellington. Both Wellington and the southeast part of the school district are expected to see a 50 percent increase in student populations in the next four years, compared with a 1 percent decline in the remainder of the district.

Parents concerned

Parents who live near Zach Elementary have been vocal in their concerns about the location of the new school, preferring a site close to their neighborhoods. Sarchet noted, however, that Timnath is also experiencing rapid growth, with more to come from proposed developments. Timnath Elementary has a population of 515 this year, compared with 419 in 2003.

Sarchet said the district has to be careful not to overbuild west of I-25, since neighborhood demographics change over the years. Schools tend to be full when neighborhoods are new, then gradually lose population as families get older.

Because of the current crowding at Zach, the school board also voted to cap enrollment at the school if needed, limiting the population to current students and their siblings. However, the enrollment cap may not be necessary. The district plans to make the school a kindergarten through fifth-grade program next fall, with sixth-graders attending the new Kinard Core Knowledge Junior High. That will create a sixth- through ninth-grade school at the junior high, at least for a couple years. The board will also appoint a study group to recommend whether ninth graders should be moved to the high schools in 2008.

Many parents are disappointed that their children may not be able to attend Zach. According to Sarchet, Zach has been a popular school because of its convenient location and its Core Knowledge curriculum. Parents are concerned about their children having to move to a different school at some point, but that will be inevitable for some families, Sarchet said.

"It will be impossible to maintain the Zach boundary area in the future," he said. However, just how and when that boundary will be adjusted has yet to be worked out.

Looking for land

Sarchet said the district is looking at four or five possible sites for the new elementary school, all east of I-25. It's getting more difficult to find suitable sites, he said, noting that 12 to 15 acres are needed for an elementary school. Timnath Ranch LLC, a development in the newly annexed southeast part of Timnath, has already dedicated land for a school, and that's one of the sites being considered.

Becky Davidson, Timnath's acting town administrator, said the town's preference would be to have the new school within its town limits. "We have been planning our infrastructure to accommodate a school," she said.

The district is currently working on an intergovernmental agreement with Timnath that would generate funds from new development for schools. However, even without such an agreement, the town has been requiring land donations from developers.

In terms of long-term planning, Sarchet said the school of choice program, while endorsed and supported by the district, does pose challenges. At present, more than 30 percent of elementary students attend schools other than their neighborhood schools, and that number is growing.