Small schools could close
By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News
Poudre School District is putting together a new committee to study how
to best combine small schools and educational programs to balance enrollment
and make the most efficient use of space.
Among the ideas the committee will consider is moving Red Feather Lakes
Elementary School students to Livermore Elementary. At press time, Mountain
Schools Principal Patrick Kind said he had no additional information about
the study.
The Facility Design Feasibility Committee will begin its work in a few
weeks. Progress will be reported in school newsletters and on the district
web site at www.psdschools.org under the topic "district updates."
PSD has three mountain schools - Stove Prairie, Red Feather and Livermore.
A recent facility study, which only considered optimal cost efficiency,
recommended several schools for consolidation or closure. They included
Red Feather, Stove Prairie and Cache La Poudre Middle School in LaPorte.
The new study, according to a letter from Superintendent Jerry Wilson,
will take into account community needs, educational programming, transportation
and geographic location.
Enrollment in elementary schools decreased this school year as PSD moved
sixth-graders into middle schools. Red Feather Lakes has 34 students in
kindergarten through fifth grades and 12 students in the BASE Camp preschool.
Stove Prairie has 41 K-5 students and 12 in preschool. Livermore has 44
K-5 students.
The new committee will also look into a different location for Lab School
for Creative Learning. Another area of study is the possibility of combining
existing elementary schools to provide a site for a small specialty high
school of 400 to 500 students
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