Clive Cussler’s classic-car legacy lives on

BY LILLIAN FUGLEI LFUGLEI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Tucked away behind construction on Indiana Street is a collection of ily writing adventure and thriller stories. ough Cussler passed away in 2020, his legacy lives on, partially through his museum. ough Cussler began collect ing cars in the 1970s, it wasn’t until

Helping Your

2005 that the museum opened.

“My mother and I approached him about opening it up to the public because he had over 100 cars, and they’re so fascinating,”

Amie Knutson, Cussler’s grand daughter, said. “We thought it’d be neat to open up to the public and let people come see them.”

Knutson added that she wants to keep her grandfather’s legacy going.

“He passed away three years ago,” she said. “It’s just neat talking to all the people that are huge fans of his and just showing people these awe some cars that you don’t really see every day. It’s wonderful.”

Keith Lowden, the museum’s mechanic, has been working on the cars since the 1980s. Lowden helped Cussler to pick out cars and restore them and has been helping with upkeep and repairs ever since.

“I would go on trips with him to car auctions,” Lowden said. “I checked (cars) over and stu before he would decide to bid on them. So that was a lot of fun. ose times

With over 100 cars, the museum can only display around 60 at a time. Each car has a small sign detailing the model and history of the vehicle, while many cars are displayed with a copy of one of Cussler’s books. Many of Cussler’s books feature a car in his collection, with a photo of him in the car on

“Opening this up as a museum so people can come in, we get a lot of his fans in here,” Lowden said. “It’s like they’re movie stars to them or something where they want to come and see the car. ey can’t see the character. e stories are just kind of made up. But the cars

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“With both parents working, it’s kind of hard,” Amaya said. She said Monaco leaders had reached out to her to hear her concerns, seemingly looking for a solution, she thought, but she hasn’t heard back.

“I guess we’ll see ursday,” Amaya said.

Adams 14 has about 6,100 students and still has an uncertain future. Reorganization could mean school closures or nearby districts taking control over the district’s schools, but the plan has to be shaped and approved by the community, and leaders appointed to the reorganization committee support letting Adams 14 continue to operate as is.

Much of that work remains on hold while the district awaits a Colorado Supreme Court decision as it argues the state doesn’t have the ability to order a school district to close. In the meantime, district leaders are counting on Superintendent Karla Loria’s new administration to drive academic improvements that multiple past administrations have been unable to accomplish.

District leadership refused an interview to talk about the work that’s going into those improvements.

Parents said they’re unaware of what changes are happening, but are hopeful for a good school year.

Angelica Munoz said she just moved to Commerce City and isn’t aware of any of the district changes, but heard from her sister-in-law that Monaco was a “wonderful school.”

Her daughter loved her rst day of kindergarten.

“She can’t wait to go back tomorrow,” Munoz said. “She said they were doing a lot of reading. I think that’s good.”

Carlos Cabrera has a son, 14, with special needs, who is starting at Adams City High School this year.

Cabrera said his son was worried about the bigger school, older students, and more social interactions, and he was concerned because his son doesn’t communicate much.

But after school, Cabrera said it seemed to go well.

“He said he likes the teachers,” he said. “It looks like it went good.”

Cabrera said that in the morning he walked into the school with his son, but didn’t get a lot of information. e school said they’d let him know about the academies later.

Jason Malmberg, the president of the district’s teachers union, said he and other teachers are most excited about the district’s continued work to roll out the community school model. e model, which seeks to bring community resources into the schools such as food pantries, parents classes, or after-school care, to address external factors that impact learning, is being rolled out rst at Central Elementary, one of the lower-performing schools in the district. Malmberg said he and other leaders applied this summer for some grant funding to try to pay for the work to roll out the model districtwide.

“ ere’s a model that pretends race and class and poverty have no impact on education,” Malmberg said. “We are trying to do a di erent model, a model that elevates the voice of the community, that responds to the needs of that community.”

Malmberg, along with district and community leaders, believe the state’s performance ratings ignore the impact that the high concentration of poverty and other social and environmental challenges have on the ability for students in Adams 14 to be able to learn or demonstrate learning on a standardized test. ey’re interested in having the school district address some of those challenges rst and believe that over time, that may lead to some academic improvements.

“We really feel like this is the answer: investing in the community. But it’s not a quick x.”

Chalkbeat is a nonpro t news site covering educational change in public schools.