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D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOLS
Bond issue drives debate Presentation on capital needs draws supporters, detractors By Jane Reuter
jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com
Jim Burghardt, 96, interacts with pen pals, including playing with the bubbles that Holly Creek residents brought for the second-graders, on April 24 when they met for the first time. Photos by Christy Steadman
Closing the generation gap Highlands Ranch second-graders visit pen pals at retirement community in Centennial By Christy Steadman
csteadman@colorado communitymedia.com
Inside the retirement home, about 60 seniors waited in the reception hall. For 45 minutes, they waited. And wondered. “When are they going to be here?” “Highlands Ranch isn’t that far from here.” To pass the time, some rearranged the icecream-cone-shaped bubble bottles on the table. One man asked for pointers with his digital camera, fretting about how to shoot the best pictures possible. A woman wrote her name on a napkin to reserve her spot at a table. Finally, the yellow school bus pulled up to Holly Creek and about 70 second-graders, excitedly yelling and laughing, poured into the Centennial home, eager to meet their pen pals for the first time. Spending time with children, Jim Burghardt, 96, said, “makes life worth living.” In September, the children, from Cherry Hills Christian School in Highlands Ranch, started learning how to write a letter — how to structure it and what questions to ask of their senior-aged pen pals. By April, four rounds of letters had been exchanged. Hand-written letters “seem to be somewhat of a lost art form these days,” said Jamie Hynum, parent organizer of the pen pal outreach campaign. “It’s a good way to connect with an older generation who may not be up to speed with email.” The project’s culmination was the April 24 meeting of the two generations. Old and young, alike, couldn’t wait. The second-graders piled in the reception hall and formed semi-organized rows to perform three songs. By the end of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the seniors were smiling and clapping — some so moved that tears of joy filled their eyes.
The second-graders from Cherry Hills Christian School in Highlands Ranch performed three songs for their pen pals at Holly Creek. Pictured are the students singing “It’s a Small World (after all).” Then came the moment they had been waiting for — meeting their pen pals. A bit of chaos ensued until everyone found his or her partner. Conversation swirled with questions custom-made by the children for their new friends: “What was your favorite TV show as a child?” “What jobs have you had?” “Did you live on a farm, in a city or a town?” The residents of Holly Creek responded and asked questions of their own: What is their favorite subject in school? Do they have brothers or sisters? What sports do they like to play? “These new friendships expand the worldview of these students,” second-grade teacher Kerry Elliott said. “It provides a cross-cultural experience for them that they would not find elsewhere, and sharpens their social skills in a setting that is relatively unknown to them.” For about an hour, the pen pals ate cookies, drank lemonade, read books and blew bubbles. And then, it was time to go. The seniors and the children hugged and waved goodbye as teachers ushered their stu-
After 87 meetings with more than 1,000 community members on the school district’s long list of facility concerns, the Douglas County School Board said more work should be done before it can decide whether to put a capitalneeds tax issue on the November ballot. The school district has a final opportunity in November to ask taxpayers to maintain tax bills that would otherwise go down this year. If voters approved the proposal for a new $200 million bond, their school tax bill would remain unchanged instead of dropping by about $36 a year. After deciding not to put the question to voters in 2014, the board charged its Long Range Planning Committee with educating and getting feedback from the public about the $275 million in unmet capital needs. Committee members and financial staff gave a detailed presentation to the board about their findings during the April 21 board meeting. Surveys and comments they gathered from community members show support for funding those needs with a bond or some form of tax. “We heard the recognition of the need for a bond; we heard a concern about a long-term strategy to address our capital needs,” said committee chairman Todd Warnke, adding they also heard a desire for “quick and decisive action” to address the unfunded capital needs. “One thousandplus people came out, on snowy nights, on school nights, to sit there thoughtfully and give us very good feedback.” Warnke repeated the committee’s concerns for the increasingly grave condition of many district
Ballot continues on Page 9
HOW DISTRICTS COMPARE Douglas County receives among the lowest per-pupil funding in the Denver metro area. In 2014-15, that amount was $6,763.59, according to the CDE. The second-graders of Cherry Hills Christian School in Highlands Ranch brought books with them to read to their pen pals at Holly Creek, a retirement community in Centennial. Pictured is Holly Creek resident, Marie, listening to Alyssa read a story about one of Clifford’s adventures. dents toward the front door. “I think everybody is a kid at heart,” Holly Creek volunteer coordinator Kitty Dobbs said. “This brings it out.”
Neighboring Littleton Public Schools is also on the low end of the state funding list, getting only $1.66 more per-pupil than Douglas County in 2014-15. The CDE shows its per-pupil funding at 6,765.25. Littleton’s per-pupil state funding rank did not dissuade voters there from passing a refinancing mechanism similar to the one proposed in Douglas County in November 2013.