May 14, 2015 VOLU M E 1 4 | I S SUE 1 7
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OF HIGHLANDS RANCH CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY BY GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY May 21st to May 25th See our insert in today’s paper for more information.
D O U G L A S C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
A publication of
Council not biting on eatery To detractors of Hooters, it’s more than a wing thing By Jane Reuter
jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com
Argentine folklórico music was part of SkyView Academy’s Spanish celebration, which took place on May 2. Pictured is a child touching the bombo legüero, a traditional Argentine drum. Other instruments used in this type of music are the Spanish guitar, pictured to the right of the drummer, and voice. Photos by Christy Steadman
Event showcases Spanish culture SkyView students display language skills By Christy Steadman
csteadman@colorado communitymedia.com
Spanish is a different type of class, said SkyView Academy teacher Jessica Lui. Students generally look forward to Spanish class, she added, because they watch videos, do some role playing, sing and listen to music. Spanish language and culture is taught at SkyView, a tuition-free public charter school in Highlands Ranch, to all students from preschool through eighth grade, and high school students have the choice to continue the courses as a foreign language option. Spanish class is fun, Lui said, but the students are learning a lot — a few hundred vocabulary words each year plus sentence structure, she said, so they can have a basic conversation by at least the time they are in middle school. When a person begins to study a foreign language at a young age, Lui said, they can Spanish continues on Page 9
Siena Negrón points out her assigned country, Puerto Rico, on a map. Negrón, a third-grader, explained that each student was assigned a Spanish-speaking country to study, and students spent about three weeks researching information on their country. The research was then presented to attendees of SkyView Academy’s Spanish celebration on May 2.
A motion to approve Hooters’ liquor license languished for lack of a second during the May 5 Lone Tree City Council meeting. Mayor Jim Gunning’s request for a second, repeated twice, was both times met with silence from council members who already had voiced their reluctance about the restaurant opening along County Line Road. “There wasn’t an approval or denial (given),” City Manager Seth Hoffman said. “One of those things needs to happen. “There are limited reasons a liquor license can be denied under state statute. Any denial would have to be articulated within the scope of the statutes.” The issue will be continued during the council’s 7 p.m. May 19 meeting. Between now and then, Gunning said the council will work with staff to answer some remaining questions regarding the application. Hooters, known for its chicken wings and waitresses, or “Hooters Girls,” is applying for a liquor license at the former TGI Fridays at County Line Road and Yosemite Street. The space has been vacant since TGI Fridays closed in 2014. Lone Tree Hooters Inc. has already signed a 10-year lease for the site. The stall came after Hooters’ representatives gave extensive testimony about a community survey showing support for the Lone Tree location, the chain’s recent efforts to become more family friendly, its “very strict uniform standard” and history of liquor license violations. Gunning called for a vote. “It’s a legitimate business,” he said. “It’s located in a mostly business area of town. The residential impact there is very little. The survey was 80 percent in favor of doing it. We have very little grounds to say no to an established franchise moving into another building that an established franchise occupied.” Hooters continues on Page 9
Solutions to financial needs differ by district
Littleton Public Schools didn’t wait on state By Jane Reuter
jreuter@colorado communitymedia.com The outgoing Littleton Public Schools superintendent said his community shares the Douglas County School Board’s concerns about Colorado’s school-funding formula, but decided it couldn’t wait for help from the state. “This is not my district, it’s not our staff’s district, it’s the community’s district,” said Scott Murphy, reflecting on its decision to put an ultimately successful bond issue on the 2013 ballot. “The Murphy community has to decide what it wants its schools to do and be. “We’d gotten to the point where we could wait all day for the state, but we decided not
to.” Like Douglas County, Littleton needed money to repair and maintain aging buildings — its average structure is more than 50 years old. It’s using the funds to replace boilers and roofs, update electrical and plumbing systems, and improve technology infrastructure. About 60 percent of voters approved the LPS measure, which Murphy said was not controversial. In part, he believes that’s because the school board was united in support of the issue. With passage of the 2013 measure, LPS extended its mill levy, and taxpayers’ school bills stayed the same. Had voters not approved the question, their tax bill would have decreased by $36 a year, or $3 a month. The situation is almost identical in Douglas County today. DCSD, which has a $275 million list of unfunded projects, could ask taxpayers in November to approve a new $200 million bond. Because it would replace a bond that is maturing, homeowners’ school tax bills would
DCSD board president not sold on ballot measure By Jane Reuter
jreuter@coloradocommunitymedia.com
FUNDING OUR SCHOOLS
LPS continues on Page 10
Douglas County School Board President Kevin Larsen strongly supported a school-funding measure in 2010, but now says the school district shouldn’t rush to meet the increasingly narrow window of opportunity to put a similar issue on the November 2015 ballot. He also doesn’t entirely disagree with Littleton Public Schools Superintendent Scott Murphy’s contention that a district shouldn’t rely on the state changing its formula to help solve capital needs. “I think there’s some truth to that, but you have to have a community that’s informed in order to be ready (to approve a ballot issue),”
Larsen said. “I’m not going to stop trying to win at the state level, because I think the amount we’re shortchanged is significant.” The Douglas County and Littleton school districts are among the lowest funded on the Front Range. “At the same time, I think the discussions that are going on in the community (about capital needs) are helpful,” said Larsen, adding that more such talks are needed before the board can decide on a course of action. A November 2015 bond issue measure could generate about $200 million for DCSD, addressing most of the $275 million in capital needs identified by the district’s Long Range Planning Committee. The board voted in 2014 not to put the measure on the ballot, saying Douglas County residents — already overburdened and paying a disproportionate share of taxes — were unlikely to approve a local funding question. It has cited similar Larsen concerns this year, the last chance to propose a bond to maintain tax bills that would otherwise DCSD continues on Page 10