1-Color
June 6, 2014
75 cents Arapahoe County, Colorado | Volume 94, Issue 16 A publication of
englewoodherald.net
School district enacts new fees Englewood charging for athletics, other programs By Tom Munds
tmunds @coloradocommunitymedia.com Englewood High School now charges a fee for students participating in athletics and has enacted fees for special classes including technology, cosmetology and culinary arts.
The Englewood Board of Education approved the resolution enacting the fees at the May 6 meeting. The decision came following a number of board discussions over the past two months. The fee schedule requires a student participating in athletics to pay $40 per sport, with a maximum of $80 per school year per athlete. There is also $169 maximum per family per school year. Brian Ewert, school superintendent, sent a letter to EHS parents. In the letter he said the fees are the lowest of any school district along the Front Range. “We will make sure no student is excluded from athletic participation because
of the fee,” Ewert said in a phone interview. “Our plan is to deal with those cases individually.” The school board also enacted fees for other activities. The fee for culinary arts students is $25 for materials and the fee for cosmetology students is $60 for supplies and materials. The technology class fee is $50. “Circumstances made it necessary for our district to enact these fees,” Ewert said on May 28. “Basically, our district is in a financial crisis, plus we continue to be seeing declining enrollment. I believe we became the last district in the Front Range to enact fees for athletic participation.”
Ewert said the other fees were enacted to cover the cost of materials used in the specific courses. “All students will be enrolled to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the basic STEM classes,” the superintendent said. “There will be students who will enroll in the advanced STEM programs and will use specialized materials. We enacted the fees to help cover those costs for specialized materials, because the district doesn’t have the funds to pay for the materials and technology up-
Fees continues on Page 18
City gets grant for turf field Englewood parks and rec department awarded funds By Tom Munds
tmunds @coloradocommunitymedia.com
Brett Sprague portrays Romeo and sings a song to Juliet, who is portrayed by Colleen Jackson in the Opera Colorado Young Artist presentations of two abridged renditions of the opera on May 29 at Englewood’s Hampden Hall. The free performances were presented jointly by the City of Englewood and Greenwood Village and both performances were well attended. Photo by Tom Munds
Crowds applaud opera performance Opera Colorado’s Young Artists stage ‘Romeo and Juliet’ By Tom Munds
tmunds @coloradocommunitymedia.com Hampden Hall’s walls echoed with talented performers singing arias May 29 as members of Opera Colorado’s Young Artists twice performed “Romeo and Juliet” with a decidedly modern twist. Tricia Williams brought her 12-yearold daughter Gaia to the performance. “I studied the play in school so I know what the opera is about,” Gaia said. “I have seen one other opera. I think opera is different and it is cool.” The Littleton girl said she likes to sing
and, for the second year, is a cast member of the Englewood drama production. “I expect the music to be exciting and, from the story, I expect there will be a lot of dead people on the stage today,” Gaia said. Opera Colorado’s Young Artists presented two performances of “Romeo and Juliet” on May 29 at Hampden Hall, located on the second floor of the Englewood Civic Center. The Englewood Cultural Arts Commission and the Greenwood Village Arts and Humanities Council joined forces to bring the opera production to Hampden Hall. There was no charge for admission, but since seating in the hall is limited, a ticket was required and there were about 400 free tickets. The audience, about half of which were children, occupied about 60 percent of the seats for the 4 p.m. performance, while nearly all seats were taken for the
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evening performance. The five members of the “Romeo and Juliet” cast included Colleen Jackson as Juliet and Brett Sprague as Romeo. The other three cast members, mezzosoprano Louise Rogam, baritone Jared Guest and bass Benjamin Severding, each played several characters during the performance. The play “Romeo and Juliet” was written by William Shakespeare about 400 years ago. Frenchman Charles Gounod adapted the play into an opera in the mid1800s. The Young Artists performance had modern twists. For example, cast members wore modern attire for the hourlong performance, with Juliet receiving a cell phone for her 16th birthday. In one scene, Romeo and Juliet exchanged text messages on their cell phones. The voices of all five cast members were exceptional and blended well together. Props were few but effective, including the famous balcony scene and speeches. Judging by the enthusiastic applause, the crowd that included many children enjoyed the performace. Cherity Koepke, director of education and of Opera Colorado’s Young Artists, said the Englewood performances wrapped up the company’s 2014 tour. “We have five artists in our company
Romeo continues on Page 18
Englewood Parks and Recreation Department received notice of approval of their application for a $250,000 Arapahoe Open Space grant to be used to build a turf practice field in partnership with the school district. “One of the athletic fields in Hosanna Sports north of Englewood High School was lost when the softball field was built,” said Joe Sack, Recreation Services Manager. “The field was heavily used by the school district, recreation department and the public. We began looking for a way to replace it and the result is this plan.” The new turf field will be built in the area north of the Englewood High School Stadium. “That field was just a field. There were a lot of weeds and the turf didn’t grow very well,” Sack said. “It was uneven, there were pot holes and it saw limited use for football practice, the discus throw at track meets and the site of the homecoming bonfire.” The recreation department and the school district evaluated the situation and joined forces to put in the turf field. The $250,000 grant will help pay the cost of preparing the field and installing the turf. The estimated cost of the project is $722,000. Sack said the new turf field will be available for many different uses. “The field will have line markings for soccer, football and lacrosse,” he said. “The school district has first priority for scheduling use of the field and the recreation department has the second priority for scheduling. The field will be available for members of the community for sports activities when no activity is scheduled.” Dave Lee, open space manager, told the city council about the grant during the June 2 study session. Turf continues on Page 18