Voice Lone Tree
Lone Tree
August 8, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourlonetreenews.com
Douglas County, Colorado • Volume 12, Issue 30
School district ready to start year Superintendent touts additions, innovations coming in 2013-14 By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com Security for middle and elementary schools, redesigned classrooms and almost 7,000 new computers are among the changes Douglas County School District students will notice when they return to school. They’ll also experience some intangible changes in the form of updated teaching methods, revamped lesson plans and, in a handful of schools, the introduction of themed education models. Most of the county’s schools open for the 2013-14 academic year Aug. 12, though a handful started classes Aug. 5. “There are a lot of really exciting things coming this year,” Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen said. “This has been the busiest summer I can remember in education.” The most visible change will be at the district’s middle and elementary schools, where armed, plainclothes law-enforcement officers will patrol buildings through a district partnership forged in early summer. A school resource officer also will split time between Sky View Academy and the STEM high schools. The officers already are fixtures at the district’s other nine high schools. “The marshal program obviously is a huge thing for parents to really have that sense of another layer of safety for our middle and elementary school students,” Fagen said. “It’s also part of our commitment to partnering with folks in the community, using that common-sense approach to improving and innovating.” Three years of curriculum changes designed to provide a 21st-century education now are hitting the ground, Fagen said. “I feel like we spent one year talking about why American education needs to
Highlands Ranch High School student Deborah Son concentrates on the vibraphone, while Keith Larsen, brother of Highlands Ranch High School band director Kevin Larsen, helps out on drums during the Aug. 2 marching band camp. Photo by Jane Reuter change,” said Fagen, hired as DCSD’s superintendent in June 2010. “The next two years we started working together to build new curriculum, write new assessments and units. This is the year where we have these pioneer teachers, who’ve really had enough time and oppor-
tunity to learn and grow, launching these units. “Not everybody’s there yet, which is perfectly fine. But now we have these people in front, ready now to launch something different than they did before.” Fagen hopes that will help district staff,
students and parents understand the district’s education reform efforts. “We do spend a lot of time talking about things,” she said. “Implementation is so School continues on Page 14
Cabela’s offers sneak peek at new store Aug. 15 opening expected to lure thousands of visitors By Jane Reuter
jreuter@ourcoloradonews.com Camouflage-clad Cabela’s employee Jake Merritt sounded a duck call to direct Denver-area media from the parking lot into the nearly complete Lone Tree store July 30. Merritt set the tone for the sneak peek event, held two weeks before the store’s Aug. 15 public opening. Inside, Cabela’s employees lounged around a faux campfire, surrounded by Cabela’s tents, backpacks, a lantern and cooler. Others offered samples of the store’s signature fudge and demonstrated fly fishing and archery. Another sounded a duck call from inside a camouflage blind — all of it under the eyes of mounted wildlife posed high on the walls of the
Store employee Kirby Boos of Littleton demonstrated duck calls during the July 30 media sneak peek at the Lone Tree Cabela’s. 110,000-square-foot store. The employees were playful, the excitement palpable.
heavy traffic expected The Aug. 15 opening of the Lone Tree Cabela’s is expected to generate heavy traffic that day, as well as on Aug. 17 and 18 — and even on Aug. 14, when Cabela’s card-holders are welcome. The Lone Tree Police Department is anticipating congestion at the interchange of Interstate 25 and RidgeGate Parkway, and is advising motorists to take a different route if possible. The store is located on the southwestern quadrant of the interchange. Police expect that 4,000 to 5,000 cars a day will travel to Cabela’s on its opening day and the following weekend. Overflow parking will be available across Interstate 25 from the store.
“We expect thousands of people lined up before the ribbon cutting,” spokesman Joe Arterburn said. “They’ll probably be some overnight campers.” Other Cabela’s employees, known as outfitters, said they’re anxious to share the store with the public. “We want to show customers what we can do,” senior hard line manager Jeff Surry said. “Our job is to create that legendary Cabela’s experience. “We cater to people that are go-
Cabela’s outfitters Adam Thompson and Laura Krause pose among camping equipment as part of the Lone Tree store’s media sneak peek July 30. The store opens to the public on Aug. 15. Photos by Jane Reuter ing to go hunting in minus-20-degree weather to people that just want to hang out in the back yard in their flip flops.” The Cabela’s experience, Surry said, includes taking a personal interest in customers, matching their outdoor abilities with the right gear and even pointing anglers to the state’s best fishing holes. “We know where to go and how to get there,” said Jeff Butler, a former Colorado Division of Wildlife employee and lifetime fly fisherman who will work in the fishing
department. “We’ll pull out maps and show you. “They’re not just hiring clerks in this store. They’re hiring outfitters who have knowledge. It’s not just selling you something. We sell fun.” Cabela’s continues on Page 14
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