December 11, 2014 VOLU M E 9 1 | I SS UE 1 7
LakewoodSentinel.com J E F F E R S O N C O U N T Y, C O L O R A D O
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Deaf school opens doors RMDS welcomes students, staff to new building By Clarke Reader
creader@colorado communitymedia.com The Rocky Mountain Deaf School finally has a home. After years of searching, designing and building, the school, located at 10300 W. Nassau Ave., finally opened its doors on Dec. 6 to tremendous celebration from staff, students and community members. “This is much more than a ribbon cutting for a school,” said Amy J. Novotny, director of RMDS. “This is an opening of a new home for our students and community.” The school is a charter school in Jefferson County and Jeffco Superintendent Dan McMinimee was on hand to welcome students and staff to their new home. “Today symbolizes and end — an end to the waiting for the building to open, but it’s also a beginning, and that’s the important part,” he said. “Now the great teachers and kids you have will start to fill this school with their love and skills.” RMDS received a grant from the BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) Program through the Colorado Department of Education to build a new school specifically designed with and for deaf and hard of hearing students and every detail was considered and thought through. Novotny said that the school’s paint job and color scheme reflects the four departments — early learning, elementary, middle and high school — in RMDS and allows students to have their own spaces. All the classrooms in the LEED
Rocky Mountain Deaf School director Amy J. Novotny explains how the classroom’s monitors and interactive whiteboards work in Lakewood. Photos by Clarke Reader gold certified building have the desks arranged in half-circles so the students can see and interact with each other and features monitors and interactive wall spaces to promote communication. “The lighting in the building is very intentional — we use natural lighting as much as possible because it’s much easier on the eyes,” Novotny said. “All our floors have wood underneath the carpeting because it allows people to get students attention through vibrations.” The building was designed with as few corners as possible and plenty of ways to see around them since students can’t hear
someone coming. The RMDS school isn’t just for students — the community is invited to the American Sign Language (ASL) classes that will be hosted to teach them how to sign. Students at RMDS are also learning ASL through innovative video techniques. The playground and field areas were all designed with the students in mind, and the community chipped in to pay for the field. “It’s unbelievable to be standing here and see this dream come true,” said Martha Wolcott, Celebrate continues on Page 2
Some of the first visitors to enter the new school during its opening event on Dec. 6.
‘Father of Lakewood’ dies at 88 Richey led incorporation effort, served as first mayor By Clarke Reader
creader@colorado communitymedia.com There aren’t many people of whom it could be said, “Lakewood wouldn’t be here without him.” James Jeff Richey is one. The city’s first mayor, the man known as the “father of Lakewood,” died Nov. 29. He was 88. “Jim was one of the last courtly gentlemen; he cared personally about every person he met,” said Mayor Bob Murphy. “He had a deep and very specific interest in everything that Lakewood was doing.” Jim led the final, successful effort in 1969 to get the city incorporated after three failed efforts by citizens, and worked with residents and the new City Council to build Lakewood into the fifth largest city in the state. “There were five key decisions that turned Lakewood into a city, and Jim played a key role in them all,” remembered former Mayor Linda Shaw at his memorial on Dec. 4. “He ran for mayor because he wanted innovation in the city.” Those who knew him well are familiar with one of his favorite stories, telling how
he negotiated the boundary of the city on the Ping-Pong table in his basement with people working on the incorporation of Wheat Ridge. Richey went on to serve as mayor from 1969 to 1977, and during that time his proudest achievement was the progress he championed in the police department. It was Jim who was behind the requirement that all Lakewood Police agents must have a four-year college degree. “He wanted to make Lakewood’s police the top department in the country,” said his son Jeff Richey. “To require a police officer to have a college degree at the time was unheard of. Lakewood was one of the first departments to do this.” The department he built has led to 69 agents going on to serve as police chiefs, sheriffs or other top law-enforcement executives. Lakewood went on to name a park and a gallery in City Hall after him. City Manager Kathy Hodgson knew and worked with Jim for many years, and remembers him as a man of infinite dignity who used his intelligence and wit to help the people with whom he worked and the residents of Lakewood. “He wouldn’t make a decision without thinking about the people who would be affected by those decisions,” she said. “He also taught me that you should never mistake kindness for weakness.” Everyone who knew Jim highlighted
Jim Richey with Henry Hagestedt, a 93-year-old Spanish-American War veteran. The photo was taken on Sept. 18, 1974. Courtesy photo how much of a family man he was, and that is evidenced by his wife, Betty; his three surviving children, Kathy Vaughan, Nancy Polumbus and Jeff Richey; 13 grandchildren and 26 great grandchildren. He and Betty were married for more than 70 years. He donated one of his kidneys to his 13-year-old daughter Robyn in 1973. Robyn died in 2013 At his memorial, three of his grandchildren spoke glowingly about Granddad, the high standards he set for himself and
everyone around him, and the wisdom he left behind. “He was a no-BS guy who encouraged people to do their best,” remembers Jeff. “He had respect for everyone and tried very hard to make sure everyone felt supported.” In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National Kidney Foundation Serving Colorado, 650 S. Cherry St., Suite 435, Denver, CO 80246 or online at www.kidneycmw.org.