April 23, 2015 VO LU M E 51 | I S SUE 36 | 5 0 ¢
Northglenn-ThorntonSentinel.com
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Students learn Adams County history during interactive tour BY ASHLEY REIMERS • AREIMERS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM Students from Stargate School in Thornton made a trip to the Adams County Historical Museum, 9601 Henderson Rd. in Brighton, for an interactive tour on April 14. Students learned now to grind corn and make butter, watched a blacksmithing demonstration and worked on a 1880’s loom. The tour also featured a wagon ride and visits inside an 1887 twostory Victorian home and a 1920s caboose. Adams County Museum volunteers provided students with a wealth of historical information during the tour. The tours last about two-and-a-half Adams County Museum volunteer Gary Hutton gives a hours and are open to demonstration on the art of blacksmithing to students classes and schools in during a special museum tour. Photos by Ashley Reimers the area in May and September. For more information or to set up a school tour, contact Tammy Kranz at 303-659-7103 or at adamscountymuseum@gmail.com.
Students from Stargate School grind corn after a lesson from Adams County Museum volunteer Don LeFurge.
Oil and gas leases approved By Ashley Reimers POSTAL ADDRESS
NORTHGLENN-THORNTON SENTINEL (ISSN 1044-4254) (USPS 854-980) OFFICE: 8703 Yates Dr., Ste. 210 Westminster, CO 80031 PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Adams County, Colorado, the NorthglennThornton Sentinel is published weekly on Thursday by MetroNorth Newspapers, 8703 Yates DR., Ste. 210 Westminster, CO 80031. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT WESTMINSTER, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 8703 Yates Dr., Ste. 210 Westminster, CO 80031 DEADLINES: Display: Fri. 11 a.m. Legal: Fri. 11 a.m. | Classified: Mon. 5 p.m. GE T SOCI AL WITH US
P LE A S E RECYC L E T HI S C O PY
areimers@coloradocommunitymedia.com The Five Star School Board voted unanimously to approve oil and gas leases for the extraction of subsurface minerals with Synergy Resources Corporation and Land Energy Incorporated during the April 15 meeting. The three-year term leases are specifically for the subsurface mineral rights associated with two district-owned properties: 16.9 acres at Century Middle School and 38.1 acres at Horizon High School. “I feel like this will not harm the students and our district land,” said board director Kathy Plomer. “So we should take advantage
of these opportunities and reap some benefits from them.” There was no negative public comment, or dissenting view expressed by board members. Although the minerals extracted are from land owned by the district, the actual extraction operation will not take place on district land. Extraction will be competed off site through underground mining and drilling operations. Based on the lease, Synergy will pay the district $16,916 dollars in non-refundable cash to search for minerals at Century Middle land. If minerals are found and extracted, the district will receive royalties equal to 18.75 percent of the sold value of the minerals for the duration of the mineral producing operation. For the Horizon land, the Land Energy Inc.
will pay the district $28,597 in non-refundable cash to explore. If minerals are found and extracted, the district will receive royalties equal to 20 percent of the sold value of the minerals for the duration of the mineral producing operation. “I’ve learned about fracking over time and I also know quite a bit about the technology they use to protect the water,” said director Norm Jennings. “So I’m comfortable with it. I’m glad it’s a nice revenue source.” During the first year of production, the district could potentially receive revenue in the range of $185,400 to approximately $300,000 from the Synergy leases.
Legislature furthers bill that cuts testing Senate Appropriations committee passes testing bill By Crystal Anderson
canderson@colorado communitymedia.com In response to the outcry of opposition surrounding the amount of student assessments, the Colorado Senate Appropriations Committee passed SB 15-257, which would eliminate some assessments throughout Colorado’s K-12 education system. “This bill, like several others that have been introduced implement the 1202 Commission recommendations,” said Senate District 22 Senator Andy Kerr (D-Lakewood). “257 cuts back on the amount of tests our students are taking while respecting the federal mandates around testing that we’re under.” The bill, which has a $4-5 million price tag, addresses testing concerns by eliminating state assessments for eleventh and twelfth-grade students. Assessments for English Language Arts and Mathematics to all third-eighth-grade
STATE TESTING REQUIREMENTS Colorado schools currently are required to carry out 22 different assessments on students, often ranging over several grades. An additional eight assessments are optional.
students and in one high school grade — as chosen by the district, charter administration, or Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) — would continue. Students will also take a science assessment, at a grade level chosen by the Colorado Department of Education. All eleventh-grade students would be required to take a college entrance exam. “I’ve heard loud and clear from teachers, parents and students that there’s too much testing going on in our schools right now,” Kerr said. “While I don’t think this bill is the perfect solution to this, I think it gets us closer and strikes a fairly good balance between our accountability and our need to lessen the testing burden.” While passed in appropriations, the bill has to be heard and passed in the house before it can move to be included in the state’s $25 bil-
lion budget, which was passed in early April. If passed, the bill would give local education providers, such as the Jeffco School District, more of a say on who takes what students test at the high school level, but not below. For Jeffco’s Chief Academic Officer, Syna Morgan, that’s where the problem truly lies. “This doesn’t make a difference for our elementary schools and middle schools and it doesn’t address the significant burden of testing for our third-eighth graders,” she said. “From Jeffco’s perspective, we’re very large, so we have a lot of varying point of views on the testing issue. If the legislature doesn’t provide a clear solution, then the problems at districts and schools are going to continue.” Morgan said, the increasing number of assessments third-eighth graders take, not only needs to be addressed but drastically reduced before this problem is solved. An issue, both she and Kerr said, can be solved at the state level. “I believe the state needed to decide what the purpose is of the state assessments,” she said. “In my opinion, I think the state assessments should be holding districts and schools accountable to student achievement.”