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August 27, 2020
ADAMS & JEFFERSON COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
WestminsterWindow.com
VOLUME 75 | ISSUE 44
On-line or in person, Westminster students go back to school Westminster Public Schools offers parents a choice for how kids learn
Leading political voice made a difference to city and the state
BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Some 8,700 Westminster students returned to the classroom Aug. 20, some online and most in person. “It’s been a great day, and we’ve been all over the district,” Dr. Pam Swanson, superintendent for Westminster Public Schools said. The district reopened schools for the year for the first time since classes shut down in March due to COVID-19 concerns. Swanson said extra administrative staff has been on-hand at every school. She started her morning at Westminster Academy for International Studies before moving on to Westminster High School. “And then, this afternoon, we’ll do it all in reverse,” she said. Most of the students, at least 6,000 of the district’s roughly 8,700 enrollment returned to actual classrooms with their peers. “We have layers and layers of safety protocols we’ve been implementing,” Swanson said. “I was so impressed this morning. We had the parents dropping their kids off and the kids were in masks and the staff were in masks and the staff were complementing the kids, you know ‘Cool mask!’ So, there were a lot of smiles behind those masks.” Now, the in-school effort turns to keeping the kids safe and socially distanced while they are in the school. “We call it the Three Ws for WPS,” Swanson said. “Wear a mask, Wash your hands and Watch your distance.” SEE SCHOOLS, P4
Remembering Vi June, Westminster mayor
BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Vi June, Westminster’s first woman mayor, long-time political voice and newspaper columnist, died Saturday Aug. 15 surrounded by family. She was 88 years old. Viola “Vi” Helen Beste was born in Saulk Centre, Minn. in July 1932. She married Bob June in 1954 and together they had six children. June Vi and Bob’s oldest daughter, Karen Pilgrim of Englewood, said her mother was a force. “She had a huge personality,” Pilgrim said. “She wasn’t a huge person, but she had a huge personality. I think anyone who knew her can relate to that.” In a 2011 Westminster Window column, she recounted her history with the city. “We came to this small town of about 8,000 in 1957 because it had a housing development we could afford a home in,” she wrote.
A student departs a Westminster Public School bus in front of Shaw Heights Middle School, on the first day of classes August 20. PHOTO BY STEFAN BRODSKY
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10 | SPORTS: PAGE 12
“I decided I could make a difference...” He career in journalism began in 1963, working part-time as a reporter for the weekly Adams County Dispatch. She later worked as publisher for several community papers around the northern metro Denver SEE JUNE, P5