We are working to develop an educational culture at Stapleton that respects and encourages lifelong learning.
When achieved, Stapleton will be home to all kinds of educational opportunities – where choice is an ingrained fact of life. There will be early childhood education offered in formal settings, schools and homes, public and private schools, vocational and higher education, outdoor and environmental learning, on line, and formal and informal community educational opportunities.
Partnerships forged between Denver Public Schools, other education systems, the city, Forest City, the Stapleton Foundation, other foundations and non profits, community organizations, businesses and residents will make it happen. It will be an exciting, innovative approach – the kind of living and learning experience unmatched anywhere in the country.
We are developing broad based community partnerships to provide quality education for all ages.
Stapleton Foundation Education Master Plan
Central Northeast Denver Education Questionnaire
Stapleton Ring School Map
Lifelong Learning
We are developing broad based community partnerships to provide quality education for all ages.
Early Childhood Education (ECE)
Research clearly shows that a majority of low-income children enter kindergarten behind in their intellectual abilities. In response, the Foundation initiated a “School Readiness’’ program in 2006 to help two dozen area childcare providers better prepare children to begin elementary school.
Through a $45,000 grant from the Mayor’s Office for Education and Children, the Foundation was able to develop communications materials and facilitate programs to create more meaningful relationships between providers and families with area DPS public schools. The Foundation partnered in the project with Metro Denver Bright Beginnings, a nonprofit organization that educates parents of infants to two-year-olds about how to be their children’s first teacher. We also assisted two home child- care providers with their applications for “quality improvement grants”, and together these two received $30,000.
Another major achievement for the Foundation was assisting DPS in obtaining an Early Childhood Education, three-year federal grant for five elementary schools in the greater Stapleton community. These five DPS schools will receive $3.5 million for three years beginning in 2006 to provide year round, all day early childhood education for three-year and four-year old children.
K-12
The Foundation helped organize and conduct a design competition for the public high school that will be built at Stapleton. The design competition was a joint effort by Denver Public Schools and the Foundation for Educational Excellence, which works on education issues in Green Valley Ranch (GVR). The design competition included a second high school in GVR.
Luis O. Acosta Architects (LOA) of Denver bested three other firms to win the Stapleton project. LOA’s concept is a campus with four small schools housed in separate classroom buildings which will ultimately serve 1,600 students. The first phase would accommodate 400-500 students and feature common facilities such as a gym, athletic facilities, music rooms, theater, cafeteria and library. Research clearly shows that smaller high schools in the range of 400-500 students are better at helping young people stay interested in school, tackle core subjects and prepare for post secondary education. The school is scheduled to open in the 2010-2012 time frame provided that an upcoming DPS bond election is successful.
The Foundation was also active on the 2006 advisory committee that selected an architect and design for the third school at Stapleton. That K-8 school which will be located in East Stapleton is expected to open in 2009.
The Foundation assisted the community and DPS in the reconfiguration of the K-5 Westerly Creek Elementary and the William Roberts School. Rapid growth of young families in Stapleton necessitated converting Westerly Creek to an ECE-5 school that will begin with ECE through grade one in the 2007-08 school year, and will add a grade each year until they reach grade five. The William Roberts School that opened in 2006 will become an ECE-8 school. The Foundation helped facilitate the transition process.
During the later half of 2006 the Foundation was a key advisor in an extensive and successful search process to choose a new executive director of the Odyssey Charter School. The Foundation also assisted DPS with the process of choosing a new principal at Hallett Elementary and Smith Elementary in what we call the “ring’’ schools around Stapleton.
For more information on education contact:
Denver Public Schools
900 Grant St.
Denver, Co.
303-764-3970
http://www.denver.k12.org
The Stapleton Foundation
Brian Weber, Vice President Education and Workforce Initiatives
7350 E. 29th Avenue, Ste. 300
Denver, CO 80238
303-393-7700
bweber@stapletonfoundation.org
