Regional Opportunities for Thriving Schools

Regional Opportunities for Thriving Schools is Jeffco Public Schools’ response to the Board of Education’s (Board) request for a comprehensive plan to ensure thriving schools and extraordinary student experiences across our district.

The 2020 Census shows a population increase in Jefferson County of an additional 55,854 residents from 2000 to 2020. However, during this time, the population of school-aged children (5-19) decreased by 29,918. In addition, the population of children five and under has decreased. In 2020 the lowest number of births in 15 years was recorded. There are significantly fewer school-aged children in Jeffco today than 20 years ago; read more from the Colorado state demographer.

A Path Forward to Thriving Schools

Latest News & Updates

Follow along with the Regional Opportunities for Thriving Schools process by reading the latest news and updates.

Read the latest news

Candid Conversations with our Jeffco Community (Video Series)

In our Path Forward to Thriving Schools series, we spoke with Jeffco community members who've faced school closures. Watch these honest discussions with Jeffco staff and parents as they share their experiences.

Click the upper right corner to see all videos from the series or view the playlist on YouTube.

Phase II ReCOMMENDATION and Board Statement

Learn more about the Phase II recommendation for considering K-8 and secondary schools for consolidation and read the statement from the Board.

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FCB Dashboard

Taking into account the district's large ecosystem of schools, Jeffco developed the FCB Dashboard to monitor the health of all district-managed schools as outlined in the district’s FCB-R policy.

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Phase I After-Action Review

An after-action review was completed for Phase I to identify process changes and improvements for any future closures and consolidations of schools.

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Property Process

Jeffco is following a 4-step process to determine the future use of Jeffco's unused properties. Learn about current available properties, opportunities to engage and frequently asked questions on the property disposition webpage.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We have put together these frequently asked questions to help the community.

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SUBMIT A COMMENT

If you would like to make a comment regarding Jeffco's Regional Opportunities for Thriving Schools initiative, please use this form.

 

 

 

 

Candid Conversations Video Series

Candid Conversations with our Jeffco Community (Video Series)

View the playlist on YouTube.

In our Path Forward to Thriving Schools series, we spoke with Jeffco community members who've faced school closures. Watch these honest discussions with Jeffco staff and parents as they share their experiences..

Check out this candid conversation with Valerie Moreno as she shares some of her thoughts about her own experience with school consolidation.

 

Check out this candid conversation with Sandy McSperrin as she shares some of her thoughts about her own experience with school consolidation.

 

Check out this candid conversation with former Allendale principal, Rob Malling, as he shares some of his thoughts about his own experience with school consolidation.

 

Check out this candid conversation between Matt Palaoro, Jeffco's Chief Student Success Officer, and Jeffco parent, Michelle Miley. Matt and Michelle discuss the transition of her son from one of our special education center-based programs.

 

Check out this candid conversation with Anthony West, a former parent of two students at Allendale Elementary, which closed in the spring of 2021. Anthony shares some of his thoughts about his own experience with school consolidation.

 

Check out this candid conversation with Tessel Stevenson, a parent of two students who attended Fitzmorris Elementary, which closed in the spring of 2022. Tessel shares some thoughts about her own experience with school consolidation.

Why Regional Opportunities for Thriving Schools

Jeffco has capacity to serve 88,000 students in its traditional district-managed schools and we currently only serve 66,500 students.

The impact of Jeffco’s excess capacity is felt in nearly every corner of our district as we stretch our resources to sustain the number of schools we have, with declining enrollment. It is hard on all school communities when we do not efficiently utilize our resources and take advantage of economies of scale.

Most importantly, it creates inequities in the educational opportunities that schools are able to provide to students due to budget limitations.

Regional Opportunities for Thriving Schools Phase I focused on thriving elementary schools. Phase II focuses on thriving K-8 and middle schools.

A Thriving Student and Educator Experience

thriving students and educators experience things like

A Thriving Student and Educator Experience include things like:
At least one class per grade level.

  • Consistent planning time for school teachers.
  • Full-time support from an instructional coach and Digital Teacher Librarian (DTL).
  • Full-time Social Emotional Learning and Mental Health staff.
  • Operational Budgets to support materials and resources.
  • Full-time art, music and PE (AMP) teachers designated to each building.
  • Family engagement supports and staffing.
  • Easier to full, full-time positions.
  • Equitable access to:
    • Wrap-around services based on individual student needs.
    • Intervention and enrichment
    • A broad range of peer interactions and multiple classrooms for students to experience.

Related Media Coverage

2023 Related Media Coverage

2022 Related Media Coverage

The Regional Opportunities for Thriving Schools media report contains a compilation of media mentions for Jeffco’s Regional Opportunities for Thriving Schools initiative between June 1 and December 31, 2022. Read the report.

Members of the media can contact the Jeffco Media Relations Team to request an interview.

 

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