News

Students and parents are invited to attend a tuition fair and scholarship panel to learn about ways to pay for college and help finance higher education. Rep. Ed Perlmutter and Rep. Jared Polis will host the open forum fair, in conjunction with College In Colorado, on Saturday, Feb. 18, from 10 a.m. to noon at Pomona High School, 810 West Pomona Drive, Arvada 80005.  For more information, call 303-274-7944.

An important part of Adams 12 Five Star Schools' ability to address budget shortfalls at the state level has been employees taking a reduction in compensation (salary and benefits).

Certified staff (teachers, deans, Teachers on Special Assignment) in Adams 12 Five Star Schools will take a single "furlough" day for the 2011-2012 school year on Friday, Feb. 3. A furlough day is a temporary layoff from work in which the employee is not paid for that day (reduction in contract year).

Feb. 3 was originally scheduled as a district-wide in-service day in which students are not in class. In-service days are used for supporting the professional development of staff. The furlough day will not impact athletics.

Classified (support staff) and administrative employees will have a normal work day on Feb. 3 and not participate in the furlough day. These two employee groups will begin an additional contribution to PERA (retirement system for public employees) on July 1, 2012 rather than taking a furlough day.

At its Jan. 28 special board meeting/retreat, the Adams 12 Five Star Schools Board of Education adopted three resolutions related to the budget for 2011-2012. You can view those resolutions here.

Adams 12 Five Star Schools Department of Student Services is in the process of destroying all special education records of former students whose birthdays fall between Jan. 1, 1985, and Dec. 31, 1988.  These are not academic records. The records may contain any of the following: IEP’s, psychological reports, achievement test scores, social work summaries and health history.

To obtain a copy of the records on file, please present a written request within 30 days to the Department of Student Services, located at 1500 E. 128th Ave. in Thornton, Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  Please include the student's name, date of birth and a current phone number with your request. You will be required to show proper identification before obtaining the file. Any unclaimed records will be destroyed.

Years of substantial budget cuts to K-12 education have Colorado school districts, including Adams 12 Five Star Schools, looking for innovative ways to help drive new revenue. Through the district’s public engagement process for making budget cuts, community members indicated their support for the district pursuing new revenue opportunities, including bus advertising.

Soon the Five Star community will begin seeing district buses with local business partners promoting their products and services while supporting our schools. The program is designed to generate income for schools from exterior Busboards™. The district will approve the ads, making sure they’re appropriate for children and families.

The Five Star District is partnering with Spot On Solutions of Centennial, Colo. and its school bus advertising program. Spot On Solutions anticipates the district could raise up to $10,000 in the first year of the program. The district benefits from revenue generated by the advertisements. The program requires no financial investment or risk as it is a revenue share program.

If you know of a local business that may be interested in supporting its schools and promoting its products and services, you can contact Spot On Solutions at 877-SOS 4 EDU or www.spotonsolutionsinc.com.

Adams 12 Five Star Schools will submit a grant application to the Colorado Department of Education for a 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program (21st CCLC) grant.  Under federal regulations, school districts are required to post public notice when applying for 21st CCLC grant funding.

If granted, funds will be used to establish after-school programs serving Vantage Point High School, McElwain Elementary, Rocky Mountain Elementary and Federal Heights Elementary schools. The purpose of this grant program is to establish or expand community learning centers that provide students with academic enrichment opportunities and activities designed to complement the students' regular academic program; assist with literacy and related educational development services for families; and provide a safe environment for students.

The Five Star District invites parents and community members to provide input about the proposed 21st Century Community Learning Center Program. Please contact Amy Bruce, Director of Grants and Federal Programs, at 720-972-4051 or Amy.L.Bruce@adams12.org by Feb. 6 if you would like to provide input.

Enrico (Rico) Figueroa has been appointed to the Adams 12 Five Star Schools Board of Education. Figueroa is a program manager for The Center for Relationship Education/The Colorado Healthy Marriage Project. He has worked and volunteered with students in various programs that provide tutoring and character development.  

He fills the Director District No. 4 seat which became open when Heidi Williams' resignation was accepted by the board on Nov. 16, 2011. Williams resigned after being elected Mayor of Thornton. The deadline for the board to appoint for the vacancy expired on Jan. 17. Since the board did not reach a majority consensus on filling the vacancy, state statute calls for the board president to appoint a person to fill the vacancy.

Figueroa will begin serving as the board member for Director District No. 4 at the board's regular meeting on Jan. 18.

Adams 12 Five Star Schools recognizes that some children may benefit academically, socially and/or emotionally from Early Entrance into Kindergarten.  For those students that do not meet the age requirement, the District will take applications beginning December 1st through March 1, 2012 for placement in the fall.

For more information on the application process, please see the Early Entrance Brochure and visit the kindergarten webpage.

Located just seven miles north of downtown Denver, Adams 12 Five Star Schools is close to the conveniences of a major city center yet far enough to offer the quiet of the suburbs. The five stars represent the five unique communities the district serves: Broomfield, Federal Heights, Northglenn, Thornton and Westminster.

Our mission is to engage and inspire all students to innovate, achieve and succeed in a safe and supportive environment by ensuring high quality instruction in every classroom, every day.

With nearly 43,000 students, the Five Star District offers families the benefits of a large district with a close-knit feel. That's reflected in the numerous opportunities for students, staff and parents at any of the district's 57 unique learning centers. Get the latest news about the Five Star District.

The Five Star community has made accelerating student achievement a focus and this hard work has certainly blossomed into new areas of growth. Schools in the Five Star District have routinely demonstrated significant academic achievement and growth on the CSAP (Colorado Student Assessment Program) tests.

The Five Star District saw growth in the percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced on the 2011 Writing CSAP test in seven out of eight grade levels. District elementary and middle school students met or exceeded the state average for proficient and advanced on the 2011 Math CSAP in three of six grade levels. Five of our schools earned top honors in 2011 from the State of Colorado for outstanding performance on statewide assessments.

No matter where you live, you have an opportunity to attend Adams 12 Five Star Schools. At the start of each school year, parents can begin applying for Choice for the following school year. This program allows children to attend a school outside their attendance area if there is space available. To learn more about being a part of this high-achieving district, visit our Choice Program.

We invite you to take a closer look at your neighborhood schools and take pride in the amazing things you've set your mind to accomplishing through your schools.

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded the Five Star District with its Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.

To receive the award, the district had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity's budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide, and a communications device.  
 
Director of Budget and Accounting Patricia Buckle received GFOA’s Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentations for developing the presentation.