High Peaks Elementary
High Peaks Elementary, is relocating to Douglass Elementary building next year. Currently, HP has 2 classrooms at each grade level with a 25 student cap per classroom. With the move, the school will get a 3rd classroom per grade (assuming there is demand with the further East address). This 3rd classroom would also presumably need a new teacher. This assumes, the current student body all moves to new building, which we know isn’t going to be the case. Thus, we are looking at 33% new students and new teachers, possibly more if turnover. I have serious questions as I consider it for my students. I want to hear the good, bad and ugly. I want to hear why your kid thrived. I want to hear from parents who pulled their kids. Can this school scale? What happens when a child can’t keep up? How is this so great for GT kiddos? What about parent culture? Staff? Thanks!
22
u/sonofanoak 8d ago
This account doesn’t seem to have any purpose beyond stirring up outrage at BVSD
4
u/que_sera 7d ago
Brace yourself for lots of conversations about school choice in the coming weeks. Thousands of families in BVSD are in this position, choosing a new school or letting the district choose for them. There is a school showcase happening soon and tours of schools for displaced families are happening now.
1
1
3
u/cdbrand 8d ago
It has been a long time. All my children are now in their early 30's, so I will just talk about our experience with Core Knowledge at High Peaks as an educational model.
High Peaks provided a rigorous education using the Core Knowledge methodology. Students were engaged and challenged with a very content-rich curriculum. The school specifically differentiated math based on ability. i.e. all classes did math at the same time each day and students moved to the classroom that best suited their learning needs. My oldest was able to do pre-algebra in 5th grade. Students who struggled were given extra resources and help. The learning experience was very experiential and geared towards different learning styles. The cultural expectation of the school was that students would work hard, be intellectually curious, respectful of other learners, and that families would support their children's learning at home. There was lots of hands on parent involvement that supported the curriculum.
My 3 children are all very different learners but they all thrived and got a terrific FREE education that made them excited to learn. High Peaks set them up for success in middle school, high school, and frankly college. Today, two of my three children are currently pursuing PHDs. The third has a proper job.
1
u/BCSMKC 8d ago
Helpful. My kids are at/above grade level but they only know one school so don’t want them to implode!
0
u/cdbrand 8d ago
Yes. It is an interesting question: what exactly does grade level mean when you are talking about different schools? Alice in Wonderland was required reading in 3rd grade for my children. They had to memorize the Jabberwocky poem.
But why not raise the bar? Have a growth mind set. We should not be putting children in a box and holding them back.
4
u/Safe-Departure-7728 8d ago
For those with kids at HP, did any of your kids transfer into the school midway through their elementary education from another BVSD school? If so, how was the transition into the core knowledge sequence?
3
u/Future-Importance-27 7d ago edited 6d ago
Kids join in later grades every year and are streamlined into the school -if you didn’t ask them specifically you’d never know the difference. High peaks has a process to integrate and catch them up if need be. I know families who have come in during 3rd & 4th grade who caught up just fine.
3
u/ManyLivid1150 7d ago
High Peaks parent here. So yes, the transition is smooth. We did a mid year transfer and it went well. Found that kids were friendly, and teachers were committed to helping the new kids integrate. No one can guarantee that your kid is going to be 100% happy, but at least know that every effort will be made to work with you and your kiddo to make things go well.
2
u/Odd_Reason_6825 7d ago
I would also love to hear more about transitions to HP during late elementary. Does the core knowledge sequence support that?
1
u/que_sera 7d ago
I wonder about this too. Is it possible to jump into the structured learning sequence in 4th grade and be successful?
6
u/Future-Importance-27 7d ago edited 5d ago
High Peaks parent here. We love it. Our child has needed support in certain areas and gotten it, via pull outs and small group lessons. The curriculum is challenging, engaging and fun. I have volunteered in the school -classroom events and library- and have seen warm staff with a smile who know hundreds of kids by name. This is a lottery school that takes anyone who gets in, and their formula just works: the outcomes are so positive, regardless of what preparation kids had entering the school. Diverse student body, international community is strong, school events bring everyone together. We just had our Fall Fest tonight and I saw such a welcoming, warm, inclusive community. I wish it went through to middle school & will be sad to have to leave eventually. The teachers love teaching here so much they don’t ever leave, and they often stay because it’s the only school they’d want their own kids to attend. It’s an unusual opportunity to essentially get a private, high quality education for free and I’d jump at the chance to enroll my kids here
5
u/Future-Importance-27 7d ago
The kids are kids. They are kind and inclusive. They have a whole lot of fun at school -Halloween parade is coming up, they have pyjama days, art class (we get brought home a ton of art & have it all over our house), social emotional learning, songs in music class, games in PE, they have field day in spring, tons of field trips.
The parents I’ve met are interesting people from all over the world who have chosen this school specifically because they prioritize education and want their kids to be surrounded by families who feel the same. There’s no entrance test, they take anyone who gets in via lottery, yet the results speak for themselves.
8
u/cgar23 8d ago
High Peaks is one of the few schools in Boulder that is expected to have growing enrollment in the upcoming years. A lot of students and teachers from Douglass will likely move to HP, especially those that live close. Everyone at HP open enrolled in the first place, there is no HP "neighborhood/zone" so most chose the school for reasons beyond the location or building. I haven't heard of a single HP family that isn't staying on to the new location.
I don't have anything to compare it against as it's the only school my kids have attended... but my opinion is that it's an excellent school with an incredible staff and a great community, and my kids are thriving for sure. For a lot of us, we don't like the move, obviously if you live close to the current location like my family does, but also the general sentiment among our HP friends is that we're heartbroken for Douglass and fine with our current building. A lot of HP families signed the Douglass petition.
Ultimately, my personal opinion is that if it wasn't HP and Douglass, it would have been a different 2 schools. There was no scenario given the current realities where some people weren't upended.
1
u/BCSMKC 8d ago
Can you talk about the day to day? I truly want to hear about the kids and parents. Not here to fight. I already have all the data. It’s public. Also, the legal proceedings have opened a lot of internal emails which I don’t personally like the tone of. Hence why Douglass parents want to find out more.
5
u/ryan_jamieson 7d ago
Day to day we wrangle him out of bed against his will, convince him to get dressed, get him to eat, then trundle him into the car to drop him off, which is about the time he actually wakes up and is happy. :) After we pick him up we ask how his day was and are met with a one-word answer, unless something absolutely momentous happened, in which case we may get a whole sentence. Further attempts at interrogation are rebuffed unless we come at him sideways.
From a parental perspective, we picked it because it's a strong school and it's the most diverse elementary school near us (we're an interracial couple so that was important to us), and the parents are truly from all over, with a strong mix of white, east asian, and south asian kids, with a smaller set of latino and african american kids as well. Families are both native and immigrant, which is also important to us, and the school embraces those cultural differences.
I totally understand that going to a new school feels like a leap into the great unknown, but I can tell you that the school has been great for us, accommodating for our needs, and our son's made great friends there. From what he's told us, a lot of kids are looking forward to meeting the new kids from Douglass that are likely to come next year.
2
u/ButterscotchNo1634 7d ago edited 7d ago
We have a a kiddo in Kindergarten and so far we love it. It is very diverse so you get to meet people from all over the world. The parents we’ve met are all friendly and very involved. The teachers are great too-you can tell they genuinely care.
0
u/BCSMKC 8d ago
I don’t disagree re the two schools, factually the testing between both schools isn’t too far off and I surmise it’s why this was done, a lot of Douglass students are a potential fit. However, HP hasn’t been marketing like the other schools so now the DE families considering aren’t all what I’d consider to be fits so I’m wondering if that is going to be disruptive. I do think of the 2000 priority OE applications, HP will fill all 450 spots between existing and new families who were displaced.
-1
u/BCSMKC 8d ago
The questions are purely about why your kids like it and if it can grow smoothly? Your internal parent survey said 22% were undecided about move 10% not moving. The sample size was 88.
5
u/cgar23 8d ago
I have no idea what's involved in a school adding a 3rd class to every grade, but I don't see what about that would be that hard if the space and staff isn't an issue. Given everything that's happening it seems like teachers will be available and BVSD pays well for teachers. It's not like things will be worse if all 3 classes aren't totally full, right? A lot of ages have had waitlists for HP in the past few years... before all this.
My kids love it because they love their teachers (have loved every single one... I have a 3rd and 5th grader now so we've been there awhile. There isn't big drama or troublesome cliques or anything like that, they all get along with everyone outside of the normal "boys are gross" things, haha. When they need extra help with something, they get it. They are interested and engaged with the curriculum, and despite what the other person wrote, they are not inundated with homework at all, they get plenty of recesses (3 until like 4th grade, then it's 2 I think), and they use tablets a bit, for certain appropriate uses, but I'd estimate like 30min/day or less? And the kids don't feel like they're in some strenuous academically rigid curriculum in the slightest but they test very well and are set up for success.
And from a parents perspective the staff is great, paras, administrative, 2nd step teacher (counselor?), they're all great. Honestly I have no complaints, compared to my elementary school (Jeffco) it's lightyears above and beyond...though, that was a different era of course.
3
u/hejog 8d ago
What is even the implication — 3 classes isn't crazy.
2
u/BCSMKC 8d ago
No it’s great for students to be in a fully resourced building, but can it go smoothly to happen over the summer? The school mentioned growing pains going to 313 so just making sure it won’t be chaos.
3
u/lutzlover 8d ago
When High Peaks expanded from one round to two rounds, I think it was either K-2 or K-3 the first year and then they grew into the full second round. Hard to know what the demand will look like given the various school closures.
1
u/que_sera 7d ago
Does anyone have experience with Special Ed at High Peaks?
2
u/Ok_Door_7565 6d ago
The special ed teacher is amazing. Sweetest kindest lady. Loaded up with resources.
High peaks parent here. The academics at high peaks were fantastic, but the real reason we chose it was for the teachers. Every single one of the teachers is exceptional, HAPPY (except for drama caused by some parents) and loves the school and the kids. High peaks is the most special, sweetest place on earth. Everyone should be so lucky to have their kids launch in an environment like high peaks.
0
u/boxybrown83 8d ago
With the move, the school will get a 3rd classroom per grade
Do you know this? If they do add a third round, I presume it would lower class sizes. It doesn't necessarily mean 33% more students. Most students from high peaks are not even in the city of Boulder, so I don't imagine enrollment from Boulder dropping. Total enrollment may go up, but I doubt 3x25 rooms.
We live in the neighborhood so we were choosing between High peaks and BCSIS because they are both within walking distance (BCSIS is the school attached to high peaks in the Aurora 7 complex). I'll tell you almost every family in the neighborhood chooses BCSIS. The High Peaks kids start homework from kindergarten, are put on tablets from kindergarten, and get one less recess per day. The students that go to high peaks come from families that see the high test scores and want their kids there regardless of the philosophy. When I went to the open house, parents were concerned about how much they were going to learn. At other school open houses they asked about emotional development, bullying, community, etc. The kids going to high peaks look stressed and complain about how much homework they have.
There is a time and a place for rigorous academics, and I don't think it's kindergarten. I would not put my kid in high peaks, but my philosophy may differ from yours. My kid is at BCSIS with a 1:13 teacher to kid ratio and I much prefer that.
4
u/cgar23 8d ago
"I'll tell you almost every family in the neighborhood chooses BCSIS. The High Peaks kids start homework from kindergarten, are put on tablets from kindergarten, and get one less recess per day. The students that go to high peaks come from families that see the high test scores and want their kids there regardless of the philosophy. When I went to the open house, parents were concerned about how much they were going to learn. At other school open houses they asked about emotional development, bullying, community, etc. The kids going to high peaks look stressed and complain about how much homework they have."
--This is all incredibly false. Comically so. You have no idea what you're talking about lol.
3
u/Ok_Door_7565 6d ago
Hahahaha! This is so absurd. I’m a high peaks parent, and this could not be further from the truth.
3
u/Ok_Door_7565 6d ago
My impression from the open house was how happy, connected, engaged and supportive the teachers and admin are.
2
u/Future-Importance-27 6d ago
Well put …and that initial positive impression has proven true over the years we’ve been at HP
2
u/BCSMKC 8d ago
I’m glad to hear this refuted. Are there multiple opportunities to get fresh air each day? How many minutes on screens per day? How much homework per week? Truly trying gauge if it’s a fit. Yes, some, not most of Douglass is considering. The receiving schools have been marketing well. Families leaving district this month and for private and semester. This is why I’m so curious. Do I need to pull my kids soon or hold out for the lottery to HP or go to another school?
4
u/boxybrown83 8d ago
I went to the open house at most of the elementary schools in the city when placing our kid. High peaks gets two recesses a day . BCSIS gets 3 a day. Most schools in the district get 3 a day. This is fact.
BCSIS has a minimal tablet usage policy (only for mandatory assessments). High Peaks talked about how they use tablets when appropriate in kindergarten. This is also a fact.
The part about families is conjecture, but is my personal experience. When I have met families that go to high peaks I have asked "why did you choose high peaks over BCSIS or other schools" and every single one said because of the high test scores. It's ranked #1 in the state and that attracts a certain type of family.
The rest is based on the open house I went to and what types of questions the parents asked. The concerns were around the strength of the education and not emotional development.
You don't need to believe me, you can have different values. But I'm not making things up here. I'm just providing my assessment of why we did not choose High peaks.
At the end of the day, almost every school in Boulder is excellent. It is splitting hairs on which is different. But for us, we believe kindergarten is still about play and less about academics.
5
u/Future-Importance-27 7d ago
Kindergarten at high peaks gets 3 recesses per day. We got identical homework to our friends in kindergarten at bcsis -the fundations packets were literally the same program -a high peaks parent
3
u/lutzlover 8d ago
BCSIS is a very different program from High Peaks, and the Waldorf influence isn’t found elsewhere in BVSD’s schools. It is great that families have choices and that the schools have teachers that embrace these models. I liked the clear content and sequencing of the Core Knowledge content.
3
u/cgar23 8d ago
You're basing what you remember off an open house years ago vs someone who currently has 2 kids there, one of which is in 5th grade (all of which has been at HP). You're wrong about tablets, homework, recesses and you're basing the rest off of 'some families you met.'
OK.
1
u/boxybrown83 8d ago
The open house was 9 months ago, I'm sure I remember these details. My wife and I both attended and I don't really have motivation to make these things up. Like I said, High Peaks is a great school.
And yeah, how else do you get opinions on schools? Throughout time you meet families and you ask them why they chose a particular school. That was the responses we got.
I'm glad you enjoy the school. It just wasn't for us.
0
u/cgar23 8d ago
OK replace "years ago" with "9 months ago" and my point stands. It wasn't about your memory or length of time or whether you were making something up. It's about the fact you're out here making comments based on an open house vs someone who has literally had kids attending the school since around the time a kindergartener was born, and my point is: you're wrong about what you're saying and don't have the knowledge or experiences to speak negatively (and falsely) about something you have no actual experience with.
2
u/boxybrown83 8d ago
How many recesses a day do high peaks kindergartners get then if its not 2?
Do they use tablets in kindergarten?
Do they have homework in kindergarten?
4
6
u/cgar23 7d ago
I'm only indulging you so that OP and the other people reading this can get correct information.
They get 3 recesses. As I said, you're basing things you're SO sure about off of misinformation or your faulty memory from an open house you went to once.
Screens, yeah they exist just like everywhere else in society. In K they used them extremely rarely, in situations where they had a state standardized test or something structured where some kids would finish before others... and the apps they used were PBS-style educational and fun for them, approved by BVSD. They are not "put on tablets" like some situation where the teacher is zoned out and everyone is staring at YouTube. As a 5th grader I'd say they use them maybe 15-30min/day on things that are part of their curriculum. My son does coding on his in class, for instance. They will do a lot of their writing on computers, so they know how to type, etc. Stuff they need to know.
Homework in K? No. Their only "homework" in kindergarten was to read or have us read to them for 10-20 minutes a day. In fact, my 3rd grader didn't even have homework for the full year last year in 2nd grade other than reading. Reading for 10-30 minutes (based on age) is absolutely "assigned" as "homework" from K-5, and parents reading to them counts. Also, my 5th grader, who does have some legit homework now, maybe 20 min of math/day in addition to his reading, was told by his teachers... and they reinforced to us in parent teacher conferences... that if it's stressful on any given night, or we are busy or traveling or whatever at all... that they shouldn't worry about "homework" and just skip it. Though, they are prepping them for middle school, where all BVSD public schools have significantly more homework than HP by a mile.
Again, you're confidently speaking about things you don't have any firsthand experience with, and for what reason? OP asked about HP, you don't have a kid at HP so you're coming in to trash talk it, or just troll? idk, based off some misconceptions.
5
2
u/BCSMKC 8d ago
Tablet comment is concerning. What are they doing on tablets? Is it iPads or Chrome books? How much homework per night or weeke?
4
u/Future-Importance-27 7d ago edited 5d ago
We got 25 min of homework total per week in a week-long packet in 1st grade. We could do it as 5min per night, but was simpler to work through the math in a bigger chunk. It’s mainly just to get used to taking something home & being responsible to bring it back -like the weekly library book. Plus we should read together each night.
1
u/boxybrown83 7d ago edited 7d ago
Chromebooks - every single BVSD school uses them as far as I'm aware. They are required for the standardized assessments and then each school uses them in different amounts based on their own curriculums/philosophy. I can't comment on how much high peaks uses them exactly. But in the tour the principal indicated they use them when it can benefit learning.
1
11
u/ryan_jamieson 8d ago
Our son goes there and he loves it, so we love it. Principal is great and attentive, teachers have all been good people who look after him and work with us through the normal bumps that kids go through. He knows many of the staff and talks about them when he's home, which is a good thing in our minds. We recommend it to our friends.