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Jane Hansen signed up for the Westerly Creek PTA in January to help out at her child’s school. “I am a stay at home mom, so I had some time, and I used to work full time, so I thought this might be a good fit for me,” said Hansen. “Now that my child is in school, I was looking for something to fill this void, and thought the PTA at Westerly would work out great.” Friends at the school also encouraged Jane. “People told me that with my business background and social skills, it would be a fun, part-time thing to focus my energy on. Clearly, the PTA has a strong misunderstanding of what the word part-time means.” [Read more…] about Westerly Creek PTA Member Realizes Position is for Lifetime

The budget issues for the new Stapleton High School have become a major priority for Stapleton residents. Such a priority that residents have come together to help move the project forward more quickly. “DPS was not making the appropriate contingency plan, so we had too,” said Kate Bolsem. “What we are proposing is using some of the contingency fund built in from the original bond meant for all the bond projects to make sure our project gets done first and foremost,” said Bolsem. “Then, when the Stapleton High School is completed to our satisfaction, the remainder of that contingency fund can be used for any of the other projects where necessary. It just makes sense.” [Read more…] about High School Update: Is Phase 1 Enough, or Should it Be 1.5 or 1.99?

With the extraordinary number of young kids in Stapleton, and that number increasing, residents are concerned the current elementary schools will not be able to accommodate all of the incoming children. “People are always talking about the bubble,” says concerned resident J.D. Artz. “But, what concerns me, is not the first bubble, it is all of these bubbles we see coming up after the first bubble. Will five DPS elementary schools be enough?” Luckily for Artz and the rest of Stapleton a potential solution to this issue was accidentally discovered by a Stapleton runner. “I was out running in Eastbridge and was looking over at the progress of the 26th Ave. Park when I saw what I thought was a mirage,” said runner Mitchell Weber. “It looked like a public building, almost like a school. I didn’t want to interrupt my run to look further into it, nor did I want to be seen across the border, so I came back later at night and confirmed it. Sure enough, it’s a school.” That school is located right across the through-street Iola in Aurora. [Read more…] about Fletcher Community School: The Diamond in the Rough

The Central Park swimming pool can get pretty hectic, especially during the winter. Toddlers are flying down the slide while dozens of other kids are throwing balls or screaming around the whirlpool area. With all of the ruckus, it is amazing more kids don’t get hurt. Central Park Rec Center director Robin Miller attributes their safety record to two things. “First of all, we have a great pool staff,” says Miller. “They are always watching, making sure kids are safe and aren’t breaking the rules. Secondly, we keep some signage in key areas of the pool so that parents can let their kids know what is safe and what is not safe. This is particularly important in the very shallow area.” [Read more…] about Rec Center Sign Helps Swimmers Avoid Injury

Recently, one of our tens of thousands of readers noticed a sign on the Aurora side of Stapleton after they accidentally made a wrong turn. They snapped the picture, quickly jumped back in their car, and headed back to Stapleton. The sign reads, “Why is this fence still here?” The sign was most likely written by a frustrated Aurora resident(s) wondering why a fence with barbed wire is separating the Aurora and Stapleton communities. The Stapletonion believes there may be several reasons why this fence is there, so we took a crack at answering this question. First of all, we should remind Aurorans that you shouldn’t; a) ask questions you know the answer to, and b) ask questions you don’t want to hear the answer to. However, the question was asked, so here are some possible reasons the fence is still there.

• It is only temporary until funding comes through for the bigger wall.
• Now that there are through-streets, we at least want to see you coming.
• Only purpose is to remind you that you’re not one of us (Stapletonians).
• We earned these two car washes. Use your own.
• We just put that up for spring break when you knew we’d all be gone.
• Our attempt to make sure no more white people sneak into Stapleton.
• Stop being so sensitive; we don’t want you walking through the poisoned prairie dog fields.
• Oh that? One of our seven crossfit programs uses that as a climbing wall.
• It’s more decoration than anything else. We really thought you’d like it.
• Hey, Aurora, don’t come to me with problems. Come to me with solutions.

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The infamous Stapleton Mom’s Yahoo! Group will be no more. The group will be shutting its preverbal doors after close to a decade of operation in the community. But before people start losing their heads, it’s more of a move than a shut down. “We are simply changing our format,” said Stapleton Mom’s moderator Cindy Jeurgens. “We are moving away from the clumsy format on Yahoo! to a more robust, easy to use format on Big Tent.” Not surprisingly, the announcement has had mixed reviews. “We have been a Yahoo! Group forever,” says longtime member Samantha Jones. “I don’t know why it is necessary to change. The current system is fine. Plus, I don’t want to learn a whole new format. I mean, it’s like if you used Windows ’97 and then suddenly were thrust into Windows XP. Just a totally new system.” Other mom members agree. “Aside from the fact that the new system may be harder and not easier to use, there are other concerns,” says Kristi Stevens. “They want to switch over to the new format by March 25th. There are almost 5,000 users on Yahoo! Moms and they need 5,000 people to just pack up and leave? Aside from the whole thing not being necessary, the timing seems very aggressive.” So aggressive that some moms are refusing to leave. “They may shut the group down, but I am not joining the new group,” says Mandy Gibbs. “I will not budge. I have been on the Yahoo! site forever, and short of a federal court injunction, I am not leaving.” Jeurgens says no one will be forced to leave Yahoo!, but that the moms group in its current format will not be available there. “Certainly, some people could just start up the exact same group,” said Jeurgens. “But, we have the support of most of the big players, so it won’t be as good as what we will have over at Big Tent. Some moms are more supportive of the move. “You are really just registering on a web site, so not that big of a deal,” says Mariah Lima. “My guess is that registering on the new site will take three minutes, and learning how to use it will take less than five. So, I think people are making way too big of a deal about it.” Amanda Becker agrees. “I think it is also good to get a fresh start,” says Becker. “The Yahoo! group has not been short on controversy, so maybe escaping Yahoo! will help us put all of the craziness behind us.” In fact, the Stapleton Moms Yahoo! group has been so well known for its controversy, that Big Tent was reluctant to accept the group originally. CEO Donna Novitsky explains. “At Big Tent, we are trying to stay above the fray. Of course, we had heard of the Stapleton Moms group and wanted to avoid being associated with them. But after many discussions between the leadership teams, we decided we would take a chance on them.” The Yahoo! moms group expects the move to take place by the goal date of 3/25. “In the end, you’re either with us or against us,” says Jeurgens. “And I don’t think the Stapleton Moms group is something you want to be against.” ]]>

Poll results confirmed what a recent Front Porch article already alluded to: Stapletonians hate divorced people. In fact, in that poll, divorcees were second (64%) only to Aurorans (88%) on the “most hated by Stapletonians” list. The poll listed several different potential groups who Stapletonians may hate. Multiple responses were allowed, and over 3,000 Stapleton residents completed the poll, which was conducted by Denver University in partnership with the Stapleton MCA. [Read more…] about 2014 Poll: Divorcees Second Most Hated Group by Stapletonians; Aurorans First

Pioneering Stapleton mom Kate Ott has put her child’s ECE-3 spot at Swigert up for sale on the popular auction site Ebay. Last week, after DPS released who got into which schools as well as the waiting lists, the entrepreneurial Stapleton mom decided that her child does not absolutely need the spot, and that some money can be made. “We already had a back-up plan in case we didn’t get into the Swigert ECE-3 spot,” said Ott. “I told some friends that we got into Swigert, and a bunch of friends exclaimed to me how lucky I was. It got me to thinking, how lucky?” [Read more…] about Stapleton Mom Puts Child’s ECE Spot Up on Ebay