Recently, McAuliffe Middle School began community discussions in regards to moving to a new location in Park Hill (Smiley). Originally, some people in the Stapleton community were not pleased. “This is our school,” exclaimed concerned resident Rob Klunder. “We don’t want our great schools moving all the way over to Park Hill. Is this just the beginning? How many more schools will be leaving Stapleton?”
Klunder asked the big question that was concerning all Stapleton residents. Sure, maybe it makes sense for McAuliffe to move to a facility that is better suited for a junior high, but is this a slippery slope where Stapleton will begin to lose all of its great schools? The Stapletonion’s research team looked deeper into the issue talking to principals, teachers, Denver Public Schools, and Forest City among others. This new information will certainly help quell any concerns over Stapleton losing all of its schools.
Data shows that in the last ten years, at least four schools have been built in Stapleton, with plans for at least three more underway. We could only confirm that one of these schools is potentially leaving the Stapleton community. What does all of this data tell us? We asked city planning expert Seth Drenner. “At first glance, looking at these numbers can be a little overwhelming,” says Drenner. “Learning to interpret which data points mean something and which ones don’t can certainly be challenging. But after really crunching the data down, it looks like Stapleton is not going to lose all of its schools, barring an act of God, or Forest City President Dargossi doing something really stupid.”
Drenner went on to say that due to the extremely high population of children in the Stapleton community, it is actually much more likely that more schools will continue to be built rather than leave. “My instincts tell me that the situation with one school potentially leaving is more of a one-off, and probably an exception and not a rule.” This should be welcome news to Stapleton’s concerned residents. ]]>