THORNTON — Tucked away in the industrial parks and strip malls in the north Denver suburbs, the Mapleton School District is easily overlooked, say officials and parents.
Its enrollment is only about 5,700 students, and a majority — more than 62 percent — are Hispanic, and 67 percent are considered poor enough to qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.
“You can tell we are different when you look at the parking lot of our high schools, you don’t see too many cars,” Superintendent Charlotte Ciancio said. “Most of our kids can’t afford cars or car insurance, so they depend on the buses to get them to school.”
Voters have been tough on the district, voting down two consecutive requests for bond issues for new buildings.
The result was the same on Nov. 3, when the district’s $30.2 million bond issue lost by 56 votes.
However, as of Friday, the district was holding onto hopes that its $1.9 million mill-levy override had passed by a nine-vote margin. Adams County Clerk Karen Long said Friday the margin is small enough that a recount is likely.
Supporters of the district say the bond issue defeat was especially hard this time. That’s because the state was promising the district $31.9 million for capital construction funding under Colorado’s Building Excellent Schools Today, or BEST, program.
All Mapleton needed to do was come up with $22.8 million in matching funds. Officials decided to go for a $30.2 million bond to help refinance the district’s debt at a lower interest rate to put more money into its operating budget.
“It’s just a painful, painful loss,” said Dana Talarico, president of Talarico and Associates, a real estate firm that operates in the district boundaries.
In previous bond elections, many local businesses were reluctant to back the district’s bond issues because higher taxes would follow, Talarico said. But this year, Ciancio was successful in getting several businesses to support the district’s request.
It helps that Mapleton is posting steady increases on its CSAP scores and that 97 percent of its seniors last year were accepted into college, Talarico said.
She points out that Ciancio’s move to deconstruct every one of the 10 schools in the district into smaller learning classrooms is helping achievement.
“The district under Dr. Ciancio has been very forward-looking, and it’s very encouraging,” Talarico said.
Still, there are plenty of older residents in the district who feel no ties to the schools and who resist any kind of tax increase, she said.
The district isn’t giving up a chance at the $31.9 million. Classrooms and parents are scrambling to come up with the matching funds by the end of the month to meet the state’s deadline. So far, the district has raised just less than $10,000.
“There is no giving up in this district,” Ciancio said. “We have to keep fighting.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
