ADAMS COUNTY —Thousands of kids in Adams County are brushing off their backpacks, notebooks and pencils as they prepare to head back for another year of school.
The county’s largest school district, Adams 12 Five Star Schools, will welcome an estimated 42,434 students back to the classrooms this month, slightly down from last year. Class is officially slated to begin Aug. 20 and 21.
Adams 12 Superintendent Chris Gdowski said the district is working to improve its graduation rates, which have shown some positive gains. The graduation rate last year increased 5.1 percent to 79 percent, slightly above the statewide average of 75 percent.
In all, Adams 12’s graduation rate has increased about 8 percent overall the last two years, Gdowski said.
“Our focus this year is to continue our strong work with graduation,” he said. “We’ve made some really good strides.”
Officials are hoping to boost test scores across the board, but particularly in the areas of reading and writing. The district is about 5 points below the statewide average in reading scores, and about 7 points below in writing, he said.
“We’ve done a lot of work in math and science,” Gdowski said. “We’ve got a little bit longer to go in reading and writing.”
The situation is much more dire in Adams 14, which is entering the third year of a five-year turnaround plan. Adams 14, which covers Commerce City, is the state’s second-lowest performing school district in terms of graduation rates, dropout rates and test scores.
Officials are hoping to engage parents about plans to improve academic achievement through a newly formed “accountability committee,” which hosted its first public forum this week, said Adams 14 Superintendent Pat Sanchez.
“We’re not trying to hide the fact that we’re one of the lowest-performing districts in the state,” Sanchez said. “The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. It’s critical that we address this. These kids deserve better. We’re committing educational malpractice.”
The district needs to get test scores up quickly if it hopes to avoid some serious sanctions from the state. If not, Adams 14 could possibly be disbanded and have its schools absorbed by neighboring districts, he said.
“There’s definitely some very real consequences,” Sanchez said.
School District 27J, which primarily covers Brighton, is grappling with crowding issues at its two high schools. Brighton High School is slated to welcome some 1,869 students this year, said Chris Fiedler, superintendent for 27J.
“If those numbers hold, it would be the largest group we’ve ever had in that building,” he said.
Meanwhile, at Prairie View High School, the district is expecting 1,848 students, also an increase over last year. The district is opening a new blended online school this year, but it probably won’t do much to alleviate the crowding issues.
27J officials are considering floating a bond issue to voters next year to help build a new high school, a measure that could come with a $85 million price tag, Fiedler said.
“It’s an expensive solution,” he said. “But it’s one we know we’ll need at some point.”
Joey Kirchmer: 303-954-2650, jkirchmer@denverpost.com or
