District-by-district roundup: What's new in the Pikes Peak region

School years often start with change. Students start new grades — sometimes that means new schools — with new classes. This year there are plenty of changes in store for students and their families in the region’s 17 districts.

Here’s what’s in store:

ACADEMY SCHOOL DISTRICT 20

• Parent Academy offers orientation for parents of students new to the district to cover basic information on services available. Additional events will be offered, including classes on health and wellness, and safety and security. For more information and to register, visit www.asd20.org/parentacademy.

• Toria McGill is the new principal at Air Academy High School. She had been an assistant principal at Pine Creek High School.

• Rampart High School’s new principal is Peter Alvarez from Castro Valley High School in Northern California.

• Three elementary schools will have new principals. Kasie Jones will be at Antelope Trails Elementary, and Vicki Axford will be at Prairie Hills Elementary. Woodmen-Roberts Elementary’s principal will soon be announced.

• Home School Academy is expanding to ninth grade this fall. The enrichment program for home-schooled students also serves kindergarten though eighth-grade students.

• Foothills Elementary School will expand its World Language Immersion program in Spanish to second grade this year. The pilot program began with first-graders.

• The Rampart High School marching band will soon move its practice out of the parking lot. A new field is being built for the band.

CALHAN SCHOOL DISTRICT RJ1

• James Wilson, from Brush, will be the new high school principal.

• An extensive HVAC project is complete, so the entire school will be heated and cooled using a geothermal system, eliminating propane use. The energy-efficient system is expected to save the district more than $30,000 a year on utilities. The project was paid for with funds from several agencies, including a large sum from the Governor’s Energy Office.

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL DISTRICT 12

• Voluntary, random drug testing of students begins. Students must be enrolled in the program by their parents or guardians. Goal is to create a safe, drug- and alcohol-free campus. Parents pay a $30 enrollment fee, which covers program costs but does not guarantee a student will be tested during random screenings. Students with positive results will be subject to disciplinary actions that may include being kicked off sports teams, suspension and loss of on-campus driving and parking privileges.

COLORADO SPRINGS SCHOOL 
DISTRICT 11

• Wasson High School is expecting to be granted School of Innovation status from the state board of education in early August. Principal Darryl Bonds replaced Sean Dorsey, who accepted a position in District 49.

• Trailblazer Elementary School is adding sixth-grade students.

• Galileo School of Math and Science will add eighth-graders, completing its build-out to a regular sixth-to-eighth middle school. It’s new principal is Robyn Colbert, who was formerly principal at Midland Elementary School. Galileo’s previous principal, Rusty Moomey, will be at Mitchell High School.

• The former Irving Middle School building will reopen as the home of Adult and Family Education, the Digital School (moved from The Citadel mall) and the Achieve K-8 online school.

• Garry Berry Stadium’s all-weather track was replaced.

• There’s new asphalt on the playground at Bristol Elementary School.

• Edison Elementary School will be cooler with air conditioning installed.

• Martinez Elementary School students will have air conditioning, a change from the previous swamp cooler system. Students and parents can use a second drop-off area and additional parking on the north side of the school. In previous years, the single drop-off area caused traffic to back up onto Vickers Drive and into the intersection at Vickers and Rangewood drives, district facilities director Mike Maloney said in an e-mail. The project was funded with money saved from other bond projects.

• The Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning, a K-8 charter school, will open in the former Pike Elementary School.

• STAR Academy, a K-8 charter school, will move some students to the former Adams Elementary School to alleviate crowding at its facility on Airport Road.

CRIPPLE CREEK-VICTOR SCHOOL DISTRICT RE1

• The district will offer free breakfasts to all elementary students, and students will not need to pay fees to participate in extracurricular activities.

EDISON SCHOOL DISTRICT 54 JT

•Pat Bershinksky, who headed up Plainview School District 2, replaces retiring Dave Grosche as superintendent.

ELLICOTT SCHOOL DISTRICT 22

• The high school construction project is expected to be done by Aug. 16 when students return. The work includes a new roof and solar tubes for interior classrooms to allow natural light.

• The district is expecting additional students from Schriever Air Force Base with the completion of base housing. A registration event is planned on the base Friday.

• A committee is seeking recall of four of five school board members. Todd Schainost, Gary Lake, Stef Dickinson and Sherri Jorgenson were named in recall forms approved by El Paso County Election Department.

FALCON SCHOOL DISTRICT 49

• The school board will appoint a replacement Sept. 1 for board president Danielle Lindorf, who resigned to move out of state. Public interviews of candidates are scheduled for Aug. 18.

• A $125 million bond issue to pay for two new schools and additions to several others is under consideration for the November ballot. The district, with around 14,400 students, is expecting 500 additional students this fall and facilities are at 103 percent capacity. The school board plans a vote Aug. 12.

• There will be two new high school principals: Sean Dorsey at Sand Creek, and Bob Felice at Vista Ridge. Dorsey was principal at Wasson High School in D-11. Felice was principal at Falcon Middle School.The two replace Mike Collins of Sand Creek and Sandy Collins of Vista Ridge who accepted early retirement.

• Falcon Virtual Academy, for kindergartners through 12th graders, launches this fall. Teachers will assist students in the program and there’s a physical computer lab for students. Kim McClelland, a former District 49 teacher is the program administrator and will have virtual office hours and will post video lectures and updates.

FOUNTAIN-FORT CARSON SCHOOL DISTRICT 8

• Weikel Elementary School will open to 400 students in pre-school through fifth grade. All pre-schoolers that live on the post will attend the school. About 25,000 square feet will be a preschool center, and an all-day kindergarten center is planned. The $12.5 million facility was built with district reserves. The district, which has 6,500 students, is expecting 3,000 more in the next several years partly because of more military families. James Welte will be principal.

HANOVER SCHOOL DISTRICT 28

• Paul McCarty, a former D-2 administrator, is the new superintendent and also will be the high school principal.

• All elementary students in preschool through fourth grade will attend classes at Prairie Heights Elementary School due to the closure of Hanover Elementary during budget cutting. Fifth and sixth graders will attend the junior-senior high school, but they’ll be in self-contained classrooms.

HARRISON SCHOOL DISTRICT 2

•The new pay for performance plan begins. Teachers were placed on new pay scale in April, and pay will be based on how well their students do.

•Four D-2 residents filed petitions for a recall of three board members: Deborah Hendrix, Richard Price, Linda Pugh. However, the group says it is reorganizing and will miss the deadline for inclusion on November election ballot.

LEWIS-PALMER SCHOOL DISTRICT 38

• Ted Baum is the interim superintendent in light of Raymond Blanch’s June resignation. Baum was superintendent five years before retiring in 2003.

• The Grace Best Elementary School building closed and the students were moved to the former Creekside Middle School, leaving the district with one middle school — Lewis-Palmer Middle School — serving seventh and eighth graders. Creekside was renamed as Bear Creek Elementary School. The five elementary schools now serve students from preschool through sixth grade.

MANITOU SPRINGS SCHOOL DISTRICT 14

• Manitou Springs High School’s new principal is Glenn Hard, who had been a teacher at the school.

• Ute Pass Elementary boasts a new parking lot.

• Manitou Springs Middle School students will see essentially a new school. New, smaller lockers with built-in combinations have replaced the old ones from 1976. Hallways were touched up with new ceiling tiles, flooring and paint. Some of the windowless classrooms have skylights. Office space also has been remodeled.

• Manitou Springs Middle School students will learn a new schedule. Seventh- and eighth-graders will be on a block schedule very similar to the high school’s, with four 90-minute classes each day. Sixth-graders will be on a slightly modified block schedule, with two-teacher teams to ease the transition from elementary schools. The change from an eight-period day allowed 90 minutes each of math and language arts every day for the entire year.

MIAMI-YODER SCHOOL DISTRICT JT60

As planned, students will start the school year later than usual as school construction in still under way.

PEYTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 23JT

• The school board is considering a $2.6 million bond issue for improvements to the campus housing junior and senior high school students. The bond issue and the state BEST grant would fund $6 million in capital improvements. The project would include classroom additions, cafeteria renovation and a multipurpose gym has been approved.

• The enrichment activities for home school families are expected to continue to expand.

WIDEFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT 3

• Former Assistant Superintendent Joe Royer moved into the superintendent’s seat in July. He replaced Stan Richardson, who retired.

• Sixth graders will attend junior high school this fall in a move to improve building efficiency and offer expanded programs. To ensure a smooth transition, eighth graders will start school a day after their sixth and seventh grade classmates, who begin Aug. 17.

• D-3 was awarded a $1.2 million Department of Defense Education Activity grant. The grant is for a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) initiative to improve student achievement and reduce learning gaps at the junior high level. Three interventionists have been hired to serve at Janitell, Sproul and Watson junior high schools.

WOODLAND PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT RE-2

• Jed Bowman, former director of schools for the Chaparral High School feeder system in Douglas County, replaced Guy Arseneau as superintendent on July 1. Bowman was the director of assessment until he was named director of schools in 2009.

• The school board is reviewing candidates to fill the vacancy left by board member Archie Neil’s resignation. The new board member will be announced Sept. 1.

• Bus routes are being consolidated and schools are shifting to a common start time. Students who ride the school bus in the district will pay an annual fee of $50, with a maximum family charge of $100. The fee will be waived for students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. The fee was part of cuts and changes to balance the budget.