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Cherry Creek School District

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Area
  
284.3 km²

Founded
  
1950

Cherry Creek School District httpspbstwimgcomprofileimages290290484fac

Headquarters
  
Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States

Profiles

Cherry creek school district


The Cherry Creek School District 5, also known as Cherry Creek Public Schools, is a school district based in western Arapahoe County, Colorado. The superintendent is Harry C. Bull, Jr., Ed.D. It consists of elementary, middle, and high schools. The district headquarters are in Greenwood Village.

Contents

Map of Cherry Creek 5, CO, USA

The district serves Greenwood Village, Cherry Hills Village, most of Centennial, Foxfield, and Glendale. It also serves portions of Aurora, Englewood and areas near Denver.

The Cherry Creek School District is one of the highest-achieving school districts in the state. The district serves more than 54,000 children and more 300,000 residents in 108 square miles that spread across eight municipalities. 98% of Cherry Creek Schools rank in the highest category of accreditation by the Colorado Department of Education. None of the schools rank in the lowest two categories.

Cherry creek school district 26473 e caley drive aurora


Students

The student population of the Cherry Creek School District figures from the 2015-16 school year follow:

Average class size:

  • Grades K-5: 24.1
  • Grades 6-8: 25.9
  • Grades 9-12: 25.7
  • Total Teachers: 54,700+ Total Students: 54,700+

    Demographics:

  • African American: 11.3%
  • American Indian/Alaska Native: 0.6%
  • Asian: 8.5%
  • Hispanic: 18.9%
  • Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.2%
  • White: 54.3%
  • Two or more races: 6.2%
  • 29% of CCSD students qualify for free and reduced lunch.
  • Total Schools: 60

  • 41 Elementary Schools (K-5)
  • 10 Middle Schools (6-8)
  • 7 High Schools (9-12)
  • 1 Magnet School (K-8)
  • 1 Charter School
  • The district has one of the highest high school graduation rates in the Denver metropolitan area. Over 84% of CCSD students graduate and approximately 85% of them go on to college. Admissions officers from prestigious universities across the country actively recruit Cherry Creek graduates.

    History

    Cherry Creek School District No. 5 was voted into existence in 1950 by residents of seven Arapahoe County school districts. Existing schools in the new district included:

  • Melvin School, currently a schoolhouse museum on the Smoky Hill High School campus
  • Castlewood School, dismantled when I-25 was built and replaced with Belleview Elementary in 1954
  • Cherry Creek Elementary School
  • Cherry Hills Elementary School
  • The definition of a top-notch public education on the Colorado plains in the late 1800s was very different than the standards of 2015. When the first Cherry Creek school house opened its doors in 1874 to serve the isolated families living in the isolated community of Melvin on the rugged eastern plains of Arapahoe County, its students made do with scant resources.

    Elementary school students came to class with chalkboards, chalk and little else. Long before modern technology played any kind of role in the classroom, teachers relied on the most basic kinds of classroom tools to pass along knowledge, and it worked for the school's small groups of students.

    That lone schoolhouse and its first groups of teachers and students served as the roots of what would formally become the Cherry Creek School District in 1950. Following the passage of the School District Reorganization Act in 1949 and the decision by voters to unite more than 1,200 students in Arapahoe County in one district, CCSD formally launched as a continuation of the educational tradition that began with the determined settlers of the late 19th century.

    Sixty-five years after that unification, the district has evolved in myriad ways. In lieu of a handful of rickety buildings spread across the county, CCSD now comprises 42 elementary schools, 10 middle schools and six high schools, in addition to an alternative high school and middle school, a magnet school and a charter school. District enrollment now exceeds 54,200, and the first class of school room instructors has grown to about 3,700 teachers. Classrooms across the district's 108 square miles feature the latest in cutting-edge technology, and students of all backgrounds and grade levels have the latest tools at their disposal.

    A lot has changed since the scattered group of schools incorporated in 1950, but the Cherry Creek School District still operates on important standards staked out by its Board of Education in 1955, principles that would form the basis of the district’s mission statement: "To inspire every student to think, to learn, to achieve, to care." The first CCSD board members made character education, curriculum development, responsible school finance and looking ahead early priorities.

    That year, Clark Stutler, the first CCSD superintendent, also made the following mission statement for the young district: "The only reason for a Board of Education or for any of the 82 employees of the Cherry Creek School District No. 5 is that there are 1,935 boys and girls in the district who need to be educated. It precludes everything else."

    As much as Cherry Creek has changed over the past 65 years, those priorities have remained a guiding principle for district leaders.

    Along with fundamental shifts in the district's population, size and scope, these advancements have made for a completely different world. The Cherry Creek School District bears very little resemblance to the one-room schoolhouses that served as its foundations. Still, those teachers and students who reported to school in the first years of the district’s existence would recognize a common thread in today’s classrooms.

    Institute of Science and Technology

    In 2011, the district opened the Institute of Science and Technology, a campus devoted specifically to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. The building, located at 12500 E. Jewell Avenue in Aurora, is part of the Overland High School-Prairie Middle School campus. It serves Overland and Prairie students through a rich and rigorous curriculum.

    The school was designed by Hutton Architecture Studio and built by Saunders Construction with science in mind. Approved by Cherry Creek voters in 2008, the $18 million, 58,000 square foot facility features lines of latitude and longitude on the floors, galaxies of stars on the ceilings, and windows that represent Fibonacci's sequence.

    Elementary schools

  • Antelope Ridge Elementary School
  • Arrowhead Elementary School
  • Aspen Crossing Elementary School
  • Belleview Elementary School
  • Black Forest Hills Elementary School
  • Buffalo Trail Elementary School
  • Canyon Creek Elementary School
  • Challenge K-5
  • Cherry Creek Academy K-5 (Charter)
  • Cherry Hills Village Elementary School
  • Cimarron Elementary School
  • Cottonwood Creek Elementary School
  • Coyote Hills Elementary School
  • Creekside Elementary School
  • Dakota Valley Elementary School
  • Dry Creek Elementary School
  • Eastridge Community Elementary School
  • Fox Hollow Elementary School
  • Greenwood Elementary School
  • Heritage Elementary School
  • High Plains Elementary School
  • Highline Community Elementary School
  • Holly Hills Elementary School
  • Homestead Elementary School
  • Independence Elementary School
  • Indian Ridge Elementary School
  • Meadow Point Elementary School
  • Mission Viejo Elementary School
  • Mountain Vista Elementary School
  • Peakview Elementary School
  • Pine Ridge Elementary School
  • Polton Elementary School
  • Ponderosa Elementary School
  • Red Hawk Ridge Elementary School
  • Rolling Hills Elementary School
  • Sagebrush Elementary School
  • Summit Elementary School
  • Sunrise Elementary School
  • Timberline Elementary School
  • Trails West Elementary School
  • Village East Elementary School
  • Walnut Hills Elementary School
  • Willow Creek Elementary School
  • Middle schools

  • C.A.R.E. Middle School
  • Campus Middle School (Campus Middle Unit)
  • Challenge (K-8 Magnet) Middle School
  • Falcon Creek Middle School
  • Fox Ridge Middle School
  • Horizon Community Middle School
  • Laredo Middle School
  • Liberty Middle School
  • Prairie Middle School
  • Sky Vista Middle School
  • Thunder Ridge Middle School
  • West Middle School
  • High schools

  • Cherokee Trail High School
  • Cherry Creek High School
  • Eaglecrest High School
  • Grandview High School
  • Overland High School
  • Smoky Hill High School
  • Alternative programs

  • Career and Technical Education
  • Cherry Creek Academy (K-8 Charter)
  • Cherry Creek P.R.E.P. Alternative High School
  • Foote Youth Services Center
  • Glendale Educational Center
  • Institute of Science and Technology
  • Joliet Center
  • Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning
  • Awards

    The Cherry Creek School District has more than 100 teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), the third-highest amount in the state of Colorado.

    Cherry Creek Schools has produced several Colorado Teachers of the Year:

  • Russell Lofthouse (1986, Meadow Point Elementary School)
  • Roberta Ford (1990, Prairie Middle School)
  • Pam Schmidt (1997, Thunder Ridge Middle School)
  • Sharon Ivie (1999, Eastridge Community Elementary School)
  • Deborah Johnston (2002, Eaglecrest High School)
  • Two teachers have received the Presidential Teaching Award:

  • Kathryn Eyolfson (2008, Science) Coyote Hills Elementary School
  • Lana Hanson (2008, Math) Willow Creek Elementary School
  • CCSD has also received several other awards, including:

  • Best Nutrition Program of the Year (by USDA - 2005-2006)
  • Superintendent of the Year (Dr. Monte C. Moses, Ph.D.)
  • School District of the Year (both by Colorado DOE and United States DOE)
  • References

    Cherry Creek School District Wikipedia