AURORA | If Aurora’s two school districts share any common trait, it’s diversity.
Both the Aurora Public Schools and Cherry Creek School districts stretch over miles and host students from a wide range of economic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Both districts operate buildings across the city’s landscape, from the newer facilities on Aurora’s southeastern stretches to the city’s first elementary, middle and high schools in the north. And as the population has boomed in the past decade, the face of both districts has changed – new buildings, cutting-edge curriculums and new approaches to curriculum have taken hold at APS and Cherry Creek.
Those trends are set to continue in the 2013-14 school year. Even as both districts deal with difficult budget issues, the coming year will see the opening of new schools and building renovations (funded by successful recent bond elections at both districts), the development of specialized instruction programs and connecting high school students with college-level courses.
At APS, the regular school calendar is set to kick off for grades 1 through 12 on Aug. 6, with an official back-to-school event planned from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Aug. 3 at Aurora Central High School, 11700 East 11th Ave. Across the district, important dates for the coming year include the following off days: Labor Day falls on Sept. 2, fall break runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, Thanksgiving break falls on Nov. 28 and 29, winter break runs from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3, the Martin Luther King. Jr. holiday falls on Jan. 20, Presidents Day is Feb. 17, and spring break is March 24-28. Graduation ceremonies for the district’s high schools are on May 20, and the last day of school is May 21. For a full calendar, log on to aurorak12.org.
Aurora Public Schools comprises 59 schools. That breaks down to three preschools, 27 elementary schools, four P-8 schools, six middle schools, one 6-12 academy, four comprehensive high schools, one P-20 Campus, one online high school, three pilot schools, one vocational/technical college, one gifted and talented K-8 school, six charter schools and one home school support program.
Last year, the enrollment in the district was 36,297 students, a number that will be updated with the official student count in October.
The breakdown of the district’s demographics is as follows: 0.7 percent Native American, 4.6 percent Asian, 18 percent black, 54.3 percent Hispanic, 18.3 percent white, 0.5 percent Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander and 3.6 percent two or more races. Sixty-nine percent of APS students qualify for free and reduced lunch.
The Cherry Creek district, which includes facilities outside of Aurora, comprises 41 K-5 elementary Schools and six are year-round, ten 6-8 middle schools, six 9-12 high schools, one alternative high school, one alternative middle school, one magnet school and one charter school.
In Cherry Creek, the first day of the regular calendar is Aug. 19. Important dates for the coming year include the following off days: Labor Day falls on Sept. 2, fall break runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, Thanksgiving break falls on Nov. 28-29, winter break runs from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday falls on Jan. 20, Presidents Day is Feb. 17 and spring break is March 31 to April 4. The last day of school is June 3. The district’s A, B, C and D tracks revolve around the year. For a full calendar, log on to cherrycreekschools.org.
Last year, Cherry Creek served more than 51,000 students across the 108 square miles of the district, an area that includes portions of Aurora, Cherry Hills Village, Centennial, Foxfield, Glendale, Greenwood Village, Englewood and Denver.
Voters approved a mild bond issue in November, a $125-million issue that will fund technology improvements, building maintenance and add capacity to Cherokee Trail and Grandview high schools in Aurora.
The breakdown of the district’s demographics is as follows: 0.5 percent American Indian/Alaska Native, 8 percent Asian, 0.3 percent Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 12 percent black, 18 percent Hispanic, 57 percent white and 5 percent two or more races. Twenty-seven of the district’s students qualify for free and reduced lunch.
For new APS chief, school is already in session
It’s hard to recite the list of new programs implemented in the Aurora Public Schools district over the past six years in a single breath.
Vista 2010 and Vista 2015, PACE Setter (short for People, Achievement, Community and Environment), Pathways, Aurora LIGHTS. Those initiatives haven’t been the only changes in the district in the past few years: there’s the sprawling new P-20 campus on the east side of Aurora, the passage of millions in bond and mill levy issues and massive growth of the district’s concurrent enrollment program.
Rico Munn
As Rico Munn starts his first months on the job as the new APS superintendent, he’s not looking to create that many new programs. Those initiatives are part of the legacy of Munn’s predecessor John Barry, just as they’re the cumulative work of current and former members of the APS Board of Education. Munn, who started in his new role on July 1, sees those policies as part of the infrastructure. He beat out other candidates with traditional backgrounds in education (the APS board selected Munn over a teacher and a pair of former superintendents).
“Part of the conversation that I had when they hired me was that it was not the board’s perception and not my perception that this is something I want to blow up and start over again,” Munn said earlier this summer. “It’s something that I’m trying to build upon … to reorient things so that it’s even better.”
Munn is no stranger to the subtleties of education policy. Formerly a lawyer at a Denver firm, Munn’s resume is also packed with high-profile posts at local education agencies. He is the former executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and a former Colorado State Board of Education member. He currently serves on the 15-member Board of Governors for the Colorado State University System, a body appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper.
That experience will help as Munn begins his work with the school board and starts to dig in to the long list of programs and policies that have been at work in APS for the last several years. In looking at each policy, the district’s gains in state test scores and achievement will play a role. The district’s progress on the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program tests has been modest, and Munn said that has to be a part of the equation.
“Yes, there’s an art to what we do, there’s a nuance to what we do, but at the end of the day it has to pay off in results,” Munn said. “You have to have a conversation about the actual achievement that you’re having and the impact and the difference that you’re making.”
Many of the district’s signature programs have achievement at their cores. The “Pathways” program connects students with specialized, career-oriented education starting in elementary school. The expansion of the district’s concurrent enrollment program has seen hundreds of APS students taking college-level courses through the Community College of Aurora while still in high school.
With two children enrolled in an APS charter school, Munn has a personal stake in making those connections. It’s all part of making the school district a “circle of stability” in the community, a place that can offer guidance and direction. He likens the role of schools to that of the home, the church and the business community. While that kind of security may be tricky to measure, Munn will keep numbers in mind as he starts to go over the long list of policies and initiatives that have been established in the past five years.
“There are times when people get swept up in the idea or the goal of, ‘We want to be the best school district in the state.’ I don’t know what that means,” Munn said. “I think our job is to be the best and highest service to our community. At the end of the day, some of that is going to be reflected by standardized tests.”
Veteran Cherry Creek teacher, administrator charges ahead at the helm
Harry Bull has plenty of experience as a teacher and administrator to draw from as he starts as the new Cherry Creek Schools District superintendent this fall.
Harry Bull, the next superintendent of Cherry Creek Schools
He kicked off his career as a social studies teacher at Aurora Central High School in the Aurora Public Schools district before moving to Overland High in 1984. That post was the first in a series at Cherry Creek. He was an assistant principal at Smoky Hill High School before taking over as one of the first principals at Grandview High School after it opened in 1998. By the time he moved to roles in district administration as executive director of high schools and assistant superintendent of human resources, he’d logged nearly 30 years working in Aurora.
Bull, 56, moved to the district’s top spot last month, and he says he hasn’t forgotten his years in the district’s eastern stretches.
“My experience in Cherry Creek in Aurora has clearly indicated to me that we have seen and will continue to see changes in our demographics,” Bull said earlier this year. “We’re also going to see growth. The old days of Cherry Creek being one way are gone. We are a very, very diverse district. I think people forget that, or don’t know that.”
At the beginning of 2013, the Cherry Creek School District Board of Education unanimously voted to name Bull as the sole finalist to replace Superintendent Mary Chesley, who announced her retirement after four years on the job.
Before casting the vote for Bull, board members cited his accomplishments during a three-decade career, as well as his deep understanding of coming legislative challenges tied to K-12 education in Colorado.
That includes legislation such as Senate Bill 191, which deals with accountability measures for teachers and principals, as well as the implementation of the Colorado Academic Standards and the district’s STEM 2025 initiative. But Bull is also more concerned with more basic questions tied to state funding for public education, issues rooted in conflicting and complex measures like the Gallagher Amendment and the Tax Payer Bill of Rights, or TABOR.
“Funding comes from our constituents and the state of Colorado,” Bull said. “I think we’re going to have to sit down and look at the underpinnings of how we finance things in this state. Somebody’s going to have to resolve that. That’s going to have impact in the broadest sense and is certainly going to have an impact on K-12 education … Somewhere, we have to have some leadership in asking that question.”
Voters will have to take on that leadership role later this year. A tax question worth $950 million in new funding for public education will figure on the ballot this fall.
Bull also sees challenges as the state moves to implement SB 191, a law that will tie assessments of teachers and principals more closely to test scores. While Bull welcomes accountability in K-12 education, he said the effort won’t be simple.
“What I’m not sure that people understand is that schools are incredibly complex. It is within that complexity that we’re going to encounter challenges with regards to accountability,” Bull said. “It’s not as clean as the business model … I think it’s going to help us, it’s going to move us further down the road, but it’s going to take time to work out the kinks. I’m not sure that it’s going to be the answer that everyone is believing it’s going to be.”
Bull, who has four children ranging in age from 2 years old to 9 years old, said he’s personally tied to that complex and long-term effort. Bull’s contract with the district will be year-to-year, but that hasn’t stopped him from sketching out a long-range vision for his new job.
“My father worked for 50 years at Martin Marietta Materials. So, that’s what I know. I know that you go to work and you stay someplace for a really long time,” Bull said, pointing to educational data from Colorado researcher Robert Marzano. “My commitment to the board is a six- or seven-year commitment, or beyond.”
AURORA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 2013
Key Dates:
First day of classes — Aug. 6
Labor Day — Sept. 2
Fall Break — Oct. 28-Nov. 1
Thanksgiving Break — Nov. 28-29
Winter Break — Dec. 23-Jan. 3
Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Jan. 20
Presidents Day — Feb. 17
Spring Break — March 24-28
Teacher workdays or inservice (No Classes) — Oct. 11, Dec. 20, Feb. 6, March 14
Last day of classes — May 21
District Contact:
Phone: 303-344-8060
Website: aurorak12.org
Cherry Creek Public Schools 2013
Key Dates:
First day of classes — Aug. 19
Labor Day — Sept. 2
Fall Break — Oct. 28-Nov. 1
Thanksgiving Break — Nov. 28-29
Winter Break — Dec. 23-Jan. 3
Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Jan. 20
Presidents Day — Feb. 17
Spring Break — March 31-April 4
Memorial Day — May 26
Last day of classes — June 3
Teacher workdays or non-contact days (No Classes) — Sept. 20, Nov. 15, Feb. 18, March 6-7 (K-8), May 2 (K-8)
District Contact
Phone: 303-773-1184
Website: cherrycreekschools.org
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