Timnath tells PSD to keep town's kids in local schools as consolidation talks continue

Timnath's Town Council sent a strong message to the Poudre School District Board of Education on Tuesday, jumping headlong into the debate over possible new school boundaries and school closures to balance out enrollment.

Council members unanimously supported a resolution urging PSD to "maintain school boundaries that respect the desires of most Timnath residents, keep Timnath neighborhoods together and keep Timnath children in Timnath schools."

The district has made no formal decisions on how boundaries might be adjusted but is considering shifting which students go to what schools as the district grapples with declining enrollment. All of its draft scenarios under consideration redraw boundaries for the district’s three elementary schools east of Interstate 25 — Bamford, Bethke and Timnath — and close two to five neighborhood schools west of College Avenue in Fort Collins.

One scenario would convert Timnath Middle-High School into a high school only, alleviating overcrowding there, and send middle school students to Preston, Boltz and Lesher middle schools in Fort Collins.

Timnath council members expressed concern the proposed boundary adjustment could send some of its younger students to Bamford Elementary, located in Loveland just north of the Larimer County fairgrounds complex and across the road from Windsor's Highland Meadows neighborhood. Those students would eventually go to middle school and high school in Fort Collins rather than the new Timnath Middle-High School.

"Even though a majority of Timnath would be attending Timnath schools, it's odd that there's a small pocket being proposed to go to different schools," council member Lisa Laake said.

Many residents moved to Timnath because of the local schools, said council member Luke Wagner, who attended PSD elementary, middle and high schools. His family moved to Timnath in 2016 "because it was a family-oriented community and secondly based on sending our kids to Bethke," he said. "It's a top-tier school with one of the best principals in the district. We knew of plans to build a middle-high school and the idea of keeping our kids completely in Timnath for their education was important to us."

Sending students to schools outside Timnath could increase bus time, separate them from their friends in the neighborhood and affect their well-being, Wagner said. The discussion alone has created anxiety for students and their families, he said. "One single line between Summerfield Estates and Summerfields doesn't seem right to me."

According to the resolution, Timnath children would be safer and enjoy a better quality of life by attending schools close to home.

PSD is taking comments on the draft scenarios until April 17.

The steering committee charged with providing community feedback to the PSD board will provide an update at the board's April 23 meeting, then refine scenarios and recommend two to three options to the school board at its May 28 meeting. The PSD board is scheduled to vote on the recommendations June 11.

No changes will take effect until the 2025-26 school year.

What's next?

There are two upcoming listening sessions involving the full Board of Education:

• Tuesday, April 16: 5:30-10 p.m. in the auditorium at Poudre High School, 201 S. Impala Drive, Fort Collins

• Tuesday, June 4: 5:30-10 p.m. in the auditorium at Fort Collins High School, 3400 Lambkin Way, Fort Collins

Scenario A1

• Balance enrollments of Timnath, Bethke and Bamford elementary schools by adjusting boundaries between those schools.

• Adjust Bamford’s feeder so that it feeds into Preston Middle School and Fossil Ridge High School instead of Timnath Middle-High School.

• Consolidate Blevins Middle School into Lincoln, Webber and Boltz middle schools.

• Consolidate Beattie and Olander elementary schools into Bennett, Johnson, Lopez and Bauder elementary schools.

• Consolidate Cache La Poudre Elementary School into Tavelli, Irish and Putnam elementary schools and consolidate Cache La Poudre Middle School into Lincoln Middle School.

• Move Poudre Community Academy and Centennial, both alternative high schools, into the Blevins Middle School building, combining their programs.

• Keep Polaris Expeditionary Learning School in its current building but move it to the student-based, rather than zero-based, budgeting model.

• Move the district’s transitions programs for 18- to 21-year-olds to Centennial's current building.

Key benefits: Alleviates enrollment pressures on elementary schools and middle-high school in Timnath; increases enrollment at underutilized elementary, middle and high schools; creates space for early childhood and other programming; improves the financial viability of zero-based budgets for alternative and choice programs.

Key concerns: Creates longer transportation times, particularly for students currently attending Cache La Poudre elementary and middle schools.

Cost savings: About 33% ($2.2 million) of size-factor adjustment.

Scenario A2

Same as A1 except:

• Make Cache La Poudre elementary and middle schools expeditionary learning schools, leaving the neighborhood boundaries in place, and move Polaris Expeditionary Learning School to the Cache La Poudre campuses, combining them to make a K-12 campus with elementary students at the current elementary school and grades 6-12 at the current middle school.

Key benefits: Expands access to expeditionary learning model.

Key concerns: Distance to Cache la Poudre campuses is about 12 minutes driving time northwest of Polaris’ current location; no public bus transportation to Cache La Poudre campuses.

Cost savings: About 25% ($1.65 million) of size-factor adjustment.

Scenario B

• Balance enrollments of Timnath, Bethke and Bamford elementary schools by adjusting boundaries between those schools.

• Consolidate Preston Middle School into Kinard Middle School, turning Kinard into a neighborhood school that feeds into Fossil Ridge High School. Adjust boundaries to send students from new Kinard boundary to Boltz Middle School to balance enrollments.

• Adjust Bamford Elementary to feed into Kinard Middle School and Fossil Ridge High School instead of Timnath Middle-High School.

• Balance enrollments of Bauder and Olander elementary schools by adjusting boundaries between those two schools.

• Balance enrollments of Webber and Blevins middle schools by adjusting boundaries between those two schools; move all of Olander into a Blevins Middle School feeder.

• Consolidate Lopez Elementary into Johnson, Beattie and McGraw elementary schools.

• Consolidate Dunn Elementary into Bennett, Putnam, Irish and Bauder elementary schools. Adjust boundary between Putnam and Irish elementary schools to send more students to Irish.

• Adjust boundaries between Lincoln, Lesher and Boltz middle schools to balance enrollments between those schools.

• Move Polaris Expeditionary Learning School and Poudre Community Academy, an alternative high school, into the Preston Middle School building but do not combine programs.

• Move Poudre Global Academy, a hybrid online school, into the Blevins Middle School building with Blevins but do not combine programs.

• Move the Journey Program and Opportunities Unlimited for 18- to 21-year-olds to the Centennial building with Centennial High School but do not combine programs.

• Move Transitions Programs for 18- to 21-year-olds to the Poudre Global Academy building.

Key benefits: Alleviates enrollment pressures on elementary schools in Timnath; balances enrollment across several schools while increasing enrollment at underutilized elementary, middle and high schools; may allow for expansion of Polaris Expeditionary Learning School, which has a large waiting list; creates space for early childhood and other programming.

Key concerns: Balancing enrollment without consolidation of schools does not address size-factor budget adjustment; would require renovation of Preston and Blevins to accommodate K-12 programs (playground, restrooms, etc.); difficult to predict where students who currently choice into a school will go if that school is closed or becomes a neighborhood school.

Cost savings: About 30% ($2 million) of size-factor adjustment.

Scenario C

• Balance enrollments at Timnath, Bethke and Bamford by adjusting boundaries between those schools.

• Convert Timnath Middle-High School into a high school only, sending middle school students to Preston, Boltz and Lesher middle schools.

• Turn Linton Elementary School into a dual-language, 100% choice school without a neighborhood boundary. Linton neighborhood students could choice into Linton or be sent to their new neighborhood schools — Zach or Kruse elementaries. Boundaries between Kruse, Werner and Bacon elementary schools would be adjusted to balance enrollments.

• Balance enrollments of Bauder and Olander elementary schools by adjusting boundaries between those two schools.

• Balance enrollments of Webber and Blevins middle schools by adjusting boundaries between those two schools; move all of Olander into a Blevins Middle School feeder.

• Consolidate Lopez Elementary into Johnson, Beattie and McGraw elementary schools.

• Consolidate Dunn Elementary into Bennett, Putnam, Irish and Bauder elementary schools. Adjust boundary between Putnam and Irish elementary schools to send more students to Irish.

• Adjust boundaries between Lincoln, Lesher and Boltz middle schools to balance enrollments between those schools.

• Move Poudre Community Academy into the Lopez building.

• Move Poudre Global Academy into the Blevins Middle School building with Blevins but do not combine programs.

• Move Transitions Programs into the Poudre Global Academy building.

• Move Journey Program and Opportunities Unlimited to the Centennial building with Centennial High School but do not combine programs.

• Polaris Expeditionary Learning School remains in its current building but moves from zero-based budgeting to student-based budgeting model.

Key benefits: Alleviates enrollment pressures on elementary schools in Timnath; balances enrollment among several schools; increases enrollment at underutilized elementaries, middle and high schools; creates space for early childhood and other programming; creates dual-language program in central Fort Collins.

Key concerns: Making Timnath Middle-High School a high school only underutilizes the building for the near term and creates significant split feeder from middle to high school; balancing enrollment without consolidation of schools does not address size-factor adjustment; does not facilitate shift from zero-based budgeting for Poudre Global Academy, Centennial or Poudre Community Academy; would require renovation of Blevins to accommodate K-12 programs; difficult to predict where students who currently choice into a school will go if that school is closed or turned into a neighborhood school.

Cost savings: About 30% ($2 million) of size-factor adjustment.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Timnath tells PSD to keep town's kids in local schools