Douglas County School District will be consolidating schools in one community using funds from a bond passed by voters earlier this month.
Any of Highlands Ranch’s 18 elementary schools could be impacted. The district is currently in the process of deciding which three schools will be closed and which other three schools will absorb their students.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty for the parents in my community,” said Highlands Ranch mom of two, Emily Drost.
Highlands Ranch parents are worried about their children’s future education.
“We specifically sought out Sand Creek Elementary School because they have such a small class size already, but now that classes are getting smaller and smaller … My first grader, for example, she’s in just one class of first graders, and there’s 26 kids in her class,” Drost said.
It’s a story of demographics: new schools are needed in growing communities like Sterling Ranch , while families who bought homes in Highlands Ranch in the 1990s no longer have young children, leading to declining enrollment at those schools.