Coal Ridge High School students head to their second hour classes on the first day of school Tuesday. |
- Kelley Cox/Post Independent
















Education


RFSD DISTRICT RE-1 — District opens doors to new and remodeled schools
Change is afoot for Roaring Fork School District Re-1. In November 2004 Garfield County voters approved an $86 million bond, and a $1.8 million mill levy override. The bond and override will allow RFSD to upgrade and renovate its 11 campuses in Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and Basalt and to attract and retain the best staff for its over 5,000 students.

RFSD is in the process of upgrading and expanding its elementary and middle schools while construction begins early this year on a new addition to Glenwood Springs High School and a new campus for Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale. Both schools are slated to be complete in 2007.

Carbondale Middle School will move into the old Roaring Fork High campus when the new high school opens.

In addition to traditional schools, Re-1 operates Bridges High School (an alternative high school in Glenwood) and the Carbondale Community School (a K-8 charter school).

Another change for the district this year will be a new superintendent who will replace retiring Superintendent Fred Wall after he leaves his post this summer. The district hopes to name a new superintendent by the end of March.

The “Re” in Re-1 stands for “re-organized,” which the district was in 1959 along with most other school districts in Colorado.

RFSD is one of three school districts serving Garfield County.

RFSD administrative offices are in Glenwood Springs at 1405 Grand Ave. Phone: 384-6000. The district is on the Web at www.rfsd.k12.co.us.

GARFIELD COUNTY RE-2 — Bond issue paved way for numerous facility projects
Garfield County School District No. Re-2 serves families in New Castle, Silt and Rifle with four elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools.

But the district is growing. Coal Ridge High School, the newest addition to Re-2, opened in the fall of 2005 with approximately 250 freshmen and sophomores. The new school is located near Interstate 70 between Silt and New Castle. It will primarily draw from Riverside Middle School.

First- through fourth-grade students attend elementary school; fifth- through eighth-grade students go to middle school and high school students are in the ninth through 12th grades.

SCHOOL DISTRICT 16 — District seeing rapid enrollment growth
Garfield County School District No. 16 was founded in the early 1900s to govern all of the small rural schools in and around Parachute. Two of the schools in the district were The Book Cliffs School and Granlee, both built around 1895.

As the population dwindled between 1900 and 1910, schools in the areas surrounding Parachute consolidated with District 16.

The U.S. government and a government work project helped erect a new school during the Great Depression. The school has evolved and survived multiple remodels, expansions and changes in purpose. Today it is the Grand Valley Early Childhood Literacy Center.

Last year the district’s growth steadily and swiftly increased. During 2006, the district witnessed the largest student population increase — at approximately 10 percent — in the three Garfield County school districts. The growth allowed for the district to hire an assistant superintendent, Ken Haptonstall, who started with the district before the 2007-08 school year.

Grand Valley High School opened in 2002 and is built to house 400 students. It can be expanded to hold 600.

In 2006 the district was awarded by voters a $35 million bond issue that will go toward construction upgrades. Ground was broken and construction began on the addition at the Early Childhood Literacy Center for the Center for Family Services facility. The district is also in the redesign stage of the district’s Educational Service Support Center, which will house a transportation facility and welding stations for vocational programs. Improvements to Bea Underwood Elementary, reconstruction of L.W. St John Middle School into an elementary facility and construction of a new middle school building to replace St John will move forward during 2008 as well.

CMC — College provides accessibility across mountain region
Colorado Mountain College is one of Garfield County’s greatest attributes.

The college offers everything from two-year degrees in photography or veterinary technology for serious students, to occupational certificates in real estate or EMT, to kayaking and French classes for folks who just like to learn.

CMC has community sites in Glenwood Springs, Carbondale and Rifle, in addition to a residential campus at Spring Valley, seven miles from Glenwood Springs. The college also has residential campuses in Leadville and Steamboat Springs, and five other community sites across the Western Slope, including Aspen and Edwards.

In the fall of 2007, a new West Garfield Campus replaced CMC’s downtown Rifle facility.

CMC’s science and liberal arts associate degrees are often used as a stepping-stone to transfer to four-year colleges and universities.

RFSD 1 Info
District office

1405 Grand Ave.

Glenwood Springs

Phone: 384-6000

Re-1 Board Members

President

Michael Bair mbair@rfsd.k12.co.us

384-6000

Vice President

Bruce Wampler bwampler@rfsd.k12.co.us

384-6000

Secretary

Brad Zeigel bzeigel@rfsd.k12.co.us

384-6000

Treasurer

Bob Johnson

bjohnson@rfsd.k12.co.us

384-6000

Member

Susan Hakanson shak@rfsd.k12.co.us

384-6000

Basalt Schools

Basalt High School

Principal:

Jim Waddick

600 Southside Drive

Basalt, CO 81621

Phone: 384-5959

Re-1: continued on next page

Basalt Middle School

Principal:

Christian Kingsbury

51 School St.

Basalt, CO 81621

Phone: 384-5900

Basalt Elementary School

Principal:

Suzanne Wheeler-Del Piccolo

151 E. Cottonwood Drive

Basalt, CO 81621

Phone: 384-5800



More Schools page 35



Carbondale Schools:

Roaring Fork High School

Principal: Dale Parker

180 Snowmass Drive

Carbondale, CO 81623

Phone: 384-5757

Carbondale Middle School

Principal: Cliff Colia

455 South 3rd Street

Carbondale, CO 81623

Phone: 384-5700

Crystal River Elementary School

Principals: Karen Olsen

600 South 3rd Street and 160 Snowmass Drive

Carbondale, CO 81623

Phone: 384-5650

Carbondale Community School

Principal: Leslie Emerson

1505 Satank Road

Carbondale, CO 81623

Phone: 963-9647

Glenwood Springs Schools:



Glenwood Springs High School

Principal: Paul Freeman

1340 Pitkin Avenue

Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

Phone: 384-5555

Bridges High School

Principal: Lyn Bair

504 W. 27th St.

Glenwood Springs, Colorado 81601

Phone: 384-5995



Glenwood Springs Middle School

Principal: Robert Farris

120 Soccer Field Road

Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

Phone: 384-5500

Glenwood Springs Elementary School

Principal: Sony Hemmen

916 School Street

Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

Phone: 384-5450

Sopris Elementary School

Principal: Howard Jay

1150 Mt. Sopris Drive

Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

Phone: 384-5400

Garfield County RE-2 Info
Re-2 School Board

President

Jay Rickstrew

Vice President

Howard Stapleton

Secretary

Jan Hubbell

Director

Anne Guettler

Director

Kim Goossens

District Office

839 Whiteriver Ave.

(970)625-7600

Superintendent

Dr. Gary Pack,

(970)625-7600

gpack@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Assistant Superintendent

Dave Smucker,

(970)625-7600

dsmucker@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Director of Finance

Christine Hamrick

(970)625-7600

chamrick@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Director of Districtwide Services

Theresa Hamilton

(970)625-7621

thamilton@garfieldre2.k12.us

Director of Maintenance

Craig Jay

(970)625-7600

Director of Transportation

Sanja Morgan

(970)625-7630

smorgan@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Director of Instructional Technology

Chris Coffelt

(970)625-7600

ccoffelt@garfieldre2.k12.

co.us

Director of Curriculum

Sam Humphrey

(970)625-7600

shumphrey@garfieldre2.

k12.co.us

Director of Food Services

Susan Beecraft

(970)625-7600

sbeecraft@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Rifle High School

1350 Prefontaine Ave.

Rifle, Colo. 81650

(970)625-7725

principal: Todd Ellis

tellis@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Rifle Middle School

750 Railroad Ave.

Rifle, CO 81650

(970)625-7900

principal: Susan Birdsey

sbirdsey@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Riverside Middle School

804 W. Main St.

New Castle, CO 81647

(970)625-7800

principal: William Nickell

wnickell@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Kathryn Senior Elementary

101 Alder Ave.

New Castle, CO 81647

(970)625-7700

principal: Dave Lindenberg

dlindenberg@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Highland Elementary

1500 E. Seventh St.

Rifle, CO 81650

(970)625-6800

principal: Peg Conneally

pconneally@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Roy Moore Elementary

822 Orchard Ave.

Silt, CO 81652

(970)625-7850

principal: Lisa Whitmore

lwhitmore@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

Wamsley Elementary School

225 E. 30th St.

Rifle, CO 81650

(970)625-7950

principal: Eva Pasiewicz

epasiewicz@garfieldre2.k12.co.us

School District 16 Info
Administration

251 N. Parachute Ave.

Parachute, CO 81635

(970) 285-5701

(970) 285-5711 FAX

Superintendent

Dr. Steven A. McKee

Secretary to

Superintendent

Marilyn

Mondragon-Garcia

Director of Business Services

Rose Belden

Receptionist and

Curriculum Secretary

Kim Bowen



Accounts Payable and Safety Coordinator

Sherrie Hoffman

Human Services

Naomi Johnson

Curriculum

Coordinator

Rhonda Dillon

Maintenance

Damon Culver

Vicki Robinson

Technology

Les McKinley

Brian Jarrett

Transportation

Linda Cannizzaro

Public Relations

Sandy Hanson

Board of Education

Dani Christensen, president

Ron Palmer, vice

president

Mary Moore, secretary

Jody Williams,

secretary

Amy Beasley, treasurer

Wayne Wolcheck, director

Grand Valley Early Childhood

Literacy Center

principal: Corey Doss

100 E. Second St.

Parachute, CO 81635

(970) 285-5702

(970) 285-5712 — Fax

Bea Underwood

Elementary School

principal: Corey Doss

0741 Tamarisk Trail

Parachute, CO 81635

(970) 285.5703

(970) 285-5713 — Fax

St John Middle School

principal: Scott Pankow

0460 Stone Quarry Road

Parachute, CO 81635

(970) 285-5704

(970) 285-5714 — Fax

Grand Valley High School

principal: Larry Brady

800 Cardinal Way

Parachute, CO 81635

(970) 285-5705

CMC Info
Carbondale

690 Colorado Ave.

Carbondale, CO 81623

963-2172

Glenwood Center

1402 Blake Ave.

Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

945-7486

Spring Valley

3000 County Road 114

Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

945-7481

Rifle Campus

703 Railroad Ave.

Rifle, CO 81650

625-1871