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

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