August 6, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information:
Melissa Reeves, mdreeves@jeffco.k12.co.us, Jeffco Public Schools, 303-982-6567
Lynn Setzer, lsetzer@jeffco.k12.co.us, Jeffco Public Schools, 303-982-6810

WHAT:  Newly renovated school kicks off a new school year
WHEN:  Monday, Aug. 23 at 8 a.m.
WHERE:  Arvada K-8, 5751 Balsam St., Arvada, 80002

ARVADA FAMILIES EMBRACE NEW NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL
Something exciting is happening at Jeffco’s newly formed Arvada K-8 – it’s filling up with neighborhood students.   

The school is expected to hit full capacity with nearly 600 students and has a choice-enrollment waiting list for students who want in.

When Arvada’s Russell Elementary School closed at the end of the 2009-10 school year as part of a district budget saving measure, the school had 280 students on the books.  Arvada Middle School touted only 250 students.

Now that the two schools have merged to create Arvada K-8, families are eager to enroll their 
students in the neighborhood school. 

Susan Chapla, principal of Arvada K-8, hopes the new school will not only expand the family, but the community.

“Students will come now because we are the neighborhood school,” she said. “Before, many kids choice enrolled to other middle schools. We want to get the community and kids back to where they belong.”

Arvada Middle School is being renovated with $1.5 million from the 2004 voter-approved bond and $1million in capital funds as directed by the Board of Education.

Construction includes bleachers and wood flooring in the gym, kitchen updates, carpet, lighting, new playgrounds and transforming the small gym into an elementary gym. Rooms will be repurposed to create additional classrooms and the former Carin Clinic, will become the kindergarten pod.

The district sold the Russell Elementary School land to Jefferson County, which has plans to start a Head Start program on site.

Editor’s note: Superintendent Cindy Stevenson plans to welcome students to Arvada K-8 on the first day of school on Monday, Aug. 23

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