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Since Jeffco Public Schools announced potential changes to Jefferson in January, we’ve been meeting with students, families, educators, alumni, and community members to listen and brainstorm together what might be the best option for our community. A couple of themes have emerged out of these conversations, but the main theme is that our community does not like the two options that have been presented by the district. We believe that our community knows our students and families best, and therefore, we should be given the opportunity to submit our own plan.  

So what could a redesigned Jefferson Junior/Senior High School look like based on feedback and ideas from our community?

The Big Idea

With declining enrollment and school funding, Jefferson Junior/Senior High School is not sustainable for the future. Instead of closing the school, or creating a technical school or academy that loses the Jefferson identity and what makes this place special, let’s invest in what works at Jefferson and think creatively about how to redesign specific elements of the school. We believe there is a creative solution, with strategic investments, that can change the academic and enrollment trajectory at Jefferson. 

Values of Our Community

• Bilingualism and biculturalism
• Continuing the family atmosphere of connectedness at Jefferson
• Maintaining the Jefferson identity and uniqueness 
• Continuing successful sports and out-of-school programming
• Creating and sustaining innovative career pathways

Innovative, Locally Designed Model for Jefferson

The district has tried to change the academic and enrollment trajectory at Jefferson for years, but their efforts have not worked. It is time for our community, who knows our students, families, and community best, to have the power and autonomy to decide how to move forward. It is past time for our community to have the power to create the 7th-12th grade comprehensive school we want at Jefferson. This plan could also include strategic connections with Edgewater Elementary and Lumberg Elementary.

The Foundations for a Redesigned Jefferson Junior/Senior High School

Bilingualism and Biculturalism

We believe that celebrating and enhancing the bilingual and bicultural programs at Jefferson, like Latinos in Action and classes toward a Seal of Biliteracy, can strengthen the educational experiences for all Jefferson students and draw in new students from other dual language elementary schools in Jefferson County and Denver Public Schools.

An important part of this emphasis on bilingualism and biculturalism is having our elementary schools remain PreK-6th grade schools, so the foundations of bilingualism and biculturalism can be strengthened in the elementary years. Then when students come to Jefferson for 7th grade, the program will take students to the next step in their language and cultural learning. This emphasis will strengthen the learning for students whether they were in the two-way bilingual program at Edgewater Elementary or the one-way bilingual program at Lumberg Elementary.

Unique Programming and Focus for Junior High Students

Since Jefferson became a 7th-12th grade school in 2015, it has been a struggle to give junior high students the unique educational experience they deserve based on their developmental stage, which is different from the educational experience of high school students. Therefore, we recommend exploring how we can restructure learning for 7th and 8th grade students so they can build community and develop solid learning communities separate from high school students. This would mean looking at how administration is configured as well as hiring and retaining educators that understand the needs and opportunities for 7th and 8th grade learners. This would also mean relooking at how the building is configured so that junior high students can have separate learning spaces such as focusing the junior high program in the south hallway and the high school program in the north hallway. It could also mean exploring a separate entrance for junior high students like was promised by the district in 2014 and 2015.

Expanding and Strengthening Career Pathways

With a smaller school, we have to focus our career pathways due to staffing budgets. We believe there are partnerships to be explored that could expand the auto pathway at Jefferson. Edgewater Collective received a $100,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) that will allow students to build an electric vehicle during the school year and learn about the emerging electric vehicle industry. This is a great career pathway to high paying jobs in the auto industry.

We can also look at scaling up the culinary arts pathway at Jefferson so that students can learn about sustainable food systems, the food industry, and business principles. This pathway is a great connection to our local family leaders who are advocating for healthier, culturally relevant school meals. Maybe students could even participate in learning about menu planning, food procurement, and engage in preparing the meals that could be served at Jefferson and delivered to our elementary schools?

Community Leadership

It is time for the Jefferson community to have a leadership structure that prioritizes the voices of our community. Our hope is that a Steering Team could be formed with the overall task to make broad decisions such as upholding, interpreting and clarifying the philosophy, approving new curriculum, maintaining relations and communications with the district and reacting to new laws or district policies, etc. This Steering Team will have representation from JCEA, JESPA, students, parents, educators, and community members. We would need a Memorandum of Understanding with the district, for a period of five years, that outlines these roles and structures, so that future school boards or superintendents couldn’t make changes prematurely. We will need at least five years to give this new model a chance to develop and thrive.

Community Partnerships and Funding

Edgewater Collective and the Steering Team would collaborate on strengthening current partnerships and pursue new partnerships to develop and strengthen the career pathways as well as the bilingual program. Edgewater Collective would also pursue grants and funding partners to fully develop the career pathways, bilingual programming, and innovative family programming at Jefferson Junior/Senior High School. 

Exiting Turnaround

Jefferson is currently in Year 3 of the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) turnaround process. If test scores, academic growth, and test participation doesn’t improve over the next year, the state could step in and force the district to make changes at Jefferson. As part of the design process, the Steering Team would explore school models like a community school or innovation school that would allow for Jefferson to exit the turnaround process. 

Our Asks of the District

• Take Option 1 (Warren Tech East) and Option 2 (career academy) off the table because these options would not provide a high school experience that all of our students could attend regardless of their career interests.
• Keep 6th grade students at Edgewater Elementary and Lumberg Elementary
• Allow us to discuss our community option at the March 31 community design session. Families and staff are already looking at other schools for the 2025-2026 school year. Our community needs to be involved in this option so families and educators have a great reason for remaining in the community they love.

Feedback

Feel free to email us at joel@edgewatercollective.org with feedback on these ideas.