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These past few months have been stressful for the Jefferson Area for a variety of reasons, including district plans that would have closed Jefferson for an entire school year and change the structure of the school. In the face of district plans that would take away the distinctiveness of Jefferson, our community rallied together to save Jefferson and develop an alternative plan for the future of Jefferson Junior/Senior High School.

Last night was the next community meeting to discuss the future of Jefferson and the meeting began with Jeffco Public Schools Superintendent Tracy Dorland explaining that the district was removing one of the most contentious parts of the district’s plan. The district is no longer considering closing Jefferson for the 2026-2027 school year. Originally, the plan was to close the school during that school year so planning and construction could occur. The district decision to remove a one year closure from the conversation is a huge win!

Jeffco Chief of Staff Lisa Relou also explained changes to the process moving forward. The district will be organizing a couple of Cafecitos in Spanish for area families that will be held at Jefferson on April 4 and April 18 (more information here). They will also be sending out a survey to the community to create more opportunities for people to give feedback on the future of Jefferson and the area schools. Then on April 30, there will be another community information session where the district will be meeting with our Steering Team to map out the process moving forward.

Then Edgewater Collective Executive Director Joel Newton shared the Community Plan for the future of Jefferson Junior/Senior High School that came from conversations with educators, families, alumni, and students in the area.

You can view the Community Plan presentation slides here in English and Spanish.

We were encouraged by the meeting last night and the changes that the district made to the process. It is important to remain committed to the process and ensure that the Community Plan moves forward with district agreements.

We’ll keep you updated on these upcoming meetings and you can also stay updated by visiting the district page on this process.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Forming a Steering Team

A key part of this plan is local decision making on the future of our schools. We are working on forming a Steering Team of 15 community members (educators and staff, parents, and student leaders) who will meet regularly from April through the fall to put together the plan for the future of Jefferson Junior/Senior High School. We will be reaching out to our local schools on how to best form this team.

Ongoing Communication

Though the Steering Team will just be 15 members, we want to create avenues for all our community members to stay informed on the ongoing plans, meetings, and discussions. We also want to create opportunities for community members to ask questions, give feedback, and be part of the conversation.

Developing Agreements with Jeffco Public Schools

With a school board election in November, it is essential that our community has an agreement with the district on how these discussions will proceed. Once the Steering Team has solidified the community plan for the future of Jefferson Junior/Senior High School, we will present it to the school board and district leadership for their approval. We will need a Memorandum of Understanding with Jeffco Public Schools so that we have five years to fully implement this plan.

Encouraging Jefferson Staff and Students to Remain at Jefferson

The district plans caused students and staff to start looking at other schools because of the fears that Jefferson would close during the 2026-2027 school year. Now that the district said the closure is off the table, we want to encourage Jefferson staff and students to remain at Jefferson with the hope of creating an improved Jefferson Junior/Senior High School with expanded programming moving forward. This Thursday morning we will be bringing breakfast to Jefferson staff to encourage them during this stressful season of testing.

Feel free to reach out to Edgewater Collective Executive Director Joel Newton (joel@edgewatercollective.org or 303-748-0631) if you have any questions or ideas as we move forward.

Thanks to the hard work and advocacy of our whole community, we have hope for keeping Jefferson Junior/Senior High School open and thriving for the next generation of Saints!