**For an explanation of the school choice system and why it’s such a big deal click here.
747 6th graders were assigned
Breakdown of Total Middle School Enrollment
With 150 more 6th graders than last year but only 75 more seats, there was no way to match last year’s outcome of 98% getting their first choice.
(The 75 new seats opened this year were: 40–McAuliffe; 20–Denver Discovery; 10–DSST:CG; 5–Bill Roberts)
75% got their 1st choice
92% got 1st or 2nd
96% got 1st, 2nd or 3rd
#1 Choices
68% of all Park Hill students and almost 60% of Stapleton students chose McAuliffe first.
Breakdown of Schools Choiced #1
Who didn’t get their first choice?
McAuliffe – 122
DSST:Stapleton – 47
Bill Roberts – 3
Discovery – 0
DSST:CG – 0
New school in 2016?
From DPS: “DPS has been forecasting for several years the need for an additional school to serve Stapleton/Park Hill middle school students to open in the fall of 2016. We look forward to working with the community in the coming months on the design of the new middle school. We are grateful for the work of our teachers and school leaders in our existing Stapleton/Park Hill middle schools, which has made these schools so popular with the community’s families. At the same time, we also recognize that very popularity makes our work in starting a new middle school all the more urgent.
“Unrelated to the need for a new middle school in the Stapleton/Park Hill boundary and in response to the district’s recent call for quality new schools in Near Northeast Denver, McAuliffe Principal Kurt Dennis is applying for a replication of McAuliffe to serve as a feeder middle school for Manual.”
What is the projected class size for 2016?
The cohort of current 4th graders between Stapleton and Park Hill is very close to the current 5th grade cohort so DPS doesn’t expect a large increase in size above the current year’s size.
96% of boundary students submitted choice forms.
19.5% submitted online district-wide. DPS recommends online submission because families learn results sooner and it saves the district money.
2014-15 Demographics
Stapleton is 9% FRL, 4% ELL and 25% students of color
Park Hill is 62% FRL, 26% ELL, 72% non-white
Currently the shared boundary is 36% FRL, 74% ELL, and 51% students of color.
(FRL–Free and reduced lunch; ELL–English language learners)
For an update on the Northfield High School click here.
Stats issue again? How is the current shared boundary as stated above 74% ELL when Stapleton is stated as 4% and Park Hill 26%????
Thank you for pointing out the error. Here are the correct statistics.
36% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch
11% of students are English Language Learners
*74% of ELLs are Spanish speakers
51% of students are students of color
OK, it looks like you also need to correct the ELL percentage for the shared boundary, assuming the percentages for Stapleton and Park Hill are correct (and they do sound about right to me). I’m guessing the ELL should probably be 14%? Also, it would be helpful to have information about relative school-age populations for Stapleton and Park Hill for this cohort — it appears to be about even? And I’m curious about the projection going forward.