WEEK OF DECEMBER 12, 2024
VOLUME 129 | ISSUE 41
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Douglas County School Board makes plans for mandated redistricting BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Gizelle Hargraves posing with Pete the horse at the Hope Held By A Horse Christmas party in 2023. Hargraves is the treasurer of HHH, and she also PHOTO COURTESY OF GIZELLE HARGRAVES attended a program herself as a cancer survivor.
Equine therapy nonprofit supports people fighting cancer Hope Held By A Horse has program location near town of Elbert BY NICKY QUINBY SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Though breast cancer awareness month has passed, the nonprofit Hope Held By A Horse encourages and supports cancer fighters and
survivors all year long. HHH is a unique equine therapy organization focused on providing emotional support for patients and survivors of all cancer types. Gizelle Hargraves was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2020. Because safety precautions for COVID were still in place, she had to go through treatment alone. She didn’t realize the impact this had on her mentally and emotionally until she attended a program at Hope Held by a Horse.
VOICES: 10 | LIFE: 14 | CALENDAR: 17 | PUZZLES: 18
Hargraves met the current president, Suzanne Hagmaier, at the Making Strides walk in October 2021. Hargraves reluctantly signed up for the HHH program in February 2022, after her friend and neighbor was diagnosed with breast cancer and strongly recommended it. “I have no words to describe how much it helped me,” Hargraves said. “I had no idea how I had bottled up so many emotions inside of me, `pretending’ I was `fine.’ I wasn’t fine, it had been hard and I
had masked all the emotions. The program and the coaches had such a huge impact on me, I started volunteering at the monthly programs right away.” She started taking care of the food and anything else the participants needed — anything to give them the support she didn’t receive when she was going through treatment. Eventually she became treasurer for the group. Hargraves saw the program
The Douglas County School District is looking to redistrict its school board districts to maintain equal representation for residents. School boards that have directors voted in by district, as opposed to at-large directors, must reevaluate districts every four years to make sure they have equal populations. “Every four years, (school) districts are required to analyze director districts to evaluate if they are balanced and, if not, to reapportion them,” explained Chief Operating Officer Rich Cosgrove of Douglas County schools. Since 2020, Douglas County School District has added about 36,400 people, leading the districts to need to reapportionment. Douglas County has seven director districts that must be roughly equal in size, with a 3% deviation from the average population allowed. District A covers the western half of Highlands Ranch; District B covers most of the western side of the county outside of Highlands Ranch, including Sterling Ranch and Roxborough; District C covers the eastern half of Highlands Ranch; District D covers the southeastern parts of the county, including some of Castle Rock and Franktown; District E covers the north-central part of the county, including Castle Pines; District F covers part of Parker, the Pinery and a portion of Elbert County; and District G covers the remaining areas in Parker and Elbert County. Population has declined in districts A, C, E and F, while districts B, D and G have increased in population. District C saw the biggest decline with more than 8,000 people leaving, and District G had the biggest increase with more than 12,700 people moving to the district. “In general we saw growth in population in District G, as well as B, and then a decline in the Highlands Ranch districts,” Shavon Caldwell, planning manager for the district, said. Staff presented three proposals for SEE REDISTRICTING, P8
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