WEEK OF JANUARY 2, 2025
VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 44
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Cold weather brings heart risks Winter can play havoc with health due to ‘perfect recipe’ BY SUZIE GLASSMAN SGLASSMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Ellie Reynolds, center, a founding member of the proposed John Adams Academy charter school, speaks to the Douglas County School Board with Colorado Charter School Institute President Terry Croy Lewis about the proposal for her school. Reynolds requested the school district SCREENSHOT OF DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD MEETING release authorization over the proposed charter school to the Charter School Institute..
State will oversee charter school after disagreement Douglas County School District relinquishes control due to politics BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A proposed charter school in Sterling Ranch will be overseen by the state’s charter institute instead of the Douglas County School District, following a split vote by the school board to relinquish oversight. The Douglas County School Board voted 4-3 at its December meeting to release authorization for the proposed John Adams Academy charter school to the Colorado Charter School Institute, an organization that oversees charter schools throughout the state. Releasing authorization for the school to the Charter School Institute means that the district will not be involved in the school’s creation or operations. Ellie Reynolds, the founder of the proposed charter school, said she asked for the release to protect the school from the politics of the Douglas County school board. “We believe that this board currently is pro-charter schools and pro-classical charter schools, (but) we also realize that this board has a tendency to flip,” said Reynolds, who is also the presi-
dent of the Northwest Douglas County Chamber. “Oftentimes, when this board does flip, it becomes not charter school friendly and that pendulum swing is risking our children and my child, who I would send to this school.” Reynolds said she preferred the Charter School Institute board for its stability because it’s bipartisan and the seats are not elected but appointed. John Adams Academy is a classical school based in California. Reynolds’ school would be the first Colorado location, encompassing kindergarten through high school. Reynolds said she is aiming to open the charter school in the fall of 2026. The school’s website describes it as “restoring America’s heritage by developing servant-leaders who are keepers and defenders of the principles of freedom for which our founding fathers pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.” Douglas County school board members were split on the decision to release the school, with Susan Meek, Brad Geiger and Valerie Thompson raising concerns about Reynolds circumventing the district’s charter authorization process and not having transparency on why the charter was avoiding district oversight. The board also discussed the potential impacts on enrollment in Sterling Ranch. Douglas County voters in November
VOICES: 10 | CALENDAR: 13 | LIFE: 14 | SPORTS: 18
approved a $490 million bond that dedicated funding to build an elementary school in Sterling Ranch, which doesn’t have any schools in the neighborhood yet. The neighborhood school is expected to open for the 2026-27 school year, the same year as John Adams Academy’s targeted opening. “Once you four vote to do this, they will be gone forever and they will never be required to communicate with us again,” Geiger said. “We could delay this to get an (agreement) so that we can see the traffic patterns and plan around it, and so we could see where their (students) come from, so that we can make our own plans. That’s what I would prefer.” The remaining board members were sympathetic to Reynolds’ request and didn’t raise many questions. Board President Christy Williams said she supported charter autonomy, pointing to past disagreements between charter schools and the district over policy waivers. Most recently, Ascent Classical Academy, a charter school in Lone Tree, left the district in 2019 over its policy preventing staff from carrying firearms on school property. “There have been charters that have put forth waivers, where there has been a very clear divide in who would approve and not approve them, and if this SEE CHARTER SCHOOL, P6
When snow blankets the streets around the Denver metro area, it’s not just roads that become treacherous — your heart might be at risk too. The combination of cold temperatures, reduced physical activity and sudden strenuous tasks can create a “perfect recipe” for heart attacks, according to Dr. Akhil Reddy, an interventional and structural cardiologist with HCA HealthONE in Denver. Many might assume the cold itself is the problem, but Reddy clarified that it’s not so much the temperature as it is the activity people undertake in the cold. “The more common scenario is people shoveling snow and exerting themselves and having an active myocardial infarction, or heart attack,” he explained. According to the AHA, intense physical effort combined with cold temperatures forces the heart to work overtime. Blood vessels constrict in the cold, causing blood pressure to rise. When paired with the sudden cardiovascular demand of activities like shoveling snow, this can trigger heart attacks, especially in people with pre-existing risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes. Physical exertion in cold weather can be deceptively dangerous
Shoveling snow may look like a mundane household task, but research shows it’s a workout that rivals intense cardio. “Shoveling a little snow off your sidewalk may not seem like hard work,” said Barry Franklin, the lead author of the American Heart Association’s 2020 scientific statement regarding exercise-related acute cardiovascular events. “However, the strain of heavy snow shoveling may be as or even more demanding on the heart than taking a treadmill stress test, according to research we’ve conducted.” “The movements of snow shoveling are very taxing and demanding on your body and can cause significant increases in your heart rate and blood pressure,” Franklin told the AHA. “Combined with the fact that the exposure to cold air can constrict blood vessels throughout the body, you’re asking your heart to do a lot more work in conditions that are diminishing the heart’s ability to function at its best.” According to Reddy, the danger lies in the sudden increase in demand on the cardiovascular system, particularly for people who are not regularly active. The heart, especially one that hasn’t been consistently active, is not ready for sudden, intense exertion. “When it’s cold outside, you’re more sedentary,” Reddy said. “You just don’t have the ability to understand your own limitaSEE COLD WEATHER, P8
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