WEEK OF FEBRUARY 13, 2025
VOLUME 123 | ISSUE 11
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Schools outline plans amid ICE enforcement Districts seek to balance legal compliance with the needs of students BY SUZIE GLASSMAN AND CCM STAFF REPORTERS SGLASSMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A map that shows the location of the proposed Wildcat Regional Park in the Highlands Ranch area.
SCREENSHOT OF DOUGLAS COUNTY STAFF REPORT
‘Wildcat Park’ could become open space
Neighbors in Highlands Ranch area pushed back against original proposal, citing wildlife concerns
BY ELLIS ARNOLD EARNOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A plan for a large park in the Highlands Ranch area with sports fields — a possibility that’s feared by some residents amid concerns about possible impacts to wildlife — could end up scrapped in favor of a plan to effectively create open space on the land. “It’s nice to see this in black
and white and no soccer fields, no rec centers or regional active-use proposals,” said Kathie Shandro, a member of the Douglas County Open Space Advisory Committee. For months last year in Douglas County, parks and recreation plans drew the spotlight. The youth sports community raised their voices of concern about the future of fields in the Castle Rock area amid plans
to renovate the county’s Fairgrounds Regional Park. County leaders have expressed desire to locate new sports fields elsewhere. But a proposal to add sports fields in the Highlands Ranch area — at what’s known as the Wildcat Regional Park land — met opposition, including an online petition that worried about the possible effect on wildlife. Eventually, the open space
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plan could win out over the proposal to add sports fields in that spot. Shandro’s comments came during a meeting where the committee heard from area residents who spoke in favor of the plan to maintain the land as essentially open space. Some committee members also spoke in favor of that proposal. SEE WILDCAT PARK, P6
As federal immigration policies evolve and schools are no longer off limits for immigration enforcement operations, districts across the Denver metro area are facing difficult questions about how to respond if Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrive on campus. As a result, Colorado Community Media reporters reached out to the school districts in our coverage area to ask how they’re addressing these concerns with their staff and the communities they serve. This is the response from the Douglas County School District. To read the full story that includes all of the metro area’s school districts, visit the Douglas County News Press online.
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