WEEK OF MAY 22, 2025
VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 24
FREE
Three charter schools pitch Castle Rock campuses With proposals for same region, board members doubt demand exists BY SUZIE GLASSMAN SGLASSMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Parker Police Department Cmdr. Jim Prior speaks to the Parker Town Council about the importance and need for law enforcement officers to receive PHOTO BY HALEY LENA cardiovascular screenings.
BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Despite the high level of pressure that both law enforcement and firefighters face on a daily basis, for years, just firefighters have had cardiovascular
screenings available to them to help find signs of heart disease – until recently. The Parker Police Department has become the third law enforcement agency in the state to become a member of the Colorado Peace Officer
VOICES: 12 | LIFE: 16 | CALENDAR: 19 | PUZZLES: 22
Benefits Trust, after the Parker Town Council approved the agency’s participation in early May. “Obviously, in our line of work, the risk of heart disease is great,” Comdr. Jim Prior said to the town council. “It’s the silent killer for law enforcement and tends to get a lot of our brothers and sisters in law enforcement, both active duty and retired.”
What the schools propose
To help prevent life-threatening issues, the Colorado Legislature passed House Bill 24-1219 last year, which requires employers to participate in a trust to provide funds for law enforcement officer heart and health screenings. Since the bill was signed into law in May 2024, the Colorado State Patrol and the Larimer
Renaissance, an arts-integrated model that currently operates a secondary program in Castle Rock, is seeking to unify and expand those campuses into a comprehensive PK-12 charter school. Renaissance Elementary is a magnet school and is separate from the charter. Leman Academy, which is based in Arizona, wants to replicate its classical K-8 model that emphasizes “a rigorous, back-to-basics curriculum rooted in the classical tradition of education,” according to its application. The network currently operates two schools in the district: one
SEE HEART TEST, P14
SEE CHARTER, P21
Parker police to get heart tests Colorado Peace Officer Benefits Trust funds cardiovascular screening for law enforcement
Three new charter school applications currently under review by the Douglas County School District share something in common: they all want to open in Castle Rock. Renaissance Secondary Charter School, Leman Academy of Excellence and STEM School Castle Rock each presented proposals to expand or replicate to the school board during a May 6 meeting. All three are targeting the same general area of Castle Rock, along with similar grade configurations and timelines for opening. That overlap raised immediate questions about the long-term sustainability of adding multiple new schools to one geographic area. “I’m looking at three new charters for Castle Rock,” said Board Member Brad Geiger. “Each model is different, but I worry there’s not enough student demand to fill them all. It’s not that Castle Rock doesn’t need more options — it’s whether the student population is large enough to support three new schools in the same area.” According to their applications, Leman projects an eventual enrollment of more than 1,000 students, while Renaissance Secondary and STEM also propose serving hundreds across multiple grades.
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