HomeMy WebLinkAboutWINGSHADOW, 1225 REDWOOD STREET - PDP/FDP - 30-02A - MEDIA - (5)`Last
chance'
schools
to merge
Village students
to attend Frontier
By STACY NICK, qJ t10
StacyNick@col cradca n.co m
A local "last chance"
school will mesh with a
former Christian alterna-
tive'school next fall.
On Monday night, the
Poudre School District
Board of Education
unanimously approved
closing its alternative
junior/senior high
school, the Village
School, 2540 LaPorte
Ave., in favor of sending
students to Frontier
School.
Both schools have a
similar "last chance" ap-
proach. Students at each
often have had difficul-
ties at traditional
schools; many at the Vil-
lage School are about to
be or have been expelled.
Frontier will discon-
tinue its religious cur-
riculum in favor of a sec-
ular program, said Steve
Bolton, co-founder of the
nonprofit at -risk youth
organization Wingshad-
ow, which opened Fron-
tier.
Frontier is moving
from First Christian
Church to 1225 Redwood
St. in early 2003. The
school will grow from 65
students to approximate-
ly 110 students next year,
including the 25 to 50 stu-
dents who attend the Vil-
lage School annually.
Now, district and
Frontier officials will
look at blending the two
schools, Bolton said.
Frontier is a high school,
but the Village School
has junior and senior
high students.
But the transition is
expected to go well, said
Bolton, adding that the
combination of pro-
grams is a dream come
true for Wingshadow.
"We're excited beyond
words," he said of the
board's approval.
Board officials echoed
those sentiments.
With budget cuts
looming, combining pro-
grams with another
agency is a great oppor-
tunity, board President
Steve Fobes said.
Due to state budget
cuts, the Village School is
losing $375,000 from its
annual budget of
$558,000, but PSD can
send Village students to
Frontier for about
$150,000 a year.
"It's nice to have a vi-
able alternative," Fobes
said.