Twain students to attend new school on the Franklin Campus in Fall 2022; Peabody students to attend Lenski in Fall 2022; Heritage Greens neighborhood to attend new Dr. Ford Elementary in Fall 2021
During its regularly scheduled April 8, 2021 meeting, the Littleton Public Schools Board of Education, in a 5-0 vote, approved the Maple Option as recommended by administration:
In the fall of 2022, close Twain Elementary School and move the Southglenn and Cherrywood neighborhood students to the new school on the Franklin Campus. Move Moody Elementary students to the Twain building for the 2022–2023 school year during the construction of the new school on the Moody campus. In the fall of 2022, close Peabody Elementary School and move all students to Lenski Elementary School. In addition, move the Heritage Greens neighborhood students to Dr. Ford Elementary School for the 2021–2022 school year.
The Long-Range Planning Committee, which had been charged by the Board to vet and validate administration’s recommendation to close Twain Elementary and Peabody Elementary, agreed with administration’s recommendation after taking into consideration all of the data collected over the past three years related to facilities and boundaries as well as parent, staff, and community feedback gathered over the past three months.
In the fall of 2022, all Twain Elementary students will attend the new school being built on the Franklin campus along with Highland and Franklin elementary students. The new school will open for the 2022–2023 school year. This new school will be a four-round school (four classes at each grade level) that could serve 600+ students.
In the fall of 2022, all Peabody Elementary students will attend neighboring Lenski Elementary School. Current Lenski students who live in the Heritage Greens neighborhood will attend the new Dr. Justina Ford Elementary School, beginning in the fall of 2021 when the new school opens. Because this decision is coming late in the spring, Heritage Greens students who choose to stay at Lenski for the 2021–2022 school year will be provided with limited transportation to Lenski for the 2021–2022 school year only.
The Long-Range Planning Committee noted, and the Board agreed, that these changes will improve student learning and make more sense financially.
Larger schools offer better instructional support to students while costing less to operate
Larger schools allow for funding for robust staffing, including small group instruction, intervention, enrichment, and other support services – all of which provide students with the people and programs to best support them. For example, an elementary school with enrollment of 200 students costs hundreds of thousands of dollars more every year to operate than does an elementary school with an enrollment of 600 students. Twain’s projected enrollment for next school year is 230 students; Peabody’s projected enrollment for next school year is 176 students.
The Maple Option keeps neighborhoods together
All Twain students will move to the new school on the Franklin campus together, and all Peabody students will move to Lenski together. Students living in the Heritage Greens neighborhood, who have been bussed a significant distance to attend Lenski for decades, will now get to move together to Ford, a school in their own area.