District 6 shuffle building begins this fall

A series of construction and program moves in Greeley-Evans School District 6 will culminate next year with the opening of a career and technical education center and the relocation of Jefferson High School to the same location.

In August 2023, the five-lane CTE Center and Jefferson High will be located in the former Colorado Department of Transportation building at 203 14th Ave., near 2nd Street and south of Island Grove Regional Park.

The move was based on a desire to expand the district’s CTE program and provide more space for Jefferson High, currently located in the former Jefferson Elementary School building on 4th Avenue.

“The support for this was for CTE,” District 6 Assistant Superintendent Kent Henson told the Board of Education last month. “Not only did this allow us to give Jefferson High School an adult-sized building given its location in an elementary school, but it also gave us space to really improve their CTE program.”

As a result, other district programs and schools will relocate beginning in the fall. Here’s what happened.

Fred Tjardes Innovation School

Fred Tjardes will spend the upcoming school year in the 11,000 square foot Tobey-Kendel Dining Hall at the University of Northern Colorado on 9th Avenue. The move to UNC is temporary for Tjardes, a 123-student K-8 Innovation Status School that has operated on 6th Street since it opened in Fall 2018.

According to District 6, a school with innovation status receives special permits from the state so that it can operate differently and with more freedom than other schools in the district.

Tjardes’ lease on the 6th Street building is about to expire, resulting in the school needing a new location.

District 6 communications chief Theresa Myers said it had been known for more than a year that Tjardes would have to move. According to Myers, the principals wanted to be close to downtown Greeley.

“We looked at rental space and didn’t find anything suitable,” Myers said.

District 6 Superintendent Deirdre Pilch suggested checking with UNC. Myers said the university has helped the district with space in the past. But this is the most extensive housing with an entire school.

“They have always been great partners for us,” Myers said.

The University of Northern Colorado’s director of news and public relations, Deanna Herbert, said District 6 reached out to the university late last year to inquire about available spots on campus. With lower enrollment and fewer numbers on campus, UNC offered space at Tobey-Kendel.

The school district’s lease is approximately $100,000 for 10 months from August 1 through May 2023. Tobey-Kendel’s total area is 47,548 square feet over two floors.

Herbert said there will be a two-hour window from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day when UNC students access Tobey-Kendel for takeaway meals while Tjardes students are in the building.

“But for the most part, UNC students won’t see much of a change,” Herbert wrote in an email. “TK is still open and will continue to operate with the same limited services as last semester as a takeout option.”

In August 2023, Tjardes will take over the site of the current Jefferson Junior High on 13th Avenue, also known as the former Cameron School building. Cameron and Jefferson elementary schools closed several years ago and were merged into Maplewood Elementary on 21st Avenue.

Jefferson Junior High will move to the current Jefferson High School location on 4th Street along with the following district programs:

• 18-21 Transition Services, a program for students ages 18-21 who have completed graduation credit requirements and continue to have transition needs related to the post-secondary goals of their individual educational program.
• School to Work Alliance Program that provides employment-related support to youth and young adults. According to District 6’s website, SWAP also provides appropriate job search and job retention skills. SWAP is a community initiative of the Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and local school districts, and is supported by the Colorado Department of Education.
• StateWide Assistive Technology Augmentative and Alternative Communication, the school-based CDE team, provides multidisciplinary assistive technology services to enable students with disabilities to have equal access to the curriculum and full participation in their education and classrooms.

Two other programs not currently located at Jefferson Junior High will also move to the former Jefferson High location in August 2023: Audiology and Child Find, a preschool screening and assessment program for children with suspected developmental delays.

With the opening of the Tointon Academy of Pre-Engineering in August, two classrooms from District 6’s Early Childhood Preschool will be moved from Aims Community College to Tointon. The remaining classrooms will move to Meeker and Madison Elementary Schools in August 2023. Meeker will open a new annex next year, and Madison will be a PK-8 building.

Child Find is located on the Aims Community College preschool campus. The audiology department is located at Billie Martinez North, accessible from 2nd Street.

“The hope is to consolidate these programs into one building,” Myers said.