Jefferson County Public Schools (Colorado)

Jefferson County School District R-1 is a school district in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The district is headquartered at the Jeffco Public Schools Education Center in an unincorporated area of the county near Golden in the Denver metropolitan area. Jeffco Public Schools serves almost 81,000 students in 160 schools. It is the second-largest school district in Colorado, having been surpassed in 2013 by Denver Public Schools, which has an enrollment of approximately 81,000. The district covers the entirety of Jefferson County, and also includes a section of the adjacent city of Broomfield.

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History

Beginnings

The first school in Jefferson County and the second school in Colorado opened in Golden on January 9, 1860. It stood at around today's 1304 Washington Avenue and was a rented log cabin, with school taught by Thomas Daughterty, with 18 students, financed through tuition and subscription. Its second term was taught by Miss M. F. Manly. When Jefferson County was organized by the Territorial government in 1861, the capability of organizing public schools became reality, and George West became the first superintendent of Jefferson County schools. After a mill levy was created in 1862, the first two school districts, Golden and Vasquez, were organized in 1863. That September the first public school in the county opened in Golden.

Original school districts

Over time, as the population grew and spread across the county, more and more school districts were organized, each with its own elected board to govern them. They were a diverse variety of schools, from the stately brick edifices of urban Golden which operated through the traditional school year, to the rural one-room wooden schoolhouses that operated during the summer months because winter in the mountains made it difficult for students to attend. Some school districts only rented buildings for class; others shared into neighboring counties. The first building constructed as a Jefferson County public school, around the area of 14th and Arapahoe Streets in Golden, was never completed and eventually sold in 1866 to Colorado Territorial Governor Alexander Cummings for $2,700 for use as the Territorial Executive Building. Its replacement, the first completed public school building in Jefferson County, still stands today at 1420 Washington Avenue in Golden. After the completion of its successor at today's 1314 Cheyenne Street in 1873, later known as the South School, Jefferson County's first senior high school, Golden High School, was organized. The first public school graduations in Jefferson County were held in the 1880s.
By 1894, Jefferson County school enrollment was around 1,500 students, with 54 high school students. By 1939 Jeffco had blossomed to 3,883 students with 1,426 high schoolers. In the early 20th century, however, population shifts and other factors began to spur consolidation. The Lorraine School District of Jefferson County merged with the Mandalay School District of Boulder County in 1917. In 1920 the Montana, Lakeview, Midway and Mt. Carbon districts merged to become Bear Creek District C-1. In 1923 several mountain districts merged into Evergreen District C-2, while in 1945 Washington Heights and Bancroft merged to form School District 52. However, some school districts went by the wayside including South Platte in 1944, Pleasant Park in 1946, and Pine Grove. By 1950 only 39 of the 54 individually organized school districts remained.

List of historic school districts

Note: several districts have different identities over time.
In 1950, the 39 school districts in Jefferson County were consolidated and reorganized into a single district, Jefferson County R-1 Schools. It was so named as the Reorganized School District 1, and ushered in a modern age in a county where some still sent to school in the original one-room rural schoolhouses. Through the course of time several landmark school buildings had been built across Jefferson County, including Golden's North, South, Central and High schools; the stone Morrison school; and Lakewood's 3-school campus. With renewed energy a new generation would be built, and state-of-the-art schools sprouted across Jefferson County as old schools were phased out. By 1999 Jefferson County had an enrollment of 88,793 students.
Today the next wave of school buildings is being created, as Jefferson County schools move forward into the 21st century. However, a good collection of schools from throughout Jeffco's educational history remain. They serve many uses from private homes to museums, and several are designated Jefferson County, Colorado and National Historic Register landmarks.
Through Jeffco schools' history, there have been several fatal events which have not been forgotten. In 1887 the original Lamb School, which had just been built the year before, burned down and had to be replaced. In 1905 Golden's South School, including Golden High School, was saved from explosion by janitor Oscar Nolin when its overheating boiler was minutes away from claiming possibly over 100 lives. In 1916 the original Fruitdale School burned as its students marched to safety. In 1919 an attempt to burn down the South School was made by a parent who was frantic to keep the school from reopening in the wake of the Great Flu Epidemic, but the fire smothered itself out. In 1938 the recently built Buffalo Creek School burned while school was in session from an overheated furnace, and teacher Wilma Barnes successfully got all 15 students to safety. On April 7, 1982, Scott Darwin Michael was shot and killed by classmate Jason Rocha at Deer Creek Middle School. In 1999, two students killed 12 students and a teacher in the Columbine High School massacre.
On February 23, 2010, eighth-graders Reagan Webber and Matt Thieu were shot and wounded at Deer Creek Middle School. The incident ended when math teacher David Benke tackled the perpetrator, Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood, who was armed with a .30-06 Winchester Model 70.
In September 2014, students and teachers in schools around the district protested the conservative ideology of the school board, which had proposed reviewing the APUSH curriculum set by the College Board, to focus history education on citizenship and patriotism, while condemning civil disobedience and strike actions. The conservative members of the board were recalled and replaced in November 2015, on a 64-36 public vote.

Environmental consideration

Many Jefferson County schools make use of constructed wetlands for managing stormwater and contributing to the health of local watersheds. The wetland project at Oberon Middle School has been lauded by the National Resources Defense Council for setting "an example for local governments seeking new ways to manage stormwater on municipal grounds with some value added.

Literary mentions

Oberon Middle School is the setting for the novel Define "Normal" by Julie Anne Peters.

Facilities

The school district headquarters, which has a Golden postal address, is in an unincorporated area completely surrounded by, but not in, Lakewood.
In the 1990 U.S. census, the facility was defined as being in the Applewood census-designated place. In the 2000 U.S. census, the facility was in West Pleasant View, another CDP in the county. In the 2010 U.S. census and the 2020 U.S. census, the Jeffco headquarters plot was not defined as being in any CDP.

Schools

As of January 2025, there are 160 active schools in Jeffco Public Schools, as identified by the Colorado Department of Education.

Senior high schools

School	City	Year opened
Alameda International Junior/Senior High School	Lakewood	1960
Arvada High School	Arvada	1900
Arvada West High School	Arvada	1960
Bear Creek High School	Lakewood	1920
Chatfield High School	Littleton	1985
Columbine High School	Littleton	1973
Conifer High School	Conifer	1996
Dakota Ridge High School	Littleton	1996
Evergreen High School	Evergreen	1954
Golden High School	Golden	1873
Green Mountain High School	Lakewood	1973
Jefferson High School	Edgewater	1955
Lakewood High School	Lakewood	1928
Pomona Junior/Senior High School	Arvada	1973
Ralston Valley High School	Arvada	2000
Standley Lake High School	Westminster	1988
Wheat Ridge High School	Wheat Ridge	1886

Special schools and programs

Connections Learning Center
Fletcher Miller School
Mt. Evans Outdoor Education Laboratory School
Mount View Youth Services Center
Sobesky Academy
Windy Peak Outdoor Education Laboratory School

Demographics

As of January 2025, with an enrollment count of 75,495 for the 2024-2025 school year:

American Indian 0.4%
Asian 2.7%
Black 1.2%
Hispanic 26%
White 64%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander 0.13%
Multiple races 5%

Superintendents

The position of Superintendent of Schools was an elected position from 1861 to 1967, following the abolition of the position as an elected position by voters in 1966. Since 1967, the district superintendent has been appointed by the school board.