405 E Chester Street
Lafayette, CO 80026

The school has a good engineering program, IB and AP classes, and most of the teachers are pretty good, however, the administrators at this school are awful. If you have a 504, IEP, or any medical condition, the admin team will fight you on everything. They do not care about your wellbeing in the slightest, and will actively try to make any situation worse instead of attempting to support you. Don’t send your child here.

We are new to this school. There has been immense administrative turnover the past couple of years, and it shows. While most of the teachers seem pretty good, the admin side of things is *very* challenged. Getting my child registered, even though I started the process the preceding May, was barely accomplished before the first day of school, and had problems (my child was registered for the same class twice, an error we only caught after leaving the building, after TWO counselors signed off on the schedule.) My child's 'counselor' has never once reached out with any information about classes, how to get a computer, offering a tour as a new student, anything. The cafeteria does not have a microwave to heat up meals from home because it was too messy (and they continually beat the drum about the hot school lunch which is fine.) Like all BVSD schools there is a hyper focus on 'safety' and thus common sense around dealing with students is often disregarded in lieu of outsized punishments for meaningless incidents, yet some truly questionable behavior is left unchecked. (Many teachers feel unable to actually control disruptive kids for fear of angering parents.) There is a very large ESL population, which makes the school's test scores take a hit -- they're not a reflection of the quality of the education, but like many middle schools, the curriculum is somewhat mediocre and uninspired. I understand that in 2024 the schools feel they have to project a Safety First culture, but that can be stifling at times, having the effect of causing kids to actually *not* express themselves or speak out for fear of being punished administratively even when they have a justified reason to do so. Overall it's an ok school, not the worst, but far from the best.

My son is a 4th grader at Sanchez Elementary and has attended since kindergarten. Every year his teachers have worked to ensure that students at every level are receiving the attention they need, and in addition to the GT program he is grouped with similarly paced classmates for reading and math groups to make sure they continue to be challenged. It feels as if very person in the building at Sanchez is there because they love what they do, and it feels like a safe and nurturing space. We did have a problem this year with bullying, and the swift action and continued follow up from the teachers, counselors, and principal was reassuring and effective. We live in the north part of Lafayette and were initially confused about our neighborhood school being farther than others closer to our house, but we love that he can ride the bus and has gotten to be friends with so many more kids in our neighborhood.