453 E Thomas Avenue
Byers, CO 80103

Byers Elementary is excellent for our family. I worked at the school nearby Byers for two years when our son was a toddler and found the teachers were not good examples for the kids in that they were not accepting of everyone. My son has been at Byers for 6 years now and I have never seen anyone act like they were better than us, they are great examples, caring, helpful and personable. I may not agree with all their school practices but I think it is worse at other public schools. All I know is I am the parent here, I am raising my son and they are good teachers. My son will never think it is ok to treat anyone the way we were treated by the teachers in our nearby town elementary. We will treat everyone as though they are the best.

Considering all factors, this is a good school. I would choose to keep my kids at this school rather than attend any neighboring school.Overall, the school is effective. Some teachers are stronger than others. Some are more difficult to work with. I have a child in MS and one in HS. The English teacher in the MS is very strong and really cares about my kid and his progress academically, socially and behaviorally. Both my kids love that class and have done well on testing. Character is emphasized in the classroom. The HS science & history teachers have been there awhile but my student likes them. Leadership has improved. I was not pleased a few years ago but there has been a new principal who works with the kids and has taken a stronger approach to discipline and talking to kids when they make mistakes. My kid took a leadership class. The counselor promotes leadership through student mentors and school spirit. The superintendent is friendly. I see him always supporting kids at sporting events too.When my high schooler was in middle school, character was a big emphasis. Those same teachers continue to teach it in the classroom with my current middle schooler. My kids both have a teacher they feel they can talk to or go to with problems and feel supported by. In middle school, nothing is ever perfect but they are learning. With a few exceptions, when I go to games I see lots of interaction, support, acceptance and co-existing among kids. There are different races and kids that are LGBT. There are kids from the city, rural kids, rodeo kids, skater kids, sport kids. They seem to let each other be who they are and do their own things. Unlike other schools we have been at, this school has a very strong 504 and GT. One of my kids struggles and one is advanced. When they were in English the MS teacher made sure they both made progress. Some teachers are not easy to work with, but when I met with the principal about it, things improved. The principal seems to get the job done and there has been a resource officer at the school the past two years. My kids say though some people have fights or disagreements and there is a small clique in one class, there is not a lot of real bullying. They said that teachers try to help the students problem solve in the middle school. I don't think there is a lot of that in the high school.