Gateside
Westcliffe, CO 81252

This is a great middle school. My second child is in 7th grade now and loves it. For a tiny rural school she has great opportunities. Sports, Knowledge Bowl, Art , Band, and CHoir are all offered. We love the school and the teachers. Great Job!

Over the past 5 years, the school leaderboard and council has gotten replaced multiple times, they cannot hold good leadership. Any of the decent teachers are run out by the students—only to almost never even get replaced because they can’t get anymore qualified individuals to fill in. Many of the students live in troubled families, and it shows; lots of kids are bullied or have violent tendencies. Middle schoolers gang up on loners and stab them with pencils just for a reaction. Many younger students have also started a point system that promotes competition for who can be the most troublesome. Any consequential actions either fail or are poorly executed. The management also always lacks to fix problems in a timely manner, which again could just be the fact that no one stays in leadership for long. The town of Westcliffe, in general, is mostly negative with not much to do. Most of its credit rightfully belongs to the beautiful mountain range. Point being that this town is not ideal to raise your children in. The school lacks in both the educational and social aspects, and until someone actually makes a serious change, it will stay this way. Even online learning could be more beneficial.