Silver Heights

After our first year at CRE, we are so thrilled with this school. The teachers and staff are attentive and student-focused. The leadership is diligent and resourceful. And like most public schools, they are continuously working to serve students and families with fewer and fewer resources. While the Douglas Country School District has some work to do, the faculty and staff at CRE are doing amazing work to overcome the challenges that they’re facing.

My experience at Academy Charter School has been concerning, especially regarding academic pressure and certain staff attitudes. First, the academic workload is excessive. Rather than fostering a love of learning, the immense pressure and homework create a highly stressful environment that leaves little room for a healthy life balance outside the classroom. I have experienced significant issues with the school environment and staff culture. Bullying among students was a persistent struggle I had to deal with that never seemed to be addressed by the administration. Furthermore, some deeply troubling attitudes and comments from a certain teacher have certainly come off as culturally insensitive and somewhat racist against their minority students. For a school to be truly successful, students need to feel safe, respected, and included, but the environment here falls incredibly short of that standard. I do not recommend this school to any families, especially families of color, looking for a supportive, inclusive, and balanced educational environment.

Aspen View Academy is, without question, the worst school in Castle Rock. I say that with absolute certainty after finally pulling my kids out. The contrast with their new school is night and day—my children are actually thriving now, instead of merely surviving.At Aspen View, kids are not protected both physically or mentally. The administration is incompetent and lazy from top to bottom. The entire place lacks any real structure, discipline, or leadership. Everyone, students and staff alike, knows it, so chaos runs unchecked. Bullying is rampant and worse here than at any other school in the area.Teachers are often friends of the weak principal, hired for connections rather than qualifications. Many lack proper teaching degrees or certifications. They play favorites shamelessly because professionalism is nonexistent. Most classroom helpers, “paras”, lunch aids, you name it, are parents of current students. Not the parents you want in the school either. The parents at this school are most certainly part of the problem: entitled families obsessed with status, driving their kids around in expensive cars and drilling into them that money is everything. The whole atmosphere reeks of spoiled, entitled kids and adults who think wealth or popularity excuses bad behavior.Talk to any family that’s left Aspen View, there are plenty, and you’ll hear the same story. Most people I encounter have pulled their children out. DCSD should shut it down for the sake of some of these other kids, whose parents may not understand just how bad things are for them. This school is hands-down the worst one in Castle Rock. Trust me. Avoid it.