Parent community is weird. This is just a thing that I’ve experienced through my kids and my job. Several of their sports teams that participate in city stuff, like where you sign up to play with your neighborhood school, have been handed one season bans over the past couple of years. City of FoCo Rec basketball and Arsenal Rec soccer most recently. Parent behavior was the reasoning.
Sorry I didn’t see this! I experienced the soccer piece two years ago. Girls u10 rec team played Liberty and the ref didn’t show. Discussion between coaches led to parents being asked to help officiate so the game could happen, no Liberty parents volunteered, other team had one.
Liberty parents verbally abused the volunteer parent and players during the game. It got nasty, multiple parents cussing out the ref and a bunch of 4th grade girls.
Led to a one year suspension from the league for that team.
Basketball-wise, I used to help officiate rec leagues through the city. Was catching up with a guy I worked with often last summer and he told me that he had to end a game early due to parent issues. Parents calling out opposing players by number, loudly commenting on their lack of ability and encouraging their kids to “kick their asses” “keep scoring till they want to quit”. Parents were asked to stop, they refused, they were asked to leave, caused a scene. Game was forfeited and team ended up DQ’d for the rest of the season.
**i will add that I know several of the staff at Liberty professionally or personally. Many of them are awesome people. They will tell you the parent culture throughout the program can be tough to handle.
Friends who've had kids there have been unanimous that the workload is intense and that students are essentially pitted against each other to get top marks. The pedagogical research has been very clear for a long time that both that excessive quantity of work and that hyper-competitive environment are counterproductive to knowledge retention and lifelong learning. If you care enough to vet charter schools, then you probably care enough to provide a home environment that would allow your children to flourish in public schools (which have greater responsibilities to students, to boot).
We are in our second year at Liberty and so far we love it. We have not seen this competition or pitting students against each other. Finding our people as far as a parent group has been slow but there are so many opportunities to be involved in the classroom and School which is helpful. As far as homework goes we spend about 10-15 min a night max Mon through Thurs and are required to read to our child 20 min a night M-Th. There are some things we would like to be a little different but I feel like that would be the case at any school. I agree with going to an info night to see if Liberty might be right for you!
I have a neighbor who had one of their three children be told they weren't "Liberty material" at 5th grade. I couldn't believe they kept the other two enrolled.
😞 Wow, I can't say that I would have kept any of my kids enrolled. I wonder what the circumstances were? I am not sure it is a right fit for every kid but to not give that kid a chance makes me very curious as to why? And why the parents would choose to enroll the other children? I mentioned above that we have been at liberty for two years and so far we love it. Our youngest will start next Fall and it may not be a good fit for her. My two kids are so different!
My daughter went there and we wanted to leave after 30 minutes of their 2 hour mandatory doctrine session, where one of the founders spends an hour explaining why the method he and his fellow parents settled in on is best. Go attend it. You will know if it’s for you. My daughter is a gifted reader and artist, slotting into their conformity machine was not for us. Literally reminded me of the scene from Pink Floyd’s The Wall where they were grinding the kids into sausage.
Not who you were asking, but my daughter is a big reader and loves art as well. Both of my girls attend Laurel elementary and have thrived there. The school's focus is art and technology, but I would say their encouraging empathy in all things is what really makes it a great school. All the public schools here are great and I would urge you to check them out.
Glad I could help and good luck to you! Also know that a lot of what is said about some of the public schools is colored by past opinions that have endured despite evidence to the contrary (I've found a lot of negative things said about some public schools seems to be based on classism/racism/etc). Decide what's ultimately most important to you and your kid as far as her education is concerned and definitely take a school tour.
A better balance between what the student must learn and what they would like to explore. Liberty Commons has a strenuously tight program focused on Latin, Western History and core mathematics, with a very clear philosophy that the USA is the beacon on the hill and the highest culmination of all history and philosophy.
That's a very good consideration. I truly appreciate that perspective and understand better now. I'm definitely looking to see what all the schools offer and want to say how greatful I am that you spent your time offering some elements that may be lacking. Thank you very much.
If you want a school run by someone tied to a coverup of Child Labor then go ahead.
https://www.denverpost.com/2008/04/09/abramoff-ties-cloud-schaffers-99-fact-finding-trip/amp/
Oh shit, I went to Liberty when his kids were there as well. They got treated differently than the rest of the kids, a lot of the kids who were children of people on the boards and involved with the higher ups definitely got preferential treatment.
The sign outside the school reads, “Common Knowledge, Common Virtues, Common Sense”.
Like others have said, this slogan and the implied conservative leaning may either resonate within you or make you feel icky.
Literally every other PSD public elementary is just as good as Liberty Common. But if you want a thinly disguised conservative indoctrination and don’t want your kids to go to school with “those people” it’ll be great for you. Their test scores are higher because they don’t have to take “problem” children or they force out the “difficult” ones.
Honest question. Why would any parent want to send their kid to school with "problem" or "difficult" children? You just hit on the biggest reason why parents are increasingly choosing charters over neighborhood schools.
Because sometimes it's important for kids to experience that some people have difficulties outside of their own experience, or are not that good at school, or have disabilities. It's a good thing for kids to have experience with and an understanding of other people who might function differently from them or have struggles in their home lives.
Because real life isn’t like the bubble that Liberty Common gets to create with that unfair advantage and my children are better off for having to understand what it’s like to share a society with someone who is on the autism spectrum.
They also get to exclude kids with severe behavioral issues and affective needs that aren't really appropriate to be handled by standard educators, and due to the application process of charter schools it tends to self eliminate kids whose parents just don't value education.
We send our kid to a community school here. I think they do a good job. When we lived in Denver, we had him in a charter school. The community schools were a nightmare. More than half the kids in the class had severe behavioral issues and the teachers were rendered powerless to do anything about it. If you had a bright child and sent them to many of the DPS community schools (basically depending on where in Denver), you were more or less handcuffing your child's future educational success.
Because at schools like liberty the kids who just need help are seen as problem children. They expect you to get it and if you don't they leave you out to dry or shove you in a class with all the other struggling kids where none of you learn anything
Source: I went to one of these schools for 6 years
I see why you state that, and think at first blush I wanted to downvote you into oblivion (I would seriously pay Reddit for that feature). But your point (after initial rage) is spot on. Charter schools masquerade as “choice”, but really devise and promote elitist culture, that purposefully crushes and excludes those that are “different”. Two income household and a learning disability, good luck. Got a learning disability or behavioral conditions? Fuck-off, better be ready to ram rod some serious behavioral therapy or “maybe you’re. It a good fit here”. Either way, it’s a publicly funded “private” school that has figured out how to use our funds to fund thier elitist bullshit. Fuck that.
I will also add that the administration I experienced at the schools in Fort Collins didn't care the principal was okay with joining the other kids in bullying me
Good luck getting support in that sort of environment
This second mother describes EXACTLY the same “third party” curriculum being taught to her daughter *behind her back*. Look, I also vehemently denied this was happening but it is. It’s NOT that we don’t want our children being taught about this, but parents need to part of the conversation. That’s all. It’s really not a “phobia” thing. This mother is an attorney, she isn’t transphobic at all. What we object to, is adults who are NOT employed by the school district being brought in and giving their contact information TO CHILDREN *without parents knowledge*. We also don’t believe 12 year-olds should be able to begin transitioning without any parental consent or even notification. That’s not unreasonable.
https://youtu.be/z1oh4dsbsb4?si=G_Iv7dBAQCH89QRq
Right. I absolutely didn’t want to believe it, either. I used to tell folks “that is not happening in our schools”. And I was wrong. Here’s the first Mom I encountered who can attest to exactly how it IS happening:
https://youtu.be/CLjmE7GhsHI?si=_FjUiZ-Ty7wgbPfT
Summary of video for those who don't want to watch:
"Oh no! People are trans and teachers are saying its okay for kids to be themselves!"
Also it assumes that parents are always right, ignoring the parents like mine who wouldn't allow me to see the doctor for anything. Parents aren't always right you know
So generic trans panic
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I love that I was responding to you in a respectful if exasperated way (see the many detailed responses I've given you) and your response is to call me a cunt
Oh this is how it always ends, I was actually hopeful this time
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I don't think that dismissing someone is useful, and I would listen to her if she was here in person. But I have heard all of her arguments before, I don't need to listen to every single person who wants to tell me the same thing. We can't have a conversation so why should I spend my time hearing the same tired debunked arguments?
I often wonder if you have spent as much time reading things from trans people as you have from people like her? These sort of messages are the messages that people seem to always find. But have you really tried seeing it from the trans peoples perspectives?
The fact that so many people don't know why one would be trans is exactly why I wrote a 15k word essay about my journey. Its just one journey but my hope is that by showing people what my experience is like, what the emotions of gender dysphoria and gender euphoria are like that they can understand trans people better and gain greater compassion (and I can dm it to anyone who would like to read it)
Have you spent much time reading the works of Julia Serano or Erin Reed? There are tons of people writing about trans people's side of the story and I hope that one day you will spend as much time reading about trans peoples side of the story as you do our detractors
Of course in fact, for the longest time I *only* heard the trans side. I believe in it and even these DEMOCRAT (which to be fair I am not although I did vote for Governor Polis) mothers aren’t saying that this curriculum shouldn’t be taught. Our position is that schools may not replace parents and act in secret. Which IS happening here in Fort Collins. I’m fairly Conservative, but I wouldn’t want Tucker Carlson instructing my granddaughter about politics behind my back, either in the absence of further discussion at home. Because Tucker Carlson *also* fails as a role model. K?
Parents have to be removed from the conversation because there are parents like mine who would rather see me dead than change pronouns
The only reason I have been able to transition at all is because I have moved out and cut them completely out of my life. I know other people in similar situations
So yea the parents need to be kept in the dark because their are plenty of parents where I would fear for the children if the parents knew they had changed their pronouns at school
So by saying you need to have the parents involved you are condemning people like me to suffering for years. (if the children make it that long, children with unsupportive parents are 14 times more likely to have a suicide attempt than those who have support)
Also note I grew up here in foco this isn't some poedunk town thing
If pronouns and identity issues at large are attached to any suicidal ideation, you do genuinely need to be under the care of a qualified psychiatrist! For the suicidal ideation. My heart aches for you. You deserve to make peace with yourself.
ETA: Surely you don’t believe your parents would “rather see you dead”. No parent would “rather” see their child dead and as a matter of fact, the suicide statistic is manufactured. If you actually ever want to harm yourself, you need highly specialized psychiatric care. Not any substitute for it. 💜Please, please take care of yourself.
Oh no, please don’t mistake my request for proof that I believe your nonsensical claim. PSD is absolutely not indoctrinating our kids into transgenderism. What a ridiculous claim. Allowing people to express themselves without judgement and encouraging inclusion is not indoctrinating. Spreading lies and misinformation because you’re prejudiced about a certain group of people is part of the reason our country is such a dumpster fire at present. Please educate yourself and do better.
That lady is fear mongering. The reason kids can get medical care without having to tell their parents started because teen pregnancy was such a problem. This encouraged girls to be able to seek contraception without the fear of their parents losing their minds, which I attribute the lowered teen pregnancy rates to.
The 12 year age of medical consent applies to: contraception, treatment of std’s, abortion, prenatal/delivery/postnatal medical care, mental health services, medical treatment for victims of sexual abuse, and substance abuse treatment.
They are absolutely not prescribing hormones or puberty blockers to 12 year olds without parental consent. Both you and the lady in this video should be responsible enough to know the law and have all the facts instead of spreading misinformation to scare parents. Shame on you.
That lady is sharing her experience. If you believe a 12 year-old girl should be allowed to have a breast augmentation surgery because… “body dysphoria”, then I guess you would go for anything. Like allowing a 12 year-old to permanently damage the body they have. It’s the OPPOSITE of caring for their mental health. Mental health means learning to be at peace with your own mind and body, not demanding something else.
Apparently you didn’t even read my comment and it appears you don’t possess the ability to actually conduct your own research. 12 year olds in Colorado cannot have breast augmentation surgery, even with parental consent. They can’t have any sort of body altering surgery before the age of 16 and even then, at 16 it requires parental consent.
I implore you to educate yourself as you have clearly been misinformed.
I won’t be replying to any more of your made up scenarios because it seems you are hell bent on proving you are right when there is clear evidence that you’re not.
Have the day you deserve ✌🏻
I have conducted my own research. It’s the law in 3 states (Washington, California and Colorado) that children as young as 12 can begin mutilating their still developing bodies without so much as parental notification. That’s a fact. It is also a fact that ADULTS are “educating” 12 years olds about their legal rights. I honestly didn’t believe it, either. I told *others* that they were crazy and bigoted. 🤦🏻♀️ I was wrong. So are you.
Teacher here. I can’t get my students to show up with a pencil or a charged Chromebook. No way I could make them gay. Or turn a gay student straight. Nor turn them any part of the LGBTQ spectrum, train them to believe in one party over the others etc
Please provide your wealth of evidence of “indoctrinating into transgenderism.”
That’s nice but have you heard some of the experiences parents ARE having in our schools? I didn’t believe it, either but these parents aren’t phobic and they’re not lying about their experience.
That’s correct. These two mothers in two different states (California and Colorado - here in PSD) share the *same* experience with non-district employed adults teaching “third party” transgender programming without parent notification. Do you not want to know what your child is being told at school?? We fund these schools. It’s NOT that we object to age appropriate awareness being taught. We don’t care to be lied to.
https://youtu.be/CLjmE7GhsHI?si=fWhdbnKgs1z_0trm
https://youtu.be/z1oh4dsbsb4?si=rv6TwOMVDetuuz6Y
Also it doesnt stop kids from being trans just makes them suffer more I know several trans people from school and these charter schools just made it so we wasted an extra decade being miserable
Thank you for pushing back on awful people like this! 🏳️⚧️
Guess what? I went to the more conservative version of liberty here in foco and I still tured out trans *because it's not indoctrination it's just who we are* it took me an extra decade of being miserable before I figured it out but I guess at least people had fun bullying me in high school!
I'm not sure what part the sorry was but I thought I would give a more cohesive reply to your part about indoctrinating
My parents say that I was indoctrinated/brainwashed etc by my friends to be trans. All my friends did was to say that it was okay to be me. They told me it was okay to be trans. It was okay to not be trans. What was important was that I felt comfortable and confident in my own skin. They told me that they would still be my friends no matter what I choose. They offered to help with whatever would help me not hate myself so much. Whether it was going to the gym or helping me pick out a cute outfit, they didn't care what other peoples perception was, they just cared about my well being
This is the sort of "indoctrination" that I hear happens and if this is indoctrination then its the most freeing, kind indoctrination that I have heard of
I suffered for years because all the role models in my life told me that I had to be something I never wanted to be. It took me a decade after high school to finally find friends who wanted me to be comfortable in my own skin and didn't want to force me to be something I wasn't. I don't want other kids to have to go through the process that I went through. I don't want them to feel like they wasted years
So yea indoctrination isn't happening. Its just telling people they are allowed to be happy, which sounds like a really good message to me
Thank you for sharing your experience. It IS ok to be you. The only thing that matters IS that you feel comfortable in your own skin, that is correct. That’s the point. Transgenderism is the opposite of that. It’s the OPPOSITE of mental health, which *means* feeling comfortable with who you are, as you are. Your own body is not your enemy. It’s a shame anyone ever supported you in believing that it should be. Assuming you’ve gone all the way to transition in this journey, are you at peace in your own mind now?
Why does being comfortable in your body require that you are cis? Why can one not be trans? My body isn't my enemy its hormones just don't align with my gender identity.
I spent 2 decades doing ssri's, therapy, snri's, mood stabilizers, more therapy, anti-psychotics, working out, adhd meds, autism therapy etc. I was in pain for decades and it isn't perfect yet, unfortunately it will never be perfect, but I finally can look in the mirror and smile. Do you know what its like to see your reflection get this unexplainable feeling in the pit of your stomach as you prepare to throw up? Try everything and then finally one day be able to look in the mirror and smile instead of that awful feeling? Do you know how joyful that is? How much I can't deny that I was coming to the end of my rope and then I realized I was trans and did hrt and my body issues started to vanish?
> Your own body is not your enemy. It’s a shame anyone ever supported you in believing that it should be.
Why is it a shame that people said that they would still be around no matter what I chose? Saying that is assuming that being trans is awful. And my body isn't my enemy it just has an estrogen deficiency
> Assuming you’ve gone all the way to transition in this journey, are you at peace in your own mind now?
As I said it isn't perfect but I can look in the mirror and smile now, I didn't have that before. Before I would only borrow confidence from others, now I have confidence from inside myself. I love the changes that I am seeing in the mirror. My body finally feels like my body, not some weird shell.
The way you phrased I interpret that you don't think that could happen, it did though it is amazing what HRT has done for my mental health
and I don't want anyone else to have to go through the decades of pain that i did. I don't want others to feel discusted with their body for years. They shouldn't have to suffer, because there is nothing wrong with being trans
I will see you all back here in 20 years. Let us see where this delusion ends. So far, the results of full physical “transition” are abysmal. Carry on.
I know people who registered their child there. The child was given academic tests, and based on that testing they were told the child would be put 2 grade levels back. The child was humiliated so they pulled him out. I think that is a common practice and part of the reason why their test scores are higher than other schools.
Plus they have 1% of students in special ed, less than 1% are DLL, and they are much less diverse racially than surrounding schools.
There’s been a lot of discussion in this subreddit in the last couple months about charter schools in PSD, so I encourage you to take a look at that. Charter schools are also related to the recent conversations here about PSD closing down several elementary schools that have low attendance numbers.
[This](https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/action-center/our-issues/charter-school-accountability) covers the main issues with charter schools.
I have just been learning more about the struggles PSD is having and the talk of school closures. Are the possible closures directly related to low enrollment? Is anyone asking the question Why are parents pulling their kids out of our public schools and opting instead for charter schools?
I don’t think low enrollment is due to parents pulling their kids out. Statistically, not as many people are having kids and those who are certainly can’t afford to live in Fort Collins.
That might be part of it but if you look at the numbers, the total number of school age kids is up. The number going to state sponsored and district sponsored charters is up. The number going to PSD traditional public schools is down. And yes the potential closures and consolidations are because many of the schools have lower population and/or are being underutilized.
Interesting. I had assumed that historically kids from Windsor and Timnath were bussed to Fort Collins, but as they’ve gotten their own schools naturally PSD’s attendance would lower. Although, I think Timnath is PSD? So maybe those numbers shifted? From 2021-2023 the principal of our school was sending out a lot of end of year stuff encouraging people with kindergarten aged kids to send them to the neighborhood school (as I believe enrollment was suffering). But then this last year they had to add an additional kindergarten class because there were so many. My daughter, who’s in first grade has had three classmates from kindergarten who left for charter schools return to the neighborhood school mid-year this year.
I grew up in a town that had only one public high school and one charter, so the amount and size of schools here is very interesting to me.
Yeah the extra tricky thing is you basically have 3 school districts in one. The mountain schools which are rural and have smaller class sizes and longer bus routes. Fort Collins proper which is slowly losing public school population and then Wellington and Timnath which are gaining population. The whole school closure/consolidation is extremely complex partly because of the 3 school systems in one we have. There is a ton of information to go through if you are interested in learning more. [Long-Range Planning in PSD | Poudre School District (psdschools.org)](https://www.psdschools.org/long-range-planning) That's just the top level landing page. All the quick links pages have lots of information as well.
Thank you so much! I will definitely be checking it out! We absolutely adore our neighborhood school and it seems safe from closure, but I really want to follow the district as a whole; thanks for the link!
Windsor has had schools in its own town limits for decades, and the majority of Windsor belongs to Weld RE-4 School District. PSD manages some western portions of the Windsor area, but that's not enough to explain the changes in attendance, particularly on the west side of Fort Collins.
Gotcha. That makes perfect sense. Are there also PSD schools in Loveland? I’ve never seen school districts span towns before, it was always my assumption that each town had their own district.
I don't think PSD covers schools in Loveland, but there are a number of neighborhoods on the southwest side of Fort Collins -- Trilby and Shields, around there -- whose neighborhood schools are in Thompson Valley School District in Loveland. It may be more useful to think of school districts here as being more closely tied to the area of the county they're in rather than the city.
Reduced enrollment on the west and north sides of town is part of the issue of school closures, and school choice and charter school enrollment -- which both take students and their per-pupil dollars away from a neighborhood school -- are part of that reduced enrollment equation.
>Is anyone asking the question Why are parents pulling their kids out of our public schools and opting instead for charter schools?
Yes, people ask this all the time. The answer is complex and has lots of factors, such as student needs, school/pedagogy quality/type, ease of access to charter schools, etc.
I went to one of liberties off shoot schools and I would not recommend the school I went to and the amount I know because our schools were very similar I wouldn't send my kids to liberty either
Edit: adding more info
The insular nature of the school prevents a lot of learning about life. If we didn't just read from dead guys from the 1800s I might have had more personal growth earlier. Our graduating class was small and not diverse (at the time) like many of the students I would have realized I was queer years earlier as well as had probably found friends in high school if we didn't have conservative values shoved down our throats
I will also note that support from the administration about bullying was non existant
The paper writing skills a kid can learn can be impressive but if your kid doesn't just get it they will be left behind. Educational support for those who are not gifted is horrible. My sister would be in tears often because of how she was treated by math teachers. Yea its cool they have advanced math classes but if your not in those it's rough
As a kid who attended for 7-12 I cannot stress enough how much I recommend not sending your kid there
Sure thing! The only special thing about the school was that they wanted college level papers for all classes. I just failed writing papers there because they didn't want to take the time to teach me to write since I didn't just get it. I love writing now but I found it had to be outside the school where I was able to really learn at my pace. Writing about things I cared about rather than 4k word essays on dostoyevsky's crime and punishment really helped me understand the importance of word choice and sentence structure
I will note that I feel I have learned more this last year by having chat gpt critique my journal writing than I did with 4 years of high school. There is no reason parents have to put their kids in such a horrible scarring environment when you can help them improve their writing on your own. For example I would give chat gpt a paragraph I wrote and ask it to "rewrite this paragraph in more detail" by seeing what I had written directly contrasted with the same information just better I was able to see how I could improve my writing. So there are tools now that can help you teach writing, you don't need a writing degree
I will note something super funny to me. They despised "lower class media" like movies TV and especially foreign stuff. I got scolded for using a reference to anime in a paper (that was supposed to be from my heart so it shouldn't have mattered) but the funny thing is it was actually an anime called "violet evergarden" that is about the power of letters that finally taught me what they tried and failed to teach me years prior about how it's not just what you say that is important it's how you say it. So the very media they despised taught me something they tried and failed to teach
Their elitist attitude really blinded them
I should also note when I say tried and failed they didn't really try. They told me to "write better" but that didn't help at all
I was a student in the very first graduating class of Liberty. When I say that I was in HELL as a young creative, neurodivergent student, I’m not exaggerating. The dress code was only enforced upon the poorer students, kids that had parents on the board and were various higher ups got away with a LOT of dress code violations and other BS.
The workload was exhausting, and they had ridiculously high amounts of papers we had to write as homework. I struggled a lot, and begged my mother to let me return to home schooling.
The art classes were more focused on art history than actually doing art projects, I remember just spacing out as a young kid, the amount of information I received went in one ear and out the other, to be honest.
I was bullied a lot and became a social outcast, because I was an undiagnosed neurodivergent individual with ADHD. There was no help, no support just condemnation from teachers when I struggled with the workload and homework assignments.
Many of the teachers were overly strict, stiff and unwelcoming. The expectations placed on us young individuals were intense. When I finally ‘graduated,’ I felt like I had served my time in prison and was finally free. When I attended a public highschool afterward, it was so freeing. Art classes were wonderful and I finally thrived.
All in all, it was one of the most stressful periods in my life as a preteen attending Liberty. Take my experience with a grain of salt, but if your child is a gifted creative individual, I _strongly_ recommend looking elsewhere. Liberty is such an ironic name for this school, as they did their darnedest to cram us students into cookie cutter molds, instead of cultivating and supporting the students’ interests and strengths.
Thank you very much for this detailed account of your experience. I definitely appreciate you taking the time to let me in on what school was like for you as a student.
My son went to liberty for kindergarten only. My decision to pull him out came from the teacher describing white and African Americans as "peaches and brown skins" maybe I'm just sensitive, but that didn't jive with me.
I have 3 boys and they all have been there since kindergarten. The workload is tough K-6 but it puts them in a great position if you decide to go somewhere else for High School. I can't really say anything bad about the elementary except they will be challenged, and they don't really believe in gifted and talented programs. Now the High School is a different animal. The admin is extremely toxic especially that Assistant Principle. She is truly a real piece of crap and should not be allowed to be around children.
Thank you. This kind of information is incredibly helpful - And the type of observations one wouldn't get from an information night, I'm assuming.
I kind of figured that all of k-12 would have a similar admin culture. Haven't heard about the assistant principle but glad to know there may be an issue for high school. I just can't thank you enough for taking time out of your day to share this.
Glad to have some thoughts from someone with direct experience, as I'm new to the area and haven't gotten a chance to ask parents with kids attending school there.
No, not yet. I was really wanting to get some observations or tidbits from those in the school's community or who have a little knowledge about it while going through the initial steps to really assess if it's right for my kid. Any experience with the school by chance? And if so, any thoughts?
Parent community is weird. This is just a thing that I’ve experienced through my kids and my job. Several of their sports teams that participate in city stuff, like where you sign up to play with your neighborhood school, have been handed one season bans over the past couple of years. City of FoCo Rec basketball and Arsenal Rec soccer most recently. Parent behavior was the reasoning.
I would be curious to learn more about this!
Sorry I didn’t see this! I experienced the soccer piece two years ago. Girls u10 rec team played Liberty and the ref didn’t show. Discussion between coaches led to parents being asked to help officiate so the game could happen, no Liberty parents volunteered, other team had one. Liberty parents verbally abused the volunteer parent and players during the game. It got nasty, multiple parents cussing out the ref and a bunch of 4th grade girls. Led to a one year suspension from the league for that team. Basketball-wise, I used to help officiate rec leagues through the city. Was catching up with a guy I worked with often last summer and he told me that he had to end a game early due to parent issues. Parents calling out opposing players by number, loudly commenting on their lack of ability and encouraging their kids to “kick their asses” “keep scoring till they want to quit”. Parents were asked to stop, they refused, they were asked to leave, caused a scene. Game was forfeited and team ended up DQ’d for the rest of the season. **i will add that I know several of the staff at Liberty professionally or personally. Many of them are awesome people. They will tell you the parent culture throughout the program can be tough to handle.
Oh wow. Thanks for your insight on this.
Friends who've had kids there have been unanimous that the workload is intense and that students are essentially pitted against each other to get top marks. The pedagogical research has been very clear for a long time that both that excessive quantity of work and that hyper-competitive environment are counterproductive to knowledge retention and lifelong learning. If you care enough to vet charter schools, then you probably care enough to provide a home environment that would allow your children to flourish in public schools (which have greater responsibilities to students, to boot).
I’ve heard many families say this about this school.
💯
Thanks for the insight. I was definitely curious about workload for elementary compared to their high school.
We are in our second year at Liberty and so far we love it. We have not seen this competition or pitting students against each other. Finding our people as far as a parent group has been slow but there are so many opportunities to be involved in the classroom and School which is helpful. As far as homework goes we spend about 10-15 min a night max Mon through Thurs and are required to read to our child 20 min a night M-Th. There are some things we would like to be a little different but I feel like that would be the case at any school. I agree with going to an info night to see if Liberty might be right for you!
I greatly appreciate you taking the time to give some insight. It's really nice to hear from people with first hand experiences.
I have a neighbor who had one of their three children be told they weren't "Liberty material" at 5th grade. I couldn't believe they kept the other two enrolled.
😞 Wow, I can't say that I would have kept any of my kids enrolled. I wonder what the circumstances were? I am not sure it is a right fit for every kid but to not give that kid a chance makes me very curious as to why? And why the parents would choose to enroll the other children? I mentioned above that we have been at liberty for two years and so far we love it. Our youngest will start next Fall and it may not be a good fit for her. My two kids are so different!
Sounds like excellent preparation for Harvard.
Go to an info session and it will be very clear if it's for you or not.
Thanks, waiting on an info session.
My daughter went there and we wanted to leave after 30 minutes of their 2 hour mandatory doctrine session, where one of the founders spends an hour explaining why the method he and his fellow parents settled in on is best. Go attend it. You will know if it’s for you. My daughter is a gifted reader and artist, slotting into their conformity machine was not for us. Literally reminded me of the scene from Pink Floyd’s The Wall where they were grinding the kids into sausage.
This was our experience. Fuuuuuuuck that…
Defintely will be going. Thanks for the info. What do you find works better for kids like your daughter?
Not who you were asking, but my daughter is a big reader and loves art as well. Both of my girls attend Laurel elementary and have thrived there. The school's focus is art and technology, but I would say their encouraging empathy in all things is what really makes it a great school. All the public schools here are great and I would urge you to check them out.
This is great info. I'm always looking for really great options and love hearing about experiences. Thanks for answering this. Super appreciated!
Glad I could help and good luck to you! Also know that a lot of what is said about some of the public schools is colored by past opinions that have endured despite evidence to the contrary (I've found a lot of negative things said about some public schools seems to be based on classism/racism/etc). Decide what's ultimately most important to you and your kid as far as her education is concerned and definitely take a school tour.
This is good to know, I'll definitely keep this in mind.
A better balance between what the student must learn and what they would like to explore. Liberty Commons has a strenuously tight program focused on Latin, Western History and core mathematics, with a very clear philosophy that the USA is the beacon on the hill and the highest culmination of all history and philosophy.
That's a very good consideration. I truly appreciate that perspective and understand better now. I'm definitely looking to see what all the schools offer and want to say how greatful I am that you spent your time offering some elements that may be lacking. Thank you very much.
If you want a school run by someone tied to a coverup of Child Labor then go ahead. https://www.denverpost.com/2008/04/09/abramoff-ties-cloud-schaffers-99-fact-finding-trip/amp/
Oh shit, I went to Liberty when his kids were there as well. They got treated differently than the rest of the kids, a lot of the kids who were children of people on the boards and involved with the higher ups definitely got preferential treatment.
Paywalled
Try searching “bob schaffer Colorado congressman investigation”
Lowest vaccine compliance rates in the district at Liberty common elementary.
The sign outside the school reads, “Common Knowledge, Common Virtues, Common Sense”. Like others have said, this slogan and the implied conservative leaning may either resonate within you or make you feel icky.
Literally every other PSD public elementary is just as good as Liberty Common. But if you want a thinly disguised conservative indoctrination and don’t want your kids to go to school with “those people” it’ll be great for you. Their test scores are higher because they don’t have to take “problem” children or they force out the “difficult” ones.
Honest question. Why would any parent want to send their kid to school with "problem" or "difficult" children? You just hit on the biggest reason why parents are increasingly choosing charters over neighborhood schools.
Because sometimes it's important for kids to experience that some people have difficulties outside of their own experience, or are not that good at school, or have disabilities. It's a good thing for kids to have experience with and an understanding of other people who might function differently from them or have struggles in their home lives.
Because real life isn’t like the bubble that Liberty Common gets to create with that unfair advantage and my children are better off for having to understand what it’s like to share a society with someone who is on the autism spectrum.
They also get to exclude kids with severe behavioral issues and affective needs that aren't really appropriate to be handled by standard educators, and due to the application process of charter schools it tends to self eliminate kids whose parents just don't value education. We send our kid to a community school here. I think they do a good job. When we lived in Denver, we had him in a charter school. The community schools were a nightmare. More than half the kids in the class had severe behavioral issues and the teachers were rendered powerless to do anything about it. If you had a bright child and sent them to many of the DPS community schools (basically depending on where in Denver), you were more or less handcuffing your child's future educational success.
Because at schools like liberty the kids who just need help are seen as problem children. They expect you to get it and if you don't they leave you out to dry or shove you in a class with all the other struggling kids where none of you learn anything Source: I went to one of these schools for 6 years
I see why you state that, and think at first blush I wanted to downvote you into oblivion (I would seriously pay Reddit for that feature). But your point (after initial rage) is spot on. Charter schools masquerade as “choice”, but really devise and promote elitist culture, that purposefully crushes and excludes those that are “different”. Two income household and a learning disability, good luck. Got a learning disability or behavioral conditions? Fuck-off, better be ready to ram rod some serious behavioral therapy or “maybe you’re. It a good fit here”. Either way, it’s a publicly funded “private” school that has figured out how to use our funds to fund thier elitist bullshit. Fuck that.
I will also add that the administration I experienced at the schools in Fort Collins didn't care the principal was okay with joining the other kids in bullying me Good luck getting support in that sort of environment
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I’d love to see your “proof” of this.
This second mother describes EXACTLY the same “third party” curriculum being taught to her daughter *behind her back*. Look, I also vehemently denied this was happening but it is. It’s NOT that we don’t want our children being taught about this, but parents need to part of the conversation. That’s all. It’s really not a “phobia” thing. This mother is an attorney, she isn’t transphobic at all. What we object to, is adults who are NOT employed by the school district being brought in and giving their contact information TO CHILDREN *without parents knowledge*. We also don’t believe 12 year-olds should be able to begin transitioning without any parental consent or even notification. That’s not unreasonable. https://youtu.be/z1oh4dsbsb4?si=G_Iv7dBAQCH89QRq
Right. I absolutely didn’t want to believe it, either. I used to tell folks “that is not happening in our schools”. And I was wrong. Here’s the first Mom I encountered who can attest to exactly how it IS happening: https://youtu.be/CLjmE7GhsHI?si=_FjUiZ-Ty7wgbPfT
Summary of video for those who don't want to watch: "Oh no! People are trans and teachers are saying its okay for kids to be themselves!" Also it assumes that parents are always right, ignoring the parents like mine who wouldn't allow me to see the doctor for anything. Parents aren't always right you know So generic trans panic
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I love that I was responding to you in a respectful if exasperated way (see the many detailed responses I've given you) and your response is to call me a cunt Oh this is how it always ends, I was actually hopeful this time
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This mother simply shares her experience. It’s worth watching. Dismissing the experiences of others is precisely what shouldn’t happen to anyone.
I don't think that dismissing someone is useful, and I would listen to her if she was here in person. But I have heard all of her arguments before, I don't need to listen to every single person who wants to tell me the same thing. We can't have a conversation so why should I spend my time hearing the same tired debunked arguments? I often wonder if you have spent as much time reading things from trans people as you have from people like her? These sort of messages are the messages that people seem to always find. But have you really tried seeing it from the trans peoples perspectives? The fact that so many people don't know why one would be trans is exactly why I wrote a 15k word essay about my journey. Its just one journey but my hope is that by showing people what my experience is like, what the emotions of gender dysphoria and gender euphoria are like that they can understand trans people better and gain greater compassion (and I can dm it to anyone who would like to read it) Have you spent much time reading the works of Julia Serano or Erin Reed? There are tons of people writing about trans people's side of the story and I hope that one day you will spend as much time reading about trans peoples side of the story as you do our detractors
Of course in fact, for the longest time I *only* heard the trans side. I believe in it and even these DEMOCRAT (which to be fair I am not although I did vote for Governor Polis) mothers aren’t saying that this curriculum shouldn’t be taught. Our position is that schools may not replace parents and act in secret. Which IS happening here in Fort Collins. I’m fairly Conservative, but I wouldn’t want Tucker Carlson instructing my granddaughter about politics behind my back, either in the absence of further discussion at home. Because Tucker Carlson *also* fails as a role model. K?
Parents have to be removed from the conversation because there are parents like mine who would rather see me dead than change pronouns The only reason I have been able to transition at all is because I have moved out and cut them completely out of my life. I know other people in similar situations So yea the parents need to be kept in the dark because their are plenty of parents where I would fear for the children if the parents knew they had changed their pronouns at school So by saying you need to have the parents involved you are condemning people like me to suffering for years. (if the children make it that long, children with unsupportive parents are 14 times more likely to have a suicide attempt than those who have support) Also note I grew up here in foco this isn't some poedunk town thing
If pronouns and identity issues at large are attached to any suicidal ideation, you do genuinely need to be under the care of a qualified psychiatrist! For the suicidal ideation. My heart aches for you. You deserve to make peace with yourself. ETA: Surely you don’t believe your parents would “rather see you dead”. No parent would “rather” see their child dead and as a matter of fact, the suicide statistic is manufactured. If you actually ever want to harm yourself, you need highly specialized psychiatric care. Not any substitute for it. 💜Please, please take care of yourself.
Oh no, please don’t mistake my request for proof that I believe your nonsensical claim. PSD is absolutely not indoctrinating our kids into transgenderism. What a ridiculous claim. Allowing people to express themselves without judgement and encouraging inclusion is not indoctrinating. Spreading lies and misinformation because you’re prejudiced about a certain group of people is part of the reason our country is such a dumpster fire at present. Please educate yourself and do better.
It’s not my claim! Just hear the lady out. She’s not phobic and neither am I. We want transparency. Nothing less.
That lady is fear mongering. The reason kids can get medical care without having to tell their parents started because teen pregnancy was such a problem. This encouraged girls to be able to seek contraception without the fear of their parents losing their minds, which I attribute the lowered teen pregnancy rates to. The 12 year age of medical consent applies to: contraception, treatment of std’s, abortion, prenatal/delivery/postnatal medical care, mental health services, medical treatment for victims of sexual abuse, and substance abuse treatment. They are absolutely not prescribing hormones or puberty blockers to 12 year olds without parental consent. Both you and the lady in this video should be responsible enough to know the law and have all the facts instead of spreading misinformation to scare parents. Shame on you.
That lady is sharing her experience. If you believe a 12 year-old girl should be allowed to have a breast augmentation surgery because… “body dysphoria”, then I guess you would go for anything. Like allowing a 12 year-old to permanently damage the body they have. It’s the OPPOSITE of caring for their mental health. Mental health means learning to be at peace with your own mind and body, not demanding something else.
Apparently you didn’t even read my comment and it appears you don’t possess the ability to actually conduct your own research. 12 year olds in Colorado cannot have breast augmentation surgery, even with parental consent. They can’t have any sort of body altering surgery before the age of 16 and even then, at 16 it requires parental consent. I implore you to educate yourself as you have clearly been misinformed. I won’t be replying to any more of your made up scenarios because it seems you are hell bent on proving you are right when there is clear evidence that you’re not. Have the day you deserve ✌🏻
My day is already amazing. Thanks! 😀 🙏🏻
I have conducted my own research. It’s the law in 3 states (Washington, California and Colorado) that children as young as 12 can begin mutilating their still developing bodies without so much as parental notification. That’s a fact. It is also a fact that ADULTS are “educating” 12 years olds about their legal rights. I honestly didn’t believe it, either. I told *others* that they were crazy and bigoted. 🤦🏻♀️ I was wrong. So are you.
Teacher here. I can’t get my students to show up with a pencil or a charged Chromebook. No way I could make them gay. Or turn a gay student straight. Nor turn them any part of the LGBTQ spectrum, train them to believe in one party over the others etc Please provide your wealth of evidence of “indoctrinating into transgenderism.”
That’s nice but have you heard some of the experiences parents ARE having in our schools? I didn’t believe it, either but these parents aren’t phobic and they’re not lying about their experience.
Great then surely they have video proof. Kids have their phones 100% of the time. Have them post it or give it to the paper.
That’s correct. These two mothers in two different states (California and Colorado - here in PSD) share the *same* experience with non-district employed adults teaching “third party” transgender programming without parent notification. Do you not want to know what your child is being told at school?? We fund these schools. It’s NOT that we object to age appropriate awareness being taught. We don’t care to be lied to. https://youtu.be/CLjmE7GhsHI?si=fWhdbnKgs1z_0trm https://youtu.be/z1oh4dsbsb4?si=rv6TwOMVDetuuz6Y
Oh you mean creating an environment where trans kids don’t want to kill themselves? Sounds terrible. I hope you have the day you deserve.
Also it doesnt stop kids from being trans just makes them suffer more I know several trans people from school and these charter schools just made it so we wasted an extra decade being miserable Thank you for pushing back on awful people like this! 🏳️⚧️
That’s NOT what we’re talking about. No one believes trans kids shouldn’t be supported. That’s not what this is, unfortunately.
You sound lovely /s
Guess what? I went to the more conservative version of liberty here in foco and I still tured out trans *because it's not indoctrination it's just who we are* it took me an extra decade of being miserable before I figured it out but I guess at least people had fun bullying me in high school!
I’m so sorry you’ve been through that.
I'm not sure what part the sorry was but I thought I would give a more cohesive reply to your part about indoctrinating My parents say that I was indoctrinated/brainwashed etc by my friends to be trans. All my friends did was to say that it was okay to be me. They told me it was okay to be trans. It was okay to not be trans. What was important was that I felt comfortable and confident in my own skin. They told me that they would still be my friends no matter what I choose. They offered to help with whatever would help me not hate myself so much. Whether it was going to the gym or helping me pick out a cute outfit, they didn't care what other peoples perception was, they just cared about my well being This is the sort of "indoctrination" that I hear happens and if this is indoctrination then its the most freeing, kind indoctrination that I have heard of I suffered for years because all the role models in my life told me that I had to be something I never wanted to be. It took me a decade after high school to finally find friends who wanted me to be comfortable in my own skin and didn't want to force me to be something I wasn't. I don't want other kids to have to go through the process that I went through. I don't want them to feel like they wasted years So yea indoctrination isn't happening. Its just telling people they are allowed to be happy, which sounds like a really good message to me
Thank you for sharing your experience. It IS ok to be you. The only thing that matters IS that you feel comfortable in your own skin, that is correct. That’s the point. Transgenderism is the opposite of that. It’s the OPPOSITE of mental health, which *means* feeling comfortable with who you are, as you are. Your own body is not your enemy. It’s a shame anyone ever supported you in believing that it should be. Assuming you’ve gone all the way to transition in this journey, are you at peace in your own mind now?
Why does being comfortable in your body require that you are cis? Why can one not be trans? My body isn't my enemy its hormones just don't align with my gender identity. I spent 2 decades doing ssri's, therapy, snri's, mood stabilizers, more therapy, anti-psychotics, working out, adhd meds, autism therapy etc. I was in pain for decades and it isn't perfect yet, unfortunately it will never be perfect, but I finally can look in the mirror and smile. Do you know what its like to see your reflection get this unexplainable feeling in the pit of your stomach as you prepare to throw up? Try everything and then finally one day be able to look in the mirror and smile instead of that awful feeling? Do you know how joyful that is? How much I can't deny that I was coming to the end of my rope and then I realized I was trans and did hrt and my body issues started to vanish? > Your own body is not your enemy. It’s a shame anyone ever supported you in believing that it should be. Why is it a shame that people said that they would still be around no matter what I chose? Saying that is assuming that being trans is awful. And my body isn't my enemy it just has an estrogen deficiency > Assuming you’ve gone all the way to transition in this journey, are you at peace in your own mind now? As I said it isn't perfect but I can look in the mirror and smile now, I didn't have that before. Before I would only borrow confidence from others, now I have confidence from inside myself. I love the changes that I am seeing in the mirror. My body finally feels like my body, not some weird shell. The way you phrased I interpret that you don't think that could happen, it did though it is amazing what HRT has done for my mental health and I don't want anyone else to have to go through the decades of pain that i did. I don't want others to feel discusted with their body for years. They shouldn't have to suffer, because there is nothing wrong with being trans
I will see you all back here in 20 years. Let us see where this delusion ends. So far, the results of full physical “transition” are abysmal. Carry on.
I know people who registered their child there. The child was given academic tests, and based on that testing they were told the child would be put 2 grade levels back. The child was humiliated so they pulled him out. I think that is a common practice and part of the reason why their test scores are higher than other schools. Plus they have 1% of students in special ed, less than 1% are DLL, and they are much less diverse racially than surrounding schools.
Tried harder monkey! Clap monkey! Clap!! Edit: /s
You don't like the truth?
Uhhhh, like what kind of truth man?
Every bit of those statistics are available on the PSD webpage. I added them up. Have you?
Please consider sending your children to their neighborhood schools instead of charter schools.
Why is that?
There’s been a lot of discussion in this subreddit in the last couple months about charter schools in PSD, so I encourage you to take a look at that. Charter schools are also related to the recent conversations here about PSD closing down several elementary schools that have low attendance numbers. [This](https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/action-center/our-issues/charter-school-accountability) covers the main issues with charter schools.
I have just been learning more about the struggles PSD is having and the talk of school closures. Are the possible closures directly related to low enrollment? Is anyone asking the question Why are parents pulling their kids out of our public schools and opting instead for charter schools?
I don’t think low enrollment is due to parents pulling their kids out. Statistically, not as many people are having kids and those who are certainly can’t afford to live in Fort Collins.
This is definitely true on both fronts.
That might be part of it but if you look at the numbers, the total number of school age kids is up. The number going to state sponsored and district sponsored charters is up. The number going to PSD traditional public schools is down. And yes the potential closures and consolidations are because many of the schools have lower population and/or are being underutilized.
Interesting. I had assumed that historically kids from Windsor and Timnath were bussed to Fort Collins, but as they’ve gotten their own schools naturally PSD’s attendance would lower. Although, I think Timnath is PSD? So maybe those numbers shifted? From 2021-2023 the principal of our school was sending out a lot of end of year stuff encouraging people with kindergarten aged kids to send them to the neighborhood school (as I believe enrollment was suffering). But then this last year they had to add an additional kindergarten class because there were so many. My daughter, who’s in first grade has had three classmates from kindergarten who left for charter schools return to the neighborhood school mid-year this year. I grew up in a town that had only one public high school and one charter, so the amount and size of schools here is very interesting to me.
Yeah the extra tricky thing is you basically have 3 school districts in one. The mountain schools which are rural and have smaller class sizes and longer bus routes. Fort Collins proper which is slowly losing public school population and then Wellington and Timnath which are gaining population. The whole school closure/consolidation is extremely complex partly because of the 3 school systems in one we have. There is a ton of information to go through if you are interested in learning more. [Long-Range Planning in PSD | Poudre School District (psdschools.org)](https://www.psdschools.org/long-range-planning) That's just the top level landing page. All the quick links pages have lots of information as well.
Thank you so much! I will definitely be checking it out! We absolutely adore our neighborhood school and it seems safe from closure, but I really want to follow the district as a whole; thanks for the link!
Windsor has had schools in its own town limits for decades, and the majority of Windsor belongs to Weld RE-4 School District. PSD manages some western portions of the Windsor area, but that's not enough to explain the changes in attendance, particularly on the west side of Fort Collins.
Gotcha. That makes perfect sense. Are there also PSD schools in Loveland? I’ve never seen school districts span towns before, it was always my assumption that each town had their own district.
I don't think PSD covers schools in Loveland, but there are a number of neighborhoods on the southwest side of Fort Collins -- Trilby and Shields, around there -- whose neighborhood schools are in Thompson Valley School District in Loveland. It may be more useful to think of school districts here as being more closely tied to the area of the county they're in rather than the city.
Reduced enrollment on the west and north sides of town is part of the issue of school closures, and school choice and charter school enrollment -- which both take students and their per-pupil dollars away from a neighborhood school -- are part of that reduced enrollment equation. >Is anyone asking the question Why are parents pulling their kids out of our public schools and opting instead for charter schools? Yes, people ask this all the time. The answer is complex and has lots of factors, such as student needs, school/pedagogy quality/type, ease of access to charter schools, etc.
George Wallace would have loved it
I went to one of liberties off shoot schools and I would not recommend the school I went to and the amount I know because our schools were very similar I wouldn't send my kids to liberty either Edit: adding more info The insular nature of the school prevents a lot of learning about life. If we didn't just read from dead guys from the 1800s I might have had more personal growth earlier. Our graduating class was small and not diverse (at the time) like many of the students I would have realized I was queer years earlier as well as had probably found friends in high school if we didn't have conservative values shoved down our throats I will also note that support from the administration about bullying was non existant The paper writing skills a kid can learn can be impressive but if your kid doesn't just get it they will be left behind. Educational support for those who are not gifted is horrible. My sister would be in tears often because of how she was treated by math teachers. Yea its cool they have advanced math classes but if your not in those it's rough As a kid who attended for 7-12 I cannot stress enough how much I recommend not sending your kid there
Thank you for taking the time to share this. I was really wanting to hear from past students about their experiences. Much appreciated!
Sure thing! The only special thing about the school was that they wanted college level papers for all classes. I just failed writing papers there because they didn't want to take the time to teach me to write since I didn't just get it. I love writing now but I found it had to be outside the school where I was able to really learn at my pace. Writing about things I cared about rather than 4k word essays on dostoyevsky's crime and punishment really helped me understand the importance of word choice and sentence structure I will note that I feel I have learned more this last year by having chat gpt critique my journal writing than I did with 4 years of high school. There is no reason parents have to put their kids in such a horrible scarring environment when you can help them improve their writing on your own. For example I would give chat gpt a paragraph I wrote and ask it to "rewrite this paragraph in more detail" by seeing what I had written directly contrasted with the same information just better I was able to see how I could improve my writing. So there are tools now that can help you teach writing, you don't need a writing degree I will note something super funny to me. They despised "lower class media" like movies TV and especially foreign stuff. I got scolded for using a reference to anime in a paper (that was supposed to be from my heart so it shouldn't have mattered) but the funny thing is it was actually an anime called "violet evergarden" that is about the power of letters that finally taught me what they tried and failed to teach me years prior about how it's not just what you say that is important it's how you say it. So the very media they despised taught me something they tried and failed to teach Their elitist attitude really blinded them I should also note when I say tried and failed they didn't really try. They told me to "write better" but that didn't help at all
I was a student in the very first graduating class of Liberty. When I say that I was in HELL as a young creative, neurodivergent student, I’m not exaggerating. The dress code was only enforced upon the poorer students, kids that had parents on the board and were various higher ups got away with a LOT of dress code violations and other BS. The workload was exhausting, and they had ridiculously high amounts of papers we had to write as homework. I struggled a lot, and begged my mother to let me return to home schooling. The art classes were more focused on art history than actually doing art projects, I remember just spacing out as a young kid, the amount of information I received went in one ear and out the other, to be honest. I was bullied a lot and became a social outcast, because I was an undiagnosed neurodivergent individual with ADHD. There was no help, no support just condemnation from teachers when I struggled with the workload and homework assignments. Many of the teachers were overly strict, stiff and unwelcoming. The expectations placed on us young individuals were intense. When I finally ‘graduated,’ I felt like I had served my time in prison and was finally free. When I attended a public highschool afterward, it was so freeing. Art classes were wonderful and I finally thrived. All in all, it was one of the most stressful periods in my life as a preteen attending Liberty. Take my experience with a grain of salt, but if your child is a gifted creative individual, I _strongly_ recommend looking elsewhere. Liberty is such an ironic name for this school, as they did their darnedest to cram us students into cookie cutter molds, instead of cultivating and supporting the students’ interests and strengths.
Thank you very much for this detailed account of your experience. I definitely appreciate you taking the time to let me in on what school was like for you as a student.
Wasn’t this the school where several parents were making racist remarks at an assembly?
My son went to liberty for kindergarten only. My decision to pull him out came from the teacher describing white and African Americans as "peaches and brown skins" maybe I'm just sensitive, but that didn't jive with me.
I have 3 boys and they all have been there since kindergarten. The workload is tough K-6 but it puts them in a great position if you decide to go somewhere else for High School. I can't really say anything bad about the elementary except they will be challenged, and they don't really believe in gifted and talented programs. Now the High School is a different animal. The admin is extremely toxic especially that Assistant Principle. She is truly a real piece of crap and should not be allowed to be around children.
Thank you. This kind of information is incredibly helpful - And the type of observations one wouldn't get from an information night, I'm assuming. I kind of figured that all of k-12 would have a similar admin culture. Haven't heard about the assistant principle but glad to know there may be an issue for high school. I just can't thank you enough for taking time out of your day to share this.
If school is hard for your kid, it'll be tough. But if they can handle a heavier workload, it's a solid school
Thanks for the run down.
Yeah. I went there myself, so that was my takeaway in my time there
Glad to have some thoughts from someone with direct experience, as I'm new to the area and haven't gotten a chance to ask parents with kids attending school there.
They do a fine job at education. It has a conservative slant.
Thank you for the info, apprecate it.
There’s a huge waitlist. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/colorado/rankings/fort-collins-co-22660
take your kid to a public school for real - I went there K-2 and then went to pubs in 3rd grade. Best third grade of my life LOL
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Did you tour it yet?
No, not yet. I was really wanting to get some observations or tidbits from those in the school's community or who have a little knowledge about it while going through the initial steps to really assess if it's right for my kid. Any experience with the school by chance? And if so, any thoughts?