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Daisha Agho, who has coached Berthoud volleyball for the past eight years, has been named the new Niwot High volleyball coach. Under Agho, Berthoud finished with a record of 21-6 last season, advancing to the state Class 4A tournament. There the Spartans beat Windsor before being eliminated by eventual state champion Lewis-Palmer. Berthoud finished 16-11 in 2015 following a 20-7 mark in 2014, and has made it to state in three of the last four years. Agho, who lives in Firestone with her husband...
Both St. Vrain Valley and Boulder Valley school districts are closed today due to weather....
The county’s road and bridge department has their official budget for 2017, a total of roughly $39 million. Of those monies, $13 million will be spent on flood recovery in the James Canyon area, the Wagon Wheel Gap, bridges along the South St. Vrain including the primary bridge and roads in the Four Mile Canyon area. “Those are the major projects that will get started,” Boulder County Director of Transportation George Gerstle said. “As we get the bids in and how much they’ll actually cost, we’ll go back to the commissioners for the funding. “B...
Niwot junior Mackenzie Fidelak was named to the 2016 Colorado High School Activities Association volleyball all-state second team last week, while senior Brynn Chavez received honorable mention. Fidelak led the Cougars to an 18-9 overall record, the 4A Region 11 crown, and a thrilling run in the 2016 state championship tournament. The 6-foot-3 opposite hitter had 331 kills on the season, which was the sixth highest total in Class 4A, and second highest in the Northern League. Her hitting...
Two important education items on the Nov. 8 ballot were the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) bond issue for capital improvements and the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) mill levy override for operational expenses. Both were approved by voters. The SVVSD $260 million bond measure, which passed 61.88 percent to 38.12 percent by district voters in Boulder County, will address critical student and school needs. It includes various renovations throughout the district, additions to existing schools and building of new schools. A...
Two important education items on the Nov. 8 ballot were the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) bond issue for capital improvements and the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) mill levy override for operational expenses. Both were approved by voters. The SVVSD $260 million bond measure, which passed 61.88 percent to 38.12 percent by district voters in Boulder County, will address critical student and school needs. It includes various renovations throughout the district, additions to existing schools and building of new schools. A...
On Thursday, November 3 and Friday, November 4, Sunset Middle School welcomed its long-awaited Verification Visit from the IB (International Baccalaureate). The purpose of this visit was to celebrate the work done by staff and students to implement the IB’s Programme standards and practices. The staff has collectively spent almost 900 hours training to become IB teachers. During the visit, the IB team met with all Sunset staff, a group of students, a group of parents and the IB Leadership t...
On Nov. 4, Niwot High School head football coach Dylan Hollingsworth, 43, was arrested for assaulting a student during a weight lifting class the prior week. According to a media release from the Boulder County Sheriff’s office, Hollingsworth turned himself in to the Boulder County jail last Friday morning, and was booked on charges of second degree assault, a class four felony, and third degree assault, a class one misdemeanor. He was subsequently released on bond, and faces a hearing in B...
Boulder County Sheriff's Office On October 29, at around 1:40 a.m., a lone individual broke through a set of glass doors at Niwot High School, and caused damage inside the school to two interior windows, and a vending machine. The individual then exited the school and broke into three cars parked overnight in the parking lot, by smashing driver side windows on each car. All three cars appeared to have been rummaged through. A fourth vehicle showed signs of an attempt at entry by the suspect, but he was unsuccessful at getting inside. St. Vrain...
It’s a sad fact that Colorado is hamstrung by complicated provisions of the state constitution that prevent the state legislature from adequately funding public education, but fixing that problem is not on the ballot. As a result, local school districts are forced to turn to voters time and again to ask for bond issue approvals and mill levy overrides to keep pace with the demands of increasing populations and escalating costs. The St. Vrain Valley School District has proposed a bond issue (3A on the ballot) which would generate $260 million f...
Niwot Community Association (NCA) board members agreed to continue the group’s policy of serving only as an information conduit for the Niwot/Gunbarrel community when St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) officials asked for the group’s endorsement of the district’s proposed mill levy increase on the November ballot. Although several board members expressed individual support for the measure and praised the school district’s student academic achievement and fiscal responsibility, the NCA board agreed that the NCA’s primary function...
In the Niwot gymnastics team’s second to last meet in the regular season, it was able to beat out Thompson Valley for another win. Head Coach Marisa Purcell said the meet was great overall, even though the scores were lower, partially because neither team competed on vault. “Even though the score was lower, we had a lot of improvements on floor from working on jumps,” Purcell said. “Overall it looked better - that was really an improvement. Thompson valley tends to be a quick and quieter meet because it’s such a small gym.” Purcell said the gi...
On Oct. 5th, the Niwot Historical Society and President Kathy Koehler kicked off the 2016-17 Niwot: Now & Then lecture series with an examination of baseball and its impact on the town. From its earliest days, when Evart “Toots” Conilogue got together with his brothers and friends to form the Niwot Farmers; to the modern era, when Coach Bob Bote led the Niwot High Cougars to five state championships in eight years, the national pastime has been an integral part of Niwot’s civic identity. In Ba...
Even before the season began, Coach Kelly Christensen knew his team was capable of a breakout performance at the RE-1J District Meet. Held at Sunset Golf Course in Longmont, the meet is limited to schools in St. Vrain Valley, and serves as a quasi-district championship. So Christensen made sure his runners were prepared mentally as well as physically. “We didn’t really change our training regimen last week, but we did bump up the intensity psychologically,” he explained. It was a tactic that...
Before I comment on Charles Bell’s letter, I would like to give thanks to Don Sherwood. You were right on with each paragraph. Thank you! Mr. Bell, your comment stating that you “didn’t feel proud of my community” is highly offensive. First of all, this is not “your community.” If you aren’t proud of Niwot and the residents that live here and are fighting to keep marijuana out of Niwot, then I suggest you move yourself and business out of town. I’m sure Boulder would welcome you. Second, for the parents and children who were in the picket line...
On September 10, the Niwot Cougars cross country teams traveled to Lyons to compete in the 17th annual St. Vrain Cross Country Invitational. More than 25 high schools fielded runners for the 5A/4A races, including 2015 5A boys champions Mountain Vista, and 2015 4A girls champions Air Academy. In the 5A/4A boys race, Niwot placed 10th overall, with 338 team points. The Cougars were led by junior Kenny Lang, who placed 29th, with a time of 16 minutes and 59 seconds. Junior Ethan Steiner placed 51s...
The Niwot Cougars cross country teams kicked-off their 2016 season on August 26th at the Vista Nation XC 2-Mile Invitational in Highlands Ranch. The small, highly competitive meet attracted many of the state’s top teams and runners, including meet host and defending boys 5A state champions Mountain Vista, and 4A state runners-up Palmer Ridge. “We wanted to see where we were at [against the top teams],” Coach Kelly Christensen explained. “We kind of expected this result, but we feel like it was...
On the Nov. 8 ballot, the St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) will have a bond measure to address critical school and student needs, including renovations and additions to existing schools and building new schools. Superintendent Don Haddad said the process of putting the bond measure together included a community task force of about 50 people from various geographic areas of the district. It decided on the district’s construction needs, which stemmed from growth, needed repairs and safety issues. “What we have right now in St. Vrain is...
Niwot Elementary School (NES) has a lot to celebrate this year as it heads into its 50th anniversary. Principal Nancy Pitz, who is beginning her fourth year at NES and 21st year in education, said the traditions of NES have stayed alive throughout the years and she’s looking forward to celebrating the school. “There’s so much tradition with this community,” Pitz stated. “We’ve worked hard to keep those traditions, and at the same time growing and continuing to improve.” Pitz credits the c...
As the summer comes to a close, kids, parents and teachers alike look forward to the new school year ahead. This year, students returning to Niwot High School (NHS) can expect new technology in the classroom, as well as updates throughout the school. Eric Rauschkolb, who is going into his third year as the principal of NHS, said the most exciting thing he’s looking forward to this year is the rollout of new iPads for all students. The teachers have been preparing for the new technology since last year by receiving their own Mac laptops and i...
BASEBALL For Niwot Youth Sports’ (NYS) Director of Recreational Baseball Tim Rudden, the 2016 season was “just a lot of fun.” “We had great support from the parents and sponsors, and we got lucky with the weather,” Rudden said. The NYS baseball program, which has been continuously active since the late 1960s, wrapped up its 2016 season mid-July. The program, which fields both competitive and recreational teams, is composed of the T-Ball/Coach Pitch league for players ages four to eight, an...
The summer season is the time for being outdoors and enjoying good music, while being surrounded by friends and good food. Prospect Sound Bites brings all those elements together in its Monday night concert series. Starting Memorial Day and going through Labor Day, the summer concert series—which is in its sixth year—is produced by Merry Ann Webb, who also owns The Rib House with her husband Tracy, in Prospect New Town. Webb mentioned there are a myriad of elements that make Sound Bites uni...
Twin Lakes Action Group (TLAG) has more on its plate than concerns about housing density on what has been Boulder County Parks and Open Space vacant land. With the county in talks to annex the land to the City of Boulder, TLAG is concerned that annexing county open space to the city will be the gateway to annexing other Gunbarrel neighborhoods, without those county residents’ consent. These were the sentiments expressed by Jeff Cohen and Rolf Munson, both TLAG board members. Cohen, an attorney in Gunbarrel, said the issue is, “The way the [City...
It’s been almost three years since an eight-day “100-year storm” wrecked havoc in the valley that is home to Lyons, a town with a population of just over 2,000 people. The term “100-year storm” is an arbitrary figure, but most can imagine that it rained. And it rained a lot, for a long time. Left Hand Water District General Manager Christopher Smith said that the way the storm hovered over the area is mind-boggling. “The whole meteorological impact is pretty fascinating,” Smith said. “It sat...
Matthew Toles, who will be a senior at Niwot High School next fall, has qualified to participate in the U.S. Rowing Youth National Championships June 10 - 12 in New Jersey. Toles is one of three members of the Colorado Junior Crew who will compete at Mercer Lake Marina near Princeton University. This is the first time in team history that Colorado Junior Crew has qualified boats to row in the US Rowing Youth National Championships. Toles and his partner, Zander Maitland of Fairview High School...
The end of the school year comes with many transitions and in the case of Flagstaff Academy, Longmont’s public charter school, the students, staff, parents and alumni will be saying goodbye to two beloved and longstanding teachers, Timothy Baldwin and Lisa Wilkins, who are retiring from teaching. Wilkins, one of the original middle school teachers since Flagstaff Academy added grades six through eight in 2007, has been contributing her extensive background in English and American history into t...
The end of the school year is always full of emotion as graduating students say farewell and transition to the next phase of their lives. These final days are especially poignant for the three Niwot High School (NHS) teachers who will retire at the end of the school year. Tom Kajiwara: Physical Education In 2000, Tom Kajiwara was a stay-at-home dad when former NHS principal Dennis Daly invited him to join the football coaching staff. During that year a food science position opened up unexpectedl...
With one week left before starting the defense of the girls’ state championship, the Niwot High School track teams competed in the St. Vrain Invitational to work out the kinks in their game. While they didn’t do as well as they did when they dominated their division in the Northern League Championships last week, the Cougars still had some great performances on the girls side. Sophomore Mackenzie Fidelak won the 300 meter hurdles for Niwot, while the 4x400 team took home first place for the Cougars as well. Junior Alexis Carroll finished in...
Members of the Niwot Community Association (NCA) are hoping that this year’s Niwot Cleanup Day doesn’t resemble last year’s event. “I think we are all hoping for much better weather this year,” NCA President Dick Piland said at the NCA’s May 4 meeting. “Last year we all got pretty wet.” Early weather forecasts call for sunny weather on May 14 in contrast to the wet and snowy weekends in the recent past. “Maybe we’ll get a good day this year,” event chair Heidi Storz said. Niwot Cleanup Day will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 14...
Taking yet another step toward defending their three-time state championship, the Niwot High School girls track team won their division outright in the Northern League Championships last week, placing first out of the 27 teams that competed. They didn’t just compete against their Northern League opponents, however, as the Mile Hi and Tri-Valley leagues also competed in the meet. That didn’t stop the Cougars from taking home their fifth first-place finish on the season and carrying some much nee...
The First Annual International Festival was an event where Twin Peaks Charter Academy celebrated the cultural differences and diversity in their school and community. The festival encouraged TPCA students to be aware of the larger world around them and to embrace the different cultures at TPCA. The Festival was held at Twin Peaks Charter Academy on February 26, 2016, with over 550 guests in attendance. They were given the opportunity to visit fifteen different booths represented by families...
Twin Peaks Charter Academy announced the addition of an elementary and secondary principal to the administrative team. Amber Coniff joins the staff as K-5 Principal. She has a history of working at Charter Schools and first-hand knowledge of the Core Knowledge Curriculum. David Yu, current interim 6-12 Principal, has accepted the full time position as Principal moving forward. He brings a wealth of knowledge on Classical education and has already made a positive impact on secondary students,...
With the submission deadline for the second annual Niwot Student Film Festival rapidly approaching, NHS teacher Jim Asmus is helping his digital film editing students prepare their entries. All students in Asmus’ year-long video class are assigned to create a film that meets the festival’s requirements. Though submission to the festival is optional, Asmus encourages all students to enter. “The biggest reason for students to participate is to experience the audience watching their film, and t...