St. Vrain Valley School District

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 just overwhelming, massive student enrollment growth,” Haddad said. “We’re one of the fastest growing school districts in the state and the region. We’re growing by anywhere from 800 plus kids each year.”

The school district, which now exceeds 32,000 students, is bigger than Boulder Valley School District and is the seventh largest school district in the state—just several years ago it was the 10th largest district in the state.

“With this massive growth, the majority of the bond will be to add space in our existing schools and then to build new schools,” Haddad said.

“A smaller portion of it would go to renovating some of the existing buildings; like upgrading the quality of the HVAC system, so the air is clean in the buildings. Or if there’s a roof that’s leaking, we would repair that.”

He emphasized that the bond money would not go toward hiring people or increasing salaries, but strictly to make improvements at each school.

“In the Niwot community, at the high school, we would be looking at a complete renovation of the auditorium,” he said. “We [also] would be looking at a complete new library IMC that’s current state-of-the-art technology.”

Niwot Elementary School would see changes in a new parking lot, additional space and renovations. Interior and exterior cameras would be installed at each elementary school district-wide through the bond.

“There will be a lot of safety enhancements at the elementary level, that catch up to [what we have] at the middle and high school levels,” Haddad explained. “Niwot Elementary would receive a number of safety enhancements with cameras that help protect the staff and students.”

If the roughly $260 million bond is approved, it would mean a temporary increase in property taxes, approximately less than $2 per month for every $100,000 worth of home. “We really want to be conservative and ask our voters for support, only for the absolutely necessities,” Haddad said. Renovations would begin immediately after the election, since much of the design and planning has been done.

“What you can do with bond money is basically limited to construction and renovation,” he said. “People see the growth; [they] know that the growth is real. This is the only way in Colorado that you can access the money, so there’s no other way to do it.”

The district wants to make sure people know that bond spending will be overseen “by a public accountability committee that includes members of the community and district administration.”

As the former principal of Niwot High School, Haddad knows about community support. “The community has always been tremendous in terms of their support for education,” he said. “In turn, we strive to deliver on all our promises and commitments to providing their children with the best education possible.”

He added, “What I’m proud of is our instructional programming, it’s so robust. All of the kids and families coming to our district and being part of our district is an affirmation of the great work that our teachers, our staff and our parenting community has done.”

For more information on the bond measure, visit svvsd.org/bond.