What happens in Stapleton...

Deal will put third DPS school in Stapleton in 2011 - The Denver Post

2009-11-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

It's official:Deal will put third DPS school in Stapleton in 2011 - The Denver Post

Don't forget November 10

2009-11-05T21:54:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 10 is the big meeting with DPS, where they are going to give us school recommendations. It's at Bill Roberts School, 6:30 p.m.

Check out SUN's website to see a letter that is requesting DPS present plans for:

1. Seats for all kids at all ages
2. Planning now for a 6-12 campus
3. A commitment to diversity

The Stapleton Community Education Coalition (CEC) is collecting signatures to present to the Denver Board of Education with this letter. If you're interested in signing the letter, please email
stapletoncec@yahoo.com by Friday November 6. (Nothing like putting it out there the night before...)

Hecho in Mexico, Shipped to Arizona, Sold in Colorado

2009-11-05T12:59:00.000-08:00

If you spend $1 on fruits or vegetables at the supermarket, 91 cents of it will go to transporting, packaging and marketing, leaving just 9 cents for the farmer.

If you shop at a farmer's market, the entire $1 will go to the farmer.

Yesterday, I was at Target and picked up some red peppers. My 3 year old loves red peppers. The first package was a styrofoam/shrink wrap package with one red and one green pepper. Grown in Florida, it said on the front. Packaged in Tempe, Arizona, it said on the back.

So I picked up the Stoplight pack of peppers -- you know, the red/yellow/green pack, grown in Mexico. It said something to the effect of: This product has been coated with a petroleum-based resin to preserve freshness.

Well, of coure, you need to preserve it when you're shipping it from Florida to Arizona to Colorado. Yikes.

Has anyone been to the new Sprouts Farmers Market in Aurora yet?

Halloween in the hood

2009-11-04T21:19:00.001-08:00

Lots of folks came out for the parade at the F-15 park.

Lasso'd!

Lots of cute babies in costume.

Like little .007.

And dogs in costume, too.

Yes, there is snow on the ground. Lots of it. It's Colorado in October, it always snows around Halloween.

Happy Howloween!

Should we be more angry with Forest City?

2009-11-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

Greene: Stapleton developer Forest City's poor planning pits park against school - The Denver Post

Reading this, I wonder why I'm not more up in arms about Forest City's exceptionally successful marketing.

I mean, we spent a lot of money to live in this spot, because they promised...

I know a lot of people have been praising Forest City for ponying up $5.5 million for the new school. I don't know how many of us know they took the money from a park, which is on yet another contaminated site, with no money to clean it up, and no money for a park now anyway. School is a more pressing need.

What do you think?

The Pioneer Woman sold out at The Tattered Cover

2009-11-03T05:55:00.000-08:00

I'm a huge fan of The Pioneer Woman-- blogger extraordinaire and new author. So when I saw on Facebook that she was in Denver, doing a book signing for her new cookbook at The Tattered Cover on Colfax, I hurried up to get dinner for my boys ready and dragged my friend Matthew over to see her.

I should have known she would have hundreds of fans show up -- every post she writes gets hundreds of comments, and she's got 20,000 fans on Facebook -- but somehow I thought, oh, it's a Monday night, if there's not too many people there, we can take her out for a drink.

Right. The parking garage was completely full. There were hundreds of people piled into the basement room, standing and sitting and lined up both sides of the staircases. And every last copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks was gone. Completely sold out. There was nothing left to do but head to the bar at Encore Restaurant, where we ordered Miller Lite and a Ginger Mule -- a tasty vodka and ginger beer concoction. And sat next to a lady who used to babysit Marlboro Man, and a lady who had driven down from Laramie or somewhere really far away for the event. They got there early enough to get cookbooks before they sold out.

After two hours, we checked back into the Tattered Cover and the line was actually longer than it was when we left, and there was Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman good-naturedly signing each and every book, chatting and smiling with everyone. I wonder if they stayed open so she could sign them all?

I've been a fan of the Pioneer Woman for a long time. A couple of years ago, I made Thanksgiving dinner for 16 from her site. Roasted turkey, roasted garlic creamy mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes... yum. I was cooking with my laptop open. Thank goodness I didn't destroy my Mac with food splatters.

Any other Stapleton moms make it to the signing? Did you get the cookbook? Are her Thanksgiving recipes in there?

Stapleton by the numbers

2009-10-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Stapleton has become the model neighborhood for new urbanism -- that buzzword conjuring up sweet tea drunk on front porch swings, xeriscaped plants in the front yard, dogs and toddlers peacefully sharing wide open parks, unsupervised kids riding their bikes down the wide paths, even the white picket fence. Here's what we look like in October, 2009:

3,500 Households in Stapleton in 2009

.82 children per household ~ approximately 2,800 children in Stapleton

Fewer than 150 of those kids are in high school

1,000 kids will enter kindergarten from 2010 to 2013

There is a bubble of kids under age 5 -- the peak of the bubble is 2 year olds, 150 of whom will enter kindergarten in 2012

By 2015, the final build-out of Stapleton South of I-70 will be complete, adding another 2,000 households

Once South Stapleton is complete, there will be an estimated 4,000 children in Stapleton

Sources:

SUN 2009 Census Report

Momentum for a new school at Stapleton grows - The Denver Post

2009-10-28T07:23:00.000-07:00

Momentum for a new school at Stapleton grows - The Denver Post

Forest City identified the third school site (where? Still in Eastbridge?), it looks like it will be another Pre-K through 8, and Odyssey may look to move next year.

Good news?

Time for holiday cards. Need a photographer?

2009-10-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

This is what an amazing photographer can do.

A million thanks to Jamee of Jamee Photography for getting such great pictures! She came highly recommended (by Erin of Stroller Strides) and you can see why.

Jack was full of energy, which is a nice way of saying he had at least ten 3-year-old meltdowns. There was crying, laughing, pouting, temper tantrums, hiding behind Mom's legs, refusal to smile, acting like a swooshing airplane (imagine how his mouth looked while swooshing...) -- and look at these joyful shots!

I don't know what I'm going to do, there are too many great pictures to choose from.

Stapleton schools recommendation postponed

2009-10-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

Denver Public Schools have a lot of pans in the fire.

Three low-performing schools could be shut down, the performance of our charter schools are being closely watched by those in Washington, and now they're going to have to push back the recommendations for what to do about Stapleton.

There have already been meetings and focus groups and census taking with Stapleton residents, but we're not close to a final decision.

In a letter to the Stapleton Community Education Coalition, Ethan Hemming, the DPS/Stapleton project lead references the above and states:

"The district recommendations for Stapleton that were scheduled to be presented to the Board of Education on November 2, will now be presented on November 9. Therefore, the Stapleton community meeting originally scheduled for November 4th will be held on November 10th at 6:30 pm at Bill Roberts School...

"We have listened to this community with the help of your state, city and school leaders along with many tireless volunteers and have taken the census data, survey data, focus group data, CSC meeting results and the many individual communications into consideration to develop a plan that is best for the children of Stapleton and the surrounding areas...

The objectives for the community meeting on November 10th are to provide an update on the funding status and development of the 3rd Stapleton school and to describe the near term (2010-11) capacity solutions recommended to the Board of Education. In addition, we will describe the process going forward for continued parent and community involvement in shaping our shared educational plan."

Some of the short-term fixes include:

-Some reduction of Early Childhood Education service (highly likely that service for 3 year olds will not be provided at Westerly Creek and Bill Roberts);

-Relocation of Early Childhood Education service (in some manner, likely via an “ECE center”);

-Use of modular classrooms (highly unlikely for 2010-11 but likely in subsequent years);

-Use of a seed school.

* * *
To read the entire letter and see what else is going on, join the Facebook group "Stapleton Community Education Coalition".

Decorating the baby's room

2009-10-25T18:50:00.001-07:00

So I knew I would never get around to painting the baby's room, not before he's 3, anyway, but it needed some color.

I found these awesome safari wall mural stickers from ZooWallogy. They're easy to put up, removable, and around $25.

Best of all, when I put my 6 month old in his newly expanded Stokke crib, the elephant in particular makes him happy.

Trying to have an adult conversation

2009-10-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

It's kind of sad when the only real adult conversation I've had with my husband all week -- you know, one that doesn't involve the words, "I'm counting to three," or "Stop that right now!" -- occurred at Borders Book Store in the middle of the kid's section.

While the 3 year old played and the 6 month old slept in the stroller, we got to have a nice chat about a whole bunch of things other than our kids.

Doubtbreak

2009-10-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Doubt Break '09

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

Why is there a shortage of flu vaccines?

2009-10-21T14:17:00.000-07:00

Walgreen's doesn't have seasonal flu or swine flu vaccines. Our pediatrician hasn't got the swine flu vaccine yet.

According to the LA Times, it's because production of the vaccine is more complicated than expected.

""Vaccine production is pretty complex, and it is taking a bit longer than we would hope," she said at a news conference Friday.

In particular, growing the virus in eggs has not yielded as much antigen -- the crucial component of the vaccine -- as is normally obtained with the seasonal flu.

Despite the current low production, however, there are no plans to use adjuvants -- chemicals added to increase the immune response to the antigen -- to extend the supply of the pandemic H1N1 vaccine, said Dr. Jesse Goodman of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Many people who are reluctant to get vaccinated believe, mistakenly, that the adjuvants are toxic.

As of Wednesday, 11.4 million doses of vaccine were available, slightly more than half of that in the injectable form; states had ordered 8 million doses; and nearly 6 million doses had been shipped -- including 836,900 doses to California."

According to Bloomberg, it's because "Fear of pandemic swine flu has heightened public vigilance in the U.S. against seasonal influenza as well, causing vaccine shortages at doctors’ offices, clinics and retail drugstores."

According to NPR, it's because "Americans' supply of flu vaccine was cut nearly in half Tuesday as Britain shut down the world's second-leading supplier. The Chiron Corp. had intended to ship 48 million doses of vaccine to the United States, but regulators suspended the company's license, citing problems at its Liverpool, England, manufacturing plant."

And according to right-wing bloggers, it's because the CDC is in charge of distribution, and they screwed it up, making the argument that universal health care would also be a screwup.

And all of these wildly different reasons makes me wonder where the trustworthy journalists are.

From my inbox...

2009-10-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

From Mike Johnston, Stapleton resident running for Colorado Senate, about the school overcrowding situation. I put some key things in bold for those short on attention spans. If you're interested in the school problem, put this date on your calendar: November 4th, at 6:30 pm at Bill Roberts.

Dear Stapleton Community Members,

Over the last several months, many of you have made important contributions to the effort to solve our Stapleton school shortage. From the record number of residents who attended our August meeting at Bill Roberts, to neighbors participating in the SUN focus groups, attending Councilman Hancock’s SUN meeting or joining our series of informal conversations on people’s porches and back yards, the involvement has been tremendous. Thanks to that sustained effort we have made significant progress toward a resolution. We wanted to take this opportunity to update you on recent developments and outline the next steps toward our resolution. Through our collective work over the last few months all parties now agree that a third school is absolutely necessary for any long term solution. We have also agreed that our first priority must be to solidify a plan for a long term solution, and at the same time address short term needs. The residents have shown tremendous flexibility and willingness to sacrifice on short term problem solving once we are all assured that a long term solution is within reach.

Now that all parties have agreed that a third school is a necessity, the lingering problem is finding the money to pay for the construction of that school. All parties are confident that, with all of our help in supporting Stapleton business, the TIF revenue stream will eventually generate the dollars to payback the construction of this third school similar to how it is currently paying back the Westerly Creek/Odyssey construction costs. Nonetheless this still leaves us with the problem of how to find dollars right away to pay for the construction of a school we need now. We were excited that DPS was the first party to offer to bring dollars to the table to finance the front end construction of the school under two conditions: 1) that they would be repaid these funds through TIF revenues and 2) that they would be a part of a 3-part solution with Forest City directly contributing and the Stapleton project reallocating existing dollars from other projects.

You may have seen press releases last week about a Forest City proposal to reallocate nearly 5 million dollars from a project for the Westerly Creek Park that is temporarily on hold. Technically these dollars would be a reallocation from the Stapleton Project approved through DURA and the City of Denver. This contribution, coupled with DPS’s willingness to contribute to the solution, gets us roughly 2/3 of the way towards our desired goal but we still need Forest City to make a contribution to fill the remaining funding gap for the project. This encouraging step does move us closer to getting a final funding resolution in place, and we have meetings set over the next several weeks to put all these stakeholders into one room and try to iron out a solution.

Now on to our next steps: at our meeting in August, David Suppes, the COO of DPS, agreed to a follow up meeting in mid October to propose solutions to the community. Now that we are getting so close to a solution we would like to propose two intermediate steps before this meeting. We propose along with representatives from SUN and the CEC to attend the DPS board meeting on October 15th to present our proposed solutions for a new school. Similar to the outstanding community presentations we had at the last SUN meeting, this would be our chance for the board to hear exactly what the problem is and what we believe the characteristics of a successful solution would look like. Through a series of very productive meetings over the last month, the strong feelings of the Stapleton community have become clear: we want a solution that ensures public schools that are high quality, neighborhood based and diverse. We heard many residents in multiple settings reiterate the fact that they want to make sure that Stapleton schools remain diverse and open to children from the surrounding community, consistent with the long standing Stapleton vision articulated in the Green Book. We also heard that Stapleton families don’t want to see their children disbursed or reassigned to multiple schools across the district. We have listened to your feedback and are excited to move forward with these goals at the center of the project.

By presenting our feedback to the DPS school board on October 15th, the board and DPS could then prepare to announce final proposals to the community on the Stapleton schools situation at their board meeting on November 2nd. We propose then hosting our large community meeting on November 4th here in Stapleton, which will allow residents to hear about the progress, ask questions and discuss next steps. In addition to allowing us to formally engage the DPS board in preparing solutions, this added time also allows us to work closely with all the parties involved to work to secure commitments for a final solution on financing that could be announced at the November meeting. The meeting will be held on November 4th, at 6:30 pm at Bill Roberts.

The last several months have been an incredible testimony to the fabric of this community: people have come together in rich dialogue about what values they want their community to stand for and they have been quick to volunteer their own time, energy and passion to make that vision a reality. Out of this crisis has come the opportunity to deepen the strong Stapleton community that has already taken root, and to broaden our commitment to make Stapleton a strong and supportive neighbor to the larger Denver community. Like many strong families, it is inspiring to see that we are at our best when times are toughest.

Sincerely,

Councilman Michael B. Hancock
Senator Mike Johnston
SUN education committee
Stapleton CEC Steering Committee

Can't wait...

2009-10-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to get our first ever family portraits done by Jamee -- check her out!

OK, we'll cover him

2009-10-13T08:14:00.001-07:00

Phew. Rocky Mountain Healthcare, the insurance company that denied coverage for a healthy 4-month old because he was in the 99th percentile and considered "obese", changed their minds. They agreed that their underwriting system was "flawed," and granted him coverage.

Amazing what a little bad publicity can do. I know where we'll look, should anything happen to our coverage.

Too big for the crib

2009-10-12T18:56:00.001-07:00

too big for the crib

Yes, we still have my 98th percentile baby in the Stokke bassinet. In our bedroom. He started waking up at 1:38 every night with his legs sticking out the sides.

He is 6 months old -- it's way past time to move him to the crib, into his own room.

But he's my baby, the last one.

I'm not ready for him to be growing up yet.

This could be me

2009-10-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

I thought it was an article from The Onion: Parents of "chunky" infant denied insurance.

But it's for real.

A happy, healthy, breast-fed 4 month old in Grand Junction has been denied health insurance coverage.

You see, he falls into the 99th percentile in height and weight for babies his age, and to health insurance companies, that means he is obese, so they won't cover him.

Come on!

If this doesn't illustrate all that is wrong with our health care system, I don't know what does. If my husband lost his job, (God forbid) not only would both of us get riders for pre-existing conditions, but both my boys would be called "obese" -- they're not -- because they're over 95th percentile. Get cracking, representatives and senators!

Help Smith Elementary Build a School Garden

2009-10-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

I love the Slow Food Movement.

They are partnering with Noodles in our Town Center to build a garden for the kids at Smith Elementary, over on 36th & Jasmine.

Noodles will provide the money -- 25% of all proceeds sold this Saturday, October 10th -- for the garden and eager hands willing to do the digging, and Slow Food Denver will teach the Smith Elementary kids how important fresh foods are for their bodies and their environment. This will launch in Denver, and be replicated across the country.

And the food they grow?

The food from the gardens will be used in school lunches, as well as sold at school farmers markets (late summer/early fall) to maintain the gardens and to purchase seedlings for the following spring planting. The garden will also be incorporated in to the classroom curriculum. Noodles will continue to work with Smith throughout the year to hold cooking demonstrations to show the students ways to cook from the garden, not to mention the superior flavor of a freshly picked vegetable.

So what should you do?

Eat at the Noodles in the Town Center this Saturday, October 10, and tell them you want the proceeds from your meal to go to Smith Elementary. Simple as that.

A tale of two lunches

2009-10-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Did you read about the great company, Revolution Foods, that has taken over many school cafeterias, in The Front Porch?

They're the company serving up whole foods to the Odyssey students... cheese tortellini topped with steamed zucchini, a whole wheat roll, organic soy milk and whole fruit; while the Westerly Creek kids ate fried chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes and gravy, a pre-packaged blueberry muffin, chocolate milk and a fruit cup.

Odyssey's meal cost $3.10; Westerly's cost $1.40.

The gals over at The Scoop want to hear your two cents on this. Head over there and read the whole story.

Grass fed

2009-09-30T10:41:00.000-07:00

If you read The Omnivore's Dilemma, or are just interested in where your All-American beef comes from, read "Grass-fed beef" at the Denver Post.

Aside from the fact that I will now buy my beef from Whole Foods, since this one awesome and sustainable ranch -- that treats the animals, the environment, their workers, and ultimately the food we eat with respect-- supplies all the regional Whole Foods stores, I love this type of local reporting. When people say local newspapers are a dying breed, I say this is the type of story only our local journalists can give us.

Once upon a time, I might have stood listening too

2009-09-30T10:06:00.000-07:00

While I'm mopping up snot and drool and spit up and smashed carrots and pink antibiotics twice a day, this is what my friends in San Francisco are up to: discovering Finnegan's Wake, read aloud on a street corner.

Since we can't be there, take a moment and read Dana Gioia's poem -- out loud. Just do it. Read it to your kids and make them laugh at kooky mom.

Thank you, Michele!

But Mom, it tasted good

2009-09-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

My 3 year old has strep throat. I gave him the dropper of pink antibiotics and told him to go lie down and watch PBS kids while I changed the baby.

Five minutes later, I came downstairs to find a trail of bright pink liquid from the refrigerator to the couch, and a bright pink ring around his mouth. He had taken the bottle out and drank half of it.

After frantic calls to my doctor, Rocky Mountain Poison Control, and Walgreen's, the Poison Control nurse assured me that he had not overdosed, and the worst that might happen is a case of diarrhea. Well, I can assure you that he has been drilled with the message to NEVER EVER TOUCH MEDICINE WITHOUT MOM EVER EVER AGAIN.

Do they sell lockboxes for household medicines?

I went through the hall closet upstairs, and the bathroom closet downstairs, and was chagrined to find dozens of bottles of cherry and grape flavored elixirs. Medicines for coughs, colds, flu, allergies, you name it. Cough drops, sore throat drops, herbal drops. Pink stomach ache medicine. Tums in fruity flavors. To a 3 year old, each and every one of them looks like delicious candy.

So I threw out a bunch of them. I guess everytime anyone sniffles, I run out and buy a brand new fleet of medicines? What is wrong with me?

When I asked him why he drank it, he said, "But Mom, it tasted good, and I thought it was a drink for me."

Next time, I'll request the horrible tasting stuff.

Are you getting the flu shot?

2009-09-26T06:15:00.000-07:00

Are you getting your kids the swine flu shot? Or the regular flu shot?

I'm on the fence about it. It's not that I'm opposed to it, necessarily -- I get my kids their vaccines on schedule, and don't worry about autism or mercury too much -- I just don't know if I buy into the media frenzy about it.

I've never had a flu shot, and I've only had the flu once, when I was 16. I just don't know if the flu shot is effective -- and neither do the experts. Only a third of us actually get the flu shot, despite all the dire warnings and constant news coverage. Just yesterday, Channel 7 was filming kids at our pediatrician's office getting the flu shot. (There was a lot of screaming behind that door!) It's only recently that any flu shot has been safe for kids.

Some of the conflicting information I've heard:
- H1N1 is a mild virus -- mildest in kids -- that your immune system can easily overcome (unless you've got a condition that compromises your immune system, like asthma);
- the seasonal flu shot can leave you more susceptible to H1N1;
- the flu shot does not prevent illness, but actually does the opposite--it weakens your immune system and makes you more predisposed to the illness;
- and on the extreme side, that the H1N1 shot contains a non-FDA approved chemical linked to Gulf War Syndrome

Yes, I take all of this information with a grain of salt, but given the corporate behavior of the past few years, I'm not sure I trust that the pharmaceutical companies are looking out for my best -- or my children's best -- interests.

Even my pediatrician gives me a carefully worded, "It's up to you," type of speech. If he told me I must do it, I would -- but he hasn't.

Last week's Wall Street Journal had a great article: "When doing nothing is the best medicine," and I felt like applauding. A reasonable approach! We do come fully equipped with immune systems, sometimes we just need to let them do their jobs.