Press Release

August 12, 1999

For Immediate Release

DENVER'S "NEW" ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WILL KICK OFF NEW SCHOOL YEAR WITH A GRAND OPENING PARTY SEPTEMBER 1

After being closed for six years, Southmoor Elementary School is back.

To celebrate the re-introduction of Southmoor into the DPS family, the school is hosting a Grand Opening Party on Wednesday, September 1, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the south entrance of the school, 3750 South Magnolia Way.

Students, families, teachers, and community leaders are invited to join the celebration that will include ice cream, blue grass music, dancing, and more.

Southmoor Park neighborhood and surrounding communities won their efforts to reopen Southmoor Elementary School last November when the Board of Education agreed to the neighborhood's plan for building enrollment and support for the school.

Southmoor first opened in the fall of 1976 with grades K-6 and 386 students. Southmoor was closed beginning with the 1992-1993 school year.

With the re-birth of Southmoor as a neighborhood school, the school will also serve as a home for the Highly Gifted and Talented (HGT) program, currently housed at Ellis Elementary School.

During the 1999-2000 school year, Southmoor will occupy five classrooms, housing kindergarten and first grade for neighborhood students and grades one, two and three for the HGT program. (Grades four and five will move from Ellis next year). In all, about 120 students are expected this year.

Southmoor also serves as a home for the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning, but RMSEL is expected to find new quarters by the end of the new school year.

The academic program at Southmoor includes foreign language instruction as an integral part of the curriculum. Spanish will be mandatory in all grade levels.

Ruth Lane, a retired McMeen Elementary School principal, with 25 years of experience, will serve as principal during Southmoor's first year.