A nearly 50-year-old high school just 10 miles to the north of Denver is slated to be replaced if a proposed $830 million bond gets a green light on Tuesday.
Officials with the Adams 12 Five Star School District have long talked about replacing the Thornton High School, located at 9351 North Washington Street in the city of Thornton.
That school, which serves upwards of 2,000 students, welcomed its first students in the fall of 1975 when its enrollment was less than half that number.
In recent years, reports have been published detailing a variety of code problems with the building, including cooling, heating, and plumbing system issues.
Aspects of the high school are also not Americans with Disabilities Act compliant.
Earlier this year, members of the district’s board of education voted to put on this November’s ballot an $830 million bond which will fund construction of a new high school, set to go up on nearly 30 acres adjacent to the current Thornton school.
The bond will also be used to pay for a series of cooling, heating, and plumbing system upgrades in all of the district’s more than fifty school facilities.
It is thought that roughly $236 million out of the $830 million bond will go for construction of the new high school, with a design phase set to begin by next spring. If all goes according to plan, construction could start by no later than the fall of 2026.
In September members of the Thornton City Council voted to put their weight behind the bond proposal.
The larger, and also growing, school district itself is home to more than 36,000 students.
November 4, 2024
By Garry Boulard
Photo Courtesy of Pixabay
