Neighbors say Laredo Middle School rebuild began without adequate outreach; cite noise, privacy and safety concerns

Multiple residents who live adjacent to Laredo Middle School told the Cherry Creek School District Board of Education on Aug. 11 that they were not given meaningful opportunity to comment on the school's rebuild and that recent construction has caused noise, dust and privacy concerns.

Melissa Jensen, who identified herself as a homeowner behind the campus and a teacher at Eagle Crest High School, said she and her neighbors were surprised by a new stadium scoreboard and by vehicles entering campus from a walking path. "The scoreboard was a surprise. I'm the house that's right in front of that monstrous scoreboard," Jensen said, and she invited district staff to attend her homeowners association meetings.

Neighbor Michael Diebel, a retired educator, said a flyer shown to neighbors in the spring presented a plan they had not previously seen and that many neighbors had not received notices of earlier meetings. "We couldn't believe what you were going to do to our homes and to our lives," Diebel said. He asked the district to alter plans to mitigate harms from construction and permanent changes to the site.

Kelly Lucero, another nearby resident, described long-standing impacts from school operations and emphasized that homes are neighbors' sanctuaries. "All we want is the opportunity to contribute to understand," Lucero said, asking the district to include neighbors in planning.

Resident Yaltovar (recorded as "Yaltovar" in the public record) urged the board to pause the project for a real, collaborative conversation and said prior district meetings felt like "presentations of a done deal." Laura Perinton (transcribed as Perinton/Perrington) said construction began the week before the meeting and described concerns about truck noise, truck backup alarms, truck exhaust and dirt entering private property; she provided measurements from the district plan that she said show the new school will be higher and closer to neighbor yards, including a two-level portion 38 feet high and a second story approximately 350 feet from the nearest property.

Speakers asked the board to meet directly with the Honey Creek HOA and other neighborhood groups and to consider design changes to reduce privacy impacts, re-route service roads and address drainage. Board members acknowledged the comments; no board vote or directive to pause construction was recorded in the meeting minutes.

The district did approve the meeting's consent agenda later in the session, but the consent vote did not include any formal change to the rebuild schedule or project design.