PSD board reviews Bamford feeder change amid heated questions over busing and special‑services impacts

The Poudre School District Board of Education on Sept. 10 received a staff recommendation to shift students in the Bamford attendance area from Timnath Middle/High School into the Preston and Fossil Ridge feeder systems to address persistent over‑utilization at Timnath.

Assistant Superintendent Julie Chaplin told the board the cabinet’s recommendation is to move the Bamford attendance area into the Preston/Fossil Ridge feeders and to bring a formal vote on that boundary change at the board’s Sept. 24 meeting. Chaplin said the change is meant to relieve ongoing overcrowding at Timnath Middle/High School and buy planning time for longer‑term solutions.

"Without looking at this move, we'll see continued over‑utilization of Timnath Middle High School," Chaplin said, adding that the district already uses nontraditional classroom spaces and staff travel between classrooms to cope with the current load. She said staff’s original proposal would provide district transportation for 11th and 12th graders for two years and recommended limited transportation for other grades only where space allows.

A central point of the board’s discussion was how the change would affect students in integrated services (IEP/center‑based programs). Chaplin described the transition process: "Every student who transitions from one grade span to another has a transition meeting — the IEP team determines placement based on services and supports available at each site," she said, and added that center‑based autism and affective‑needs program options would remain available through existing sites (Boltz, Weber, Preston, Fossil Ridge, Kennard) depending on each child’s team decision.

Transportation tradeoffs drew sustained questioning. Chaplin said adding a single new route for the projected 45 students who currently receive choice transportation would cost about $110,000 a year; expanding transportation to more grades would require multiple routes and could double that cost. "It would require new routes... one route total at an additional cost of $110,000 for those 45 students," she said.

Board members pressed staff on timing and practical effects: district routing often isn’t finalized until weeks before the school year begins, so families should not assume an available seat on a bus if they submit an "intent to stay" form, staff said. Chaplin also noted that survey responses indicate 40–50% of Bamford families said they intend to stay at Timnath regardless of transportation — a factor that reduces the immediate enrollment relief staff expects.

Several board members framed the choice as a fiscal and ethical tradeoff. Board Director Carolyn Reed said the district must be a good steward of public funds and use empty seats in some schools before adding modular classrooms; Director Connor Duffy warned that repeated boundary moves can sever student connections and stressed the emotional cost for families. "If we're subjecting the kids to being severed from the connections of their friendships, then I got a big problem with that," Duffy said.

Staff emphasized the recommendation is part of a long‑term strategy to address projected growth: Chaplin noted the district expects a natural increase of roughly 100 students in coming years and that the feeder change is intended to slow the growth pressure at Timnath over multiple years.

Next steps: staff said they will bring a single boundary‑change motion to the board on Sept. 24; transportation details and any choice‑busing policy changes will be considered separately, and IEP teams will meet to determine placements and individualized transportation requests for students with specialized needs.

The board did not vote on the proposal at the Sept. 10 meeting and left the item on the next meeting’s docket.