LOW ENROLLMENT WILL FORCE PINE VALLEY TO CLOSE

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jan 16, 2008 | by SHARI CHANEY GRIFFIN

When Pine Valley Elementary School opened, it was one of the original buildings in Academy School District 20. The Air Force Academy was just 4 years old.

But Pine Valley's part in educating D-20 students is coming to an end.

The school is being closed after roughly 50 years, D-20 officials said, mostly because of declining enrollment.

There are 148 students at the school, which was built for 500, and projected enrollment for 2008-09 is fewer than 100 students, a D- 20 news release said.

The Air Force Academy is also planning housing changes around Pine Valley, including demolishing homes in the coming years.

Nanette Anderson, D-20 spokeswoman, said parents and school officials know the school's enrollment has dwindled, and many families were aware homes would be razed.

Families will have a chance to talk about the closure -- and whether the school should close at the end of this school year or in May 2009 -- at a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Pine Valley Elementary School, 6500 E. Pine Loop Drive on the Air Force Academy campus.

Pine Valley students could attend Douglass Valley Elementary, also on academy grounds. Douglass Valley can accommodate all future elementary students from families housed on the base as well, according to the news release.

Transportation would be provided for students from the Pine Valley neighborhood to attend Douglass Valley, and Pine Valley's staff would be absorbed into the district's other schools, Anderson said.

There are questions about the fate of the building. Anderson said the school district owns it, but it leases the land from the Air Force Academy.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0394 or shari.griffin@gazette.com