The Pikes Peak Cooperative Educational Services Board is building a new educational park on 87 acres at the intersection of Judge Orr and Elbert roads.
Pikes Peak BOCES is an educational organization founded in 1968 to serve school districts in the Pikes Peak region. According to its website, the organization is committed to “finding ways to effectively maximize education funding without compromising special education, federal programs, and other programs essential to the education of young people.” “This school is an invaluable asset to local school districts.”
Pikes Peak BOCES member districts include Big Sandy 100-J, Calhan RJ-1, Edison 54-JT, Elbert 200, Ellicott 22, Hanover 28, Miami Yoder 60-JT, and Peyton 24-JT.
El Paso County Colorado School District 49 is considered a subdistrict along with nine other school districts in El Paso County, Teller County, and Pueblo.
Pikes Peak BOCES Education Park serves eight member districts.
According to the Education Park website https://ppboces-educationpark.org, “Eight school districts currently offer a wide range of career-related learning programs, from cyber security to welding and woodworking to criminal justice training.”8 Because of the relatively small size of each school district and the difficulty in hiring trained teachers in rural Colorado, the eight districts collaborated to create a single, career-related learning center. We're building a hub.'' The website also states that the education park offers vocational and technical courses, as well as “internships, apprenticeships, and industry certifications.''
Pikes Peak Education Park will also be home to the School of Excellence, which is part of Pikes Peak BOCES. The School of Excellence serves students with diverse social, emotional, and behavioral needs and is currently located in Colorado Springs.
As an associate member, Falcon School District 49 is eligible to send students to the Education Park. However, at this point, it is unclear to what extent D49 will participate. David Nancarrow, D 49's communications director, said it is too early to decide how D 49 will utilize the educational park. He said there was no discussion regarding an educational park.
Commenting on the course offering, Pat Bersinski, Executive Director of Pikes Peak BOCES, said: It can change from year to year. ”
Bershinsky said the first year will include a 911 training center, a construction program and a cybersecurity systems program. He said students will spend half the day at the new facility and the other half in academic classes at their respective schools.
Bershinsky said funding for the educational park would be accomplished by creating a nonprofit organization to apply for grants.
He said the land for the education park was purchased with proceeds from the sale of the unused Calhan school building. There is currently no estimated completion date for the education park, Bershinsky said.
Calhan Superintendent Dan Slotower said on the Education Park's website: “Career technical training is an alternative to college, but it's also an alternative to college where students work for a few years, experience the real world, and then figure out what they want to do and from their college experience. Decide what you need to learn.”
