A Non-Traditional Campus Offers Fresh Opportunity for D49 Middle School Students

UPDATE 1-27-25

After thoughtful review, and careful consideration of a growing concern over financial constraints projected for school year 2025-26, School District 49 is making the difficult, but necessary decision to pause the planned addition of a middle school to the Patriot Campus. 

Because of projected increased expenses along with flat or declining revenue in next year’s budget, D49 cannot justify requesting the new and ongoing obligations required to serve grades 6-8 next year at Patriot.  

“Principal Ryan Bailey and the Middle School Task Force have done a fantastic job of planning and inspiring a vision for middle school programs. They have developed a budget, created a staffing model, crafted a facility layout, and generated real interest in the program,” said D49 Superintendent Peter Hilts. “Pausing the project is no reflection on their leadership and diligence.”

Nothing about this pause will impact the PHS transition to an Applied Learning Campus where CTE and non-traditional classes serve students from across the district. 

D49 is grateful for all who are interested in the expanded program at Patriot. Because we must put plans on hold, we are canceling the open house scheduled for Wednesday, January 29, and will be unable to begin enrollment as planned on January 31. 

Our district, the iConnect Zone, and the Patriot leadership team look forward to the day we can welcome middle school students to the Patriot Campus in their pursuit of a successful launch from D49. 

 

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The Patriot High School campus will be the home of District 49’s newest middle school in the fall of 2025.

As D49 continues to grow, families desire more options for their middle school students.

“At the Eighth Grade Exit Standards Summit that Superintendent Peter Hilts hosted in January of 2023, it was discussed that there was a need for another non-traditional middle school in District 49. This middle school would serve students for whom a traditional, comprehensive middle school may not be a good fit,” said Verenice Gutierrez, iConnect Zone Superintendent.

Principal Ryan Bailey said, “One of the things that came out of that meeting is that we needed another option for kids to support them in transitioning from middle school to high school.”

Ryan Bailey, Principal

 

The iConnect Zone, with its portfolio of non-traditional schools, embraced the idea. 

“We were approached by our zone superintendent, asking if we'd be willing to host the sixth through eighth grade,” Bailey said. “The new middle school felt like a natural fit for Patriot. We currently serve ninth through twelfth grade students in a non-traditional setting.” 

PHS campus is going through a transition as it is no longer an alternative education campus, but working toward an official Career and Technical Education designation, as well as being an applied learning campus for grades sixth to twelfth. 

“A middle school at Patriot will focus on successful transitions out of elementary school with two to three teacher transitions, a high level of community, routine, and support,” Gutierrez said. “This new middle school programming will align with the current culture of Patriot High School, focusing on strong relationships, relevant coursework, and rigorous expectations through a community of structure, support, accountability, and trust.” 

Patriot Enrollment Information

Fulfilling a Need

“We've been working for the last semester with an internal and external task force to get an idea of what our community needs to make sure we are meeting the needs of our families,” Bailey said. 

Patriot staff and the task force have met with the other D49 middle schools, elementary schools, parents, students, teachers, and administrators.

“They tell us that there's a huge need for a non-traditional middle school in our community,” Bailey said. “And so we are super excited to bring in the new students.”

When asked about the differences between Patriot and other middle schools, Bailey said, “We're going to have a maximum class size of 18. We are going to focus on relationships. Students will be seen and heard and known. We're going to focus on relevance. Students will understand how what they're learning applies to their lives personally, or will prepare them for the things to come. It's going to be rigorous. They're going to be held to high expectations with high support.” 

“We are going to continue to serve students who have struggled in a traditional school setting for whatever that may be,” he said. “It's not necessarily that they are kids that are struggling behaviorally or just kids that are struggling academically, they're just not finding success and fulfillment because the traditional school model is not meeting their needs.”

Deirdre Binkley-Jones, PHS math teacher, has seen the positive difference small classes make for students. 

“The overall big picture is some students don't do well in the large school setting. It can be impersonal,” Binkley-Jones said. “It's easy to fall through the cracks if you aren't able to get what you need. They'll get something else here. They'll get the opportunity to have more adult input and support. They'll have a better rapport with teachers, they'll be able to find trusted adults. They'll have a safe place, where somebody is going to be holding them accountable. Like, if you are struggling in math, your teacher is going to know you're struggling in math and have specific suggestions for you or specific supports for you.” 

“D49 has done a great job of making sure there are tons of choices for families to best suit their students' needs so they can be successful,” Bailey said. “We empower students and families to make decisions about what is best for their education.”

“The iConnect Zone is non-traditional. We often discuss how we can continue to innovate so that we can offer choices to the D49 community and beyond,” Gutierrez said. “Adding grades 6-8 to Patriot is another innovation that expands choice and provides needed support for middle school students.” 

Binkley-Jones said, “One of the benefits of choice is to allow younger students that we know are struggling to provide them an earlier point of access to a support system, to something different, to a change. We can address some of those issues early on. It is important that we are looking at this as an opportunity for students, to do something different than traditional middle school. And provide them an opportunity to transition them into a high school with skills that are going to help them be successful in high school. So I think that the earlier we get them, the better the transition. I believe they will be more successful in high school, whether it's here at Patriot or at a traditional high school.”

 

Three Programs

With the addition of middle school students, Patriot will designate three different levels of educational curriculum programming. The program groups will be sixth and seventh grades, eighth and ninth grades, and tenth through twelfth grades. 

“For sixth and seventh graders, we're going to focus on a successful transition from elementary school to middle school,” Bailey said. 

“Patriot has also been engaged with Big Picture Learning to infuse learning design that will differentiate the school from other middle schools in the district,” Gutierrez said. “Students will engage in learning through interest and internships; they will have access to a variety of CTE pathways, and every student will be expected to follow Patriot's behavioral expectations by using Discovery skills.”

Bailey said, “For eighth and ninth graders, we're going to focus on skills and competencies. Those kids need to be ready for high school. And so although it's an eighth and ninth combo, eighth will be earning middle school credit, ninth will be earning high school credit. But they're both going to be working together because they're at the same developmental stage, and they're going to be focusing on what eighth and ninth graders need, which is a lot of that executive functioning skills organization, time management, emotional control, impulse control so that they are ready to go into high school.”

“In tenth through twelfth grade there's going to be a lot more freedom, a lot more opportunity for students to pursue their passions and to practice their professional skills and be ready to head out into the workforce,” Bailey said. 

 

Career Readiness

As Patriot adds middle school students, it is also building toward the CTE designation which means that school must have an 80 percent student participation rate in CTE classes as well as having at least five CTE programs on campus, which are also open to students from other schools. 

“We currently have four CTE programs, construction, culinary, multimedia and graphic design, and alternative cooperative education (ACE),” Bailey said. “We're hoping to add a fifth next year.”

Patriot will continue to focus on career readiness. 

“Whether that's through CTE classes or through internships or through our pathway design classes on Fridays,” Bailey said. “Students can choose the pathway class that they take for a quarter. And those have all have some sort of career connection as well as being interest driven. Examples of what we've done this year: we've had a robotics course, an elementary school internship, an embroidery class. We're having a murder mystery dinner. Kids are planning our murder mystery that will actually take place here in March.” 

The new middle school students will be preparing for high school opportunities. 

“We have different resources and we can support students differently,” Bailey said. “And we have a slightly different focus, really focus on applied learning and making sure that whatever kids are doing has an impact on their lives, post-secondary. And then as we think about middle school, making sure that they have the skills necessary to go out into the community to go out in the world and be successful.” 

“We want everything in middle school to be focused on building skills so that kids are prepared for those college and career classes, as well as making sure that what they're learning applies to their lives somehow,” he said. “So when they get to high school they can engage in high level, career focused post-secondary, instruction learning. Our goal is for kids to be out of the building their junior and senior year more often than they're in the classrooms, because they're out doing internships, they're out experiencing work.”

 

Parental Perspective

Heather Ullrich is a Literacy Coach at Springs Ranch Elementary School and a parent of a middle school student. She also participated on the task force. 

“I feel this would be a good option for my student because he thrives in an environment that fosters positive rapport among staff and students, where teachers and staff show him respect and understanding, and model the variety of life skills, routines, and expetations needed for success in academic and professional settings. A foundation like this helps him feel safe and seen, and eliminates many barriers to learning for him, allowing him to engage with his teachers' instruction and increase his academic growth and achievement,” she said.

“I'm excited about adding sixth to eighth grades to Patriot because there is no other option like it in or near the Colorado Springs-area for middle school students struggling to succeed in traditional middle school options,” Ullrich said. “I'm excited for incoming sixth grade students and their families, as well, who recognize that they will be more successful–academically, behaviorally, and social/emotionally–when they transition more intentionally and with more scaffolding from an elementary to a middle school environment.” 

“I also appreciate the highly effective systems of supports I've seen Patriot offer their high school students via explicit instruction in executive functioning skills, multiple layers of academic assistance, and a variety of opportunities to connect learning with real-world experiences, and I'm excited to see those same things offered to middle school students” Ullrich said. 

The D49 Board of Education is expected to rename the Patriot High School campus officially at its February meeting. The proposed name is Patriot Applied Learning Campus.  

 

Open House and Applications

The Patriot Campus is hosting an open house for all grades, sixth-twelfth, from 6-7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at Patriot High School, 11990 Swingline Road.
The school is next to the new D49 Transportation Center in Falcon.

Call for more information: 719-495-5505 

The application process for admission to Patriot will open on Friday, Jan. 31.

Please see the enrollment page on Patriot’s website.