Bear Creek Elementary School

There is a massive amount of hype around this school but the school is fine – it’s ok – it’s nothing grand. The kids are mostly sweet and, from our experience, bullying issues with the kids are dealt with firmly and swiftly. There is no homework assigned at the school. The library is big and spacious with beautiful windows. The gym is large and new with a perplexing large mural of a stoned-looking bear mascot. The facility itself is beautiful, clean, and well tended. One thing I really loved about the school is that the kids go outside every day no matter what the weather. It’s so good for kids to run around and to know that every day can bring an adventure with the weather. The office staff are well organized and friendly. From the previous reviews, it’s not really fair to dislike a principal because of the way he looks – I had very little interaction with him but the kids liked him a lot. The only parents I saw him interact with were the PTO sharks. There are a fair amount of passionate teachers and also a fair amount of teachers who are older and just checked out – who want to teach to the kids who easily excel. The gym teacher is beloved and deservedly so. The music teacher was average – however the same kids who are easy to manage but void of talent dominated the shows we had to endure. The social atmosphere is ruled by people in aerospace or who teach at CU and their kids volunteer information like “I’m a genius” but who don’t know how to shake hands or make eye contact when conversing with an adult. The PTO is impenetrable and the meetings are held midday on weekdays. There’s zero chance of participating if you are a working parent. Not that you’d want to spend any time with those folks anyway. The events they held were pretty lame but most parents donated to the school nonetheless. The neighborhood is wealthy and white. There is no socio-economic or ethnic diversity at this school. If those are attributes you value, then this school is probably not for you. I was relieved when our child moved on to middle school mostly to be away from the mostly nasty parent base.

Bear Creek is an excellent school with fantastic teachers, administration, and students. My two children went to Bear Creek and loved it! I think the negative reviews in here are from one parent who didn't like it. No school is perfect for every child, but leaving misleading reviews is petty. The principal does a great job of balancing the needs of all the kids, the staff, and the school district. Not an easy job, but he makes it look easy.

The best thing about Bear Creek is the gym teacher who along with at least 5 other teachers are truly talented. The worst thing is the principle. Bear Creek thinks of itself as a neighborhood school when really what is going on is affluent people from all over the Nation buy their way into this school. In our time there we knew of people renting houses they did not live in just so their multiple children could attend, they actually lived in Thornton. Saying it was cheaper than private school. The science fair was shut down because it became too competitive, one mum was actually a rocket scientist and basically did her kids project for her. Also be warned the PTO is very aggressive and if you are unable to make a sizable contribution your families name will be know by others. The principle has a very special and close relationship with the PTO leadership, and it is a very cliquy group. In summery this school is elite.

This was our neighborhood school. At this school, our child was given answers for CSAP tests by staff, was told by the principal he would be suspended for tearing a paper ("destroying school property"), was told by a teacher that he could never learn math, was pegged by the school psychologist with a diagnosis he didn't have, and was reduced to tears on "graduation" day by the music teacher, who ruled with an iron fist. This is not a school for kids with any learning differences. The psychologist also told us our child "could never make it in middle school" (he did, and did great). It required legal action to keep our child's placement here which we did because he had friends and some truly loving, great teachers. Avoid this school unless you are a wealthy white family with athletic kids who have zero learning issues. The principal is a Ken doll bent on cooking the school's math scores for the sake of his own career. Check out Mesa, a friendlier school in same neighborhood. Parents are very involved at Bear Creek - the good part is this generates money and amenities other schools don't get. The bad part is the alpha moms are competitive and intense.