Falcon School District 49 is no more. The Pikes Peak region’s third-largest school district has changed its name. Its legal identity: El Paso County Colorado School District 49. The nickname: School District 49. “The board took a long time to listen to input from various groups from the community and came to a consolidated formal identity,” said spokesman David Nancarrow. The board approved the change in June and recently received final approval from the Colorado Department of Education, he said. Officials have been moving toward selecting a new name for several years, to find a better fit for the rapidly growing school district. In 2015, D-49 dropped the words “Falcon” and “School” from its marketing materials to emphasize District 49 as opposed to Falcon, an unincorporated geographical area of eastern El Paso County. “The district has grown substantially, especially in the past 25 years, to encompass a lot of developments in different neighborhoods, including Banning Lewis Ranch and Sand Creek,” Nancarrow said, “which designates us as a regional provider that serves more than 21,000 students.” Therefore, having “Falcon” before the entire district name is no longer accurate, he said. Also confusing is that D-49 groups its schools into three “Innovation Zones,” with the Falcon Zone being the largest. The other two are the Sand Creek Zone and the Power Zone, along Powers Boulevard. The board in February mulled the name Pikes Peak School District 49. But the suggestion that came from the administrators was “met with underwhelming response,” Nancarrow said…. [Read full story]
Leave a Reply