Arriving/Departing from Animas High School

With a new school comes new transportation strategies and logistics. Please take a moment to review the following:

Walking/Biking to School

Many students plan on walking/biking to school. The City of Durango's Multi Modal Division and CDOT's pedestrian advocacy program Safe Routes to School teams up with AHS to facilitate safety and awareness sessions for our students at the beginning of each school year. Student walkers and bikers should utilize the pedestrian trail that leaves from AHS's main entrance and connects to the school's parking lot. Currently, this trail is an unimproved double-track that will be paved and illuminated in the future for year round use.

A pedestrian trail runs from our main office to the heart of campus.

A student makes his way along the trail to the lower lot.

Parent Drop Off

Parent Drop Off is the primary method of arriving and departing campus for many students. Our parking lot and vehicular traffic patterns have been professionally designed to maximize arrival and departure efficiency and ensure pedestrian safety. When parents and guardians are transporting students, we expect you to use the designated drop off/pick-up/turn around area (The Pork Chop) located in front of the AHS Main Office. Failing to utilize the Pork Chop results in parents turning around in non-approved areas, creating logistical and safety concerns for students and staff. Additionally, we expect all vehicles to obey posted speed limits and traffic signs. We apprciate your patience and complience with arrival/departure expectations.

The PORK CHOP has been designed for safe and efficient student drop-off/pick up and turn-around.
Please do not drop students off on our entrance road.

Parents/Guardians should be aware that from 8 am to 8:15 am and from 3 pm to 3:20 pm, the school experiences a significant volume of arrival/departure traffic. If you have the ability, we encourage and appreciate families who arrive/depart outside of these morning/afternoon rush times. You're welcome to use a visitor space if you need to duck into the Main Office for quick business.

The 8 AM rush. We encourage parents to try out an earlier arrival or later departure strategy
if you're looking for less traffic, stacking....and stress!

Arriving early for a student pick-up?
Please stack outside the PORK CHOP so that vehicles can continue to flow in an out of our lot.

From 7 am to 7:45 am and from 3:30 pm on, there exists significantly less traffic/stacking. Additionally, Animas High School and Twin Buttes work closely with the Colorado Department of Transportation in  monitoring and managing our main entrance/exit. As our campus and the Twin Buttes development grows, you should expect additional modifications to traffic flow and the main entrance off of US 160.


Durango Public Transit

Durango is incredibly fortunate to have a well developed and efficient public transit system. The school has established a special price for students and staff who want to ride the trolley. In 2013-14, AHS Ospreys can purchase a student transit pass for $150.00 at the Durango Transit Center. Campus is located on Bus Route Four and students can depart from the Transit Center or any RT. 4 stop (Click Here for complete list of stops on Route 4). Our campus transit stop is currently located in front of the Giant gas station next to our main entrance. Below is a Route Four Schedule:

AM Arrival

From Transit Center             Arrive Twin Buttes (Giant)        Walk to Building/Arrive

6:30 AM                                  6:44 AM                                              6:54 AM

7:00 AM                                  7:14 AM                                              7:24 AM

7:30 AM                                  7:44 AM                                              7:55 AM

AM late bus- (you’ll be tardy if you catch this one but it's okay, we still want you at school!)

8:00 AM                                  8:14 AM                                              8:24 AM

PM Departures- (Buses leave from Giant stop at :14 and :44 past the hour)

After-school from Giant back to Transit Center     

3:44 PM                                                                                  

4:14 PM                                  

4:44 PM

5:14 PM

5:45 PM

6:14 PM

6:44 PM

The HUB BUS

Animas High School has established a collaborative relationship with School District 9-R focused on shared transportation. In 2013-14, we'll be piloting a HUB BUS program to move students between Durango High School and Animas High School. Students must sign-up for the HUB BUS and ridership priority is given to in-season athletes and under-classman. Students will be assigned to the HUB BUS as capacity allows. Students can sign up for the HUB BUS at the Main Office and must complete a rider release for 9-R. Both district and AHS are excited for this collaboration and we hope to expand the HUB BUS program as we monitor and refine our inaugural efforts. The HUB BUS departs DHS at 8:00 AM and arrives at AHS in time for the start of school. The afternoon HUB BUS will depart AHS at 3:20 and arrive at DHS in time for the start of afternoon practices and activities. The HUB BUS arrives/departs DHS from the southern end of the building, closest to the tennis courts. The HUB BUS arrives/departs AHS from the HUB BUS stop located by the bridge next to US 160.

Student Drivers

We're excited to provide Upperclassmen the opportunity to drive to campus. AHS has worked closely with our partners at Twin Buttes to ensure student drivers have a secure lot to park in during the school day. Student drivers are prioritized and assigned to either the upper or lower lot. In-semester, concurrent enrollment students and student car pool drivers receive upper lot priority. All student drivers MUST submit vehicle and driving information to the Main Office and will receive an official AHS Parking Pass. Vehicles located in AHS lots that are not registered with the Main Office will be towed. Students assigned to the lower lot should utilize the pedestrian trail when walking up to campus. It is never appropriate for student drivers to park in the Twin Buttes Trailhead lot or anywhere along US 160!

HOS BLOG to ED BLOG

Welcome back to the 2013-14 school year! I've finally found a free second to set-up my new Executive Director Blog for AHS. I've been keeping a blog since I was hired as AHS's founding Head of School in late 2008. It's been quite a remarkable journey and I encourage you to share in the experience by reviewing: www.animashighschool.blogspot.com

For the past four years, this online digital portfolio has served as the repository of all things Animas High School: Hundreds of weekly updates, parent communiqués and media press releases.  Archival news stories, interviews, radio and TV efforts and public appearances.  Resource and policy docs related to AHS and the national charter school movement. Etc.....

Overall, I've published over four hundred and fifty different posts related to Animas High's success and I hope you take the time to review the link above. Whether you've followed me/AHS online for years or are only just finding this page in 2013, I'd like to personally welcome you to my new Executive Director's blog at: www.ahsexecutivedirector.blogspot.com/

And if you thought social media and digital outreach for AHS stopped here, please make sure to check out the many other sites related to Animas High School on the web.

www.animashighschool.com Animas High School's Homepage.

www.facebook.com/AnimasHighSchool  Animas High School's Official Facebook Page

https://twitter.com/AnimasHighDRO  Animas High's Twitter Feed

New digs for Animas High School- DRO Herald 8-16-13

Article published Aug 16, 2013

New digs for Animas High School

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Photo by: JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald

It’s been a rush to get the new buildings ready for the first day of classes Monday, but Animas High School officials say it’s going to happen. Preparing the main office last week are, from left, Kerry Masterson, parent volunteer, Maureen Truax, school registrar, Lacey Meek, 17, a senior at the school, and Laurel Rodd, main office manager. Lacey is the daughter of Greg and Sabrina Meek.

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By Shane Benjamin Herald staff writer

Shreds of carpet, power tools and loose wires are expected to be tidied up in time for students’ arrival next week at Animas High School.

The charter school, in its fifth year, has moved from its previous home, a converted strip mall on North Main Avenue in Durango, to new digs at the base of Twin Buttes, 1.7 miles west of the U.S. Highway 550/160 intersection.

“We’ll be ready to go,” said Michael Ackerman, executive director of the school. “We’re psyched for this.”

The school announced in March that it was relocating, leaving itself a tight schedule to move before the 2013-14 school year.

Two buildings of 11,000 square feet each were prefabricated in Dallas, loaded on 28 tractor-trailer trucks, and delivered in June to Durango. The buildings are brand new on the inside and sided with a mix of wood and corrugated recycled metal on the outside. They include 20 classrooms, offices for the staff, biology lab, physics lab and a sprawling cafeteria.

“The timeline was tighter than anybody wanted, and we got a late start,” Ackerman said.

He credited construction crews and Twin Buttes developers for making it possible.

“The mantra was always, ‘It’s for the kids. August 19 school must start. We can’t delay school,’” Ackerman said.

Animas High prides itself on curriculum-based projects. Students give presentations, build exhibitions, create websites and take impromptu field trips as part of the learning experience.

“Our teachers are told that class is wherever they take the class,” Ackerman said.

Animas High started in the fall of 2009 serving only freshmen. It added a grade level every year, growing from 73 students the first year to 308 students this year, Ackerman said. The school’s charter allows up to 444 students.

A landscape architect has created areas for a sculpture, pavilion, amphitheater and outdoor classroom – or a socratic circle – where students will discuss topics such as nature versus nurture, what is the truth of war for a soldier, or is conflict inevitable for the human species.

A single-track mountain bike trail that connects to the Twin Buttes network passes right in front of the school. Animas High has a Division II mountain bike team that is currently state champions, he said.

“Mountain bike practice is going to be as easy as, ‘OK, everybody outside,’ and off we go,” Ackerman said.

Animas High students had the strongest scores in the county on the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program. The percent of 10th-graders who scored proficient or advanced on the test’s various subjects was 5 to 20 percentage points above Durango School District 9-R. Animas High School’s ninth-graders performed between 6 percentage points and 11 percentage points better than their peers in 9-R schools.

Ackerman said he is aiming higher. He likes to call Animas a “rural beacon of excellence.”

“Animas has experienced an incredibly fast acceleration to success,” he said. “Our school is really darn good, and I feel like we put the final pieces in place to be great.”

“It’s really nice to give them an environment, a space that is going to support what they’re doing,” he said.

The school will create individualized student “dashboards” this year that will help monitor students’ growth in various areas on a more frequent basis than once a year with the CSAP tests.

Ackerman attributes the school’s success in statewide testing to its small size and supportive culture.

“We’re working with young adults. If we can create a culture and a climate that is physically and emotionally safe, then I can ask you to take academic risk,” he said.

“If you’re in an environment where you feel OK to take a risk, then I as a teacher can set the bar pretty darn high – probably higher than you can achieve – and you’ll go for it,” he said.

shane@durangoherald.com. Herald Staff Writer Emery Cowan contributed to this report.

Photo by: JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald

Two new buildings of 11,000 square feet each were prefabricated in Dallas. Contractors were working feverishly last week to put the final touches on the news Animas High School at Twin Buttes.

Photo by: JERRY McBRIDE/Durango Herald

Zack Wilson, with Green Apple Moving, takes furniture into the new Animas High School building at Twin Buttes.