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John Metzner, who was once Attorney General of Colorado, attended Westlake School. Also at one time, a boy from Westlake represented the county as one of the top twenty-five spellers in the state. Westlake was also proud of their Young Citizens League. At one time it put on a meeting for the entire state.

When the brick school was started, one teacher was hired for fifty dollars a month to teach grades one through eight.

Westlake got its name from a lake that was supposed to be located west of the school. Actually, the lake was more north of the school and is now dried up.

Westlake was one of the first rural districts in Adams County to implement a hot lunch program. The program was initiated by a husband and wife teaching team. Mr. and Mrs. Brown. They occupied the basement level of the school for living quarters. The upper three rooms were used as class rooms. The largest room downstairs was used as an all-purpose room. At first the cooking was done by volunteer mothers, but by the early 1940s, the school hired a cook for about three dollars a day. One teacher was in charge of running the lunch programs. She kept a record of the total amount of money spent on food and the money collected. If the funds ran low the teachers would get together and arrange money-making projects to balance the cost of the lunch programs.

In 1910, a railroad came through twenty miles east of the school. The population in the area then began to increase and that is how the Eastlake School District was formed.

On September 28, 1950, Westlake consolidated with the Eastlake, Northglenn, and Thornton areas to become the present-day School District No. 12. Many people in the area were very upset because they had consolidated. They were very proud of their District No. 34, and they wanted to keep it the way it was.

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In 1952, Westlake was closed, because it didn’t have enough fire exits, but in 1953, the District had to reopen it, because of the increase in population. The parents were very upset because they didn’t want their children going back to Westlake.

In 1902, Westlake had fifty-eight student enrolled, but during 1939-1940 the number of student had declined to twenty. In 1967, Westlake had an enrollment of a hundred and fifteen students. In 1974, Westlake became the District No. 12 Alternative School with a present-day enrollment of fifty-eight students.

Westlake school originally had a coal furnace, but it was later replaced by a gas furnace. There were also two double outhouses outside behind the school. These, however, were also replaced when bathrooms were built in the basement of the school. The only problem with the bathrooms remains in the fact that there is only one mirror when the girls and boys fight over continuously. They only have one mirror because the other one broke, and so the girls and boys each want it in their own bathroom.

There have been no changes to the outside of the school, but many changes have been made to the inside. A divider has been built inside and a lot of painting has also been done.

A church organization now rents the school for use on Wednesdays and Sundays and they have put up paneling downstairs in the basement.

The outside of the building is very old and doesn’t look like any attempt at restoration has been made. The inside of the school also needs much work, which can be expected since this is a very old building, and little effort has been made to keep It up to current standards.

Westlake Alternative High School is operated by School District No. 12. This Alternative High School is for students who do not like the traditional high schools

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and dropped out. Students make out contracts and then work to fulfill them. If the student completes his or her contract they pass, if not they fail. The present Director of Westlake School is Mr. Ken Staub, who also teaches English and history. The secretary is Nancy Sand, who also teaches office skills, home economics, and typing. The teachers are Carol Barr, who teaches English and history, Jane McCoid, who teaches mathematics and science, and Linda Bidlike, who is a part time counsellor and psychology teacher.

The students take part in maintaining the school. They do a lot of the painting and other odd jobs for the school. Westlake also has a janitor through the District, M. Keil. She paints and does other things that are not actually a part of her job.

The future of Westlake School is questionable. Should the school district find the need for a building, it seems reasonable to assume that it should be renovated to better suit that need. If the district no longer utilizes the building as a school it should best be restored to a historic site and preserved as such.

Acknowledgments

Bertha Heid
Jim Lung
Quinton Barnett
Nancy Sand
Stan Leftwick
Ron Stacy
Norman Smith
Ted Hulstrom

References

District No. 12 Executive, November 6, 1967. P. 5