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Last Resort

Last Resort

“Last Resort” is a Colorado ڱ Collaborative-led four-part investigation by Chalkbeat
Colorado, The Colorado Sun and KFF Health ڱ into the collapsing system of schools that serve some of Colorado’s most vulnerable students. The state is now scrambling to shore up what are known as facility schools, which enroll thousands of students a year with intense mental and behavioral health needs.
Erin Schneiderman affectionately scratches her 13-year old son's head as he buries his face in the fur of a small white and gray dog
Olivia Sun
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The Colorado Sun via Report for America
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Colorado is racing to save the schools that serve children whose home districts can’t or won’t meet their intense needs. This is part 1 in a four-part COLab, Chalkbeat, Colorado Sun and KFF Health ڱ series examining Colorado's collapsing system of schools that serve students with intense mental and behavioral health needs.
Reflected in a mirror, a brick wall with a painting of a young boy and gray lockers below
Olivia Sun
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The Colorado Sun via Report for America
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The additional support will help the beleaguered facility school system grow by 40% statewide.



Riley George is dropped off at the J. Wilkins Opportunity School, a facility school in Colorado Springs. George is one of many Colorado students who requires a school that serves his needs.
Rae Ellen Bichell
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KFF Health ڱ
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Part 2 in a 4-part series by COLab, Chalkbeat, Colorado Sun and KFF Health ڱ focuses on hard hit rural Colorado. A new state law aims to keep the doors open at schools that accept students with intensive needs. One preteen in rural Colorado shows how the current system leaves some students bouncing between institutions far from home.
Four small paintings of sunflowers decorate a windowsill
Olivia Sun
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The Colorado Sun via Report for America
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The special schools have no central oversight and instead are the responsibility of multiple state agencies. A new law aims to increase accountability.
A hand holds a pencil and writes on a piece of white paper with an open textbook beside it
Gretel Daugherty
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Special to The Colorado Sun
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Experts are hopeful a new state law will lead more facility schools to open. Meanwhile, school districts are creating their own programs, and creative and skilled educators are finding ways to meet students’ needs in traditional classrooms.