City officials, Denver Public Schools board of education members and administrators, and students joined a large contingent of the Shoemaker family to celebrate the official opening of the new Joe Shoemaker Elementary School in southeast Denver. Students began attending the school in August. Formerly known as Hampden Heights ECE-5 School, the 80,000-sq-ft building was designed by AndersonMasonDale Architects and built by GH Phipps Construction Cos. as a series of pods.
Classrooms are clustered so that programs for early-childhood education students and elementary school students are separated by a gymnasium as well as by courtyards. The $19.7-million school also includes a library, offices, a music room that backs up to a performance platform and cafetorium, and a new parking lot. A roof deck will allow students to work on a roof garden, and several learning spaces are available for flexibility as the school grows. Future expansion can occur to the south. The school was funded by Denver voters through the 2012 bond.