The purpose of the Welcome Center is to provide a warm and friendly place where parents and students new to D50 can begin the enrollment process, learn about Standards-based Education, and the services available within the district. The Welcome Center will be located at the Pleasant DeSpain Schoolhouse, formerly known as the District Instructional Resource Center (DIRC), 7200 Lowell Blvd.

Services at the Welcome Center include:

•  A warm welcome for families new to D50 where they can learn about Standards-based Education, the district's mission, and obtain information about district and community resources to include Have A Heart, Neighborhood Action Group (NAG), Yellow Ribbon, Westminster Area Community Awareness Action Team (CAAT), Child Find, School to Work Alliance Program (SWAP) along with several others. VOICES, whose goal is to bridge schools with the communities they serve, will be located at the Welcome Center.
  
  
• A centralized registration and enrollment process will help reduce repetitive data collection between schools.
  
  
•  Assessments and screening will be administered for students new to D50. After the appropriate learning levels in literacy and math are determined, students will return to school ready for classrooms.

Summer Hours:
Monday - Thursday 8:00a.m. - 4:30p.m.

Location:
7200 Lowell Blvd.
Westminster, CO 80030

Phone: 720.542.4580
Email: welcomecenter@adams50.org

Historical Information

{DeSpain Building} The Harris Park School House, also known as the DeSpain School, was built between 1892 and 1899 and named after the town in which most of the students lived. The original building contained three classrooms and was built in the French-Chateau style architecture. A town of truck gardens and farms, the school was one of the few buildings built of brick. The elaborate style and permanence of the construction materials showed the vision and the belief the town fathers had in their un-incorporated community. The land for the school had been sold to the school district by the son of the first settler in the area. Pleasant DeSpain Sr. homesteaded in the area in 1870 and it was his son, Benjamin DeSpain, who bought the land from the government and then sold it to the district for a sale price of $150.00 in February of 1892.

When built, the school house was the pride of the town and the center of social activity. Children of town pioneers attended the school, such as the DeSpain children and the children of Edward Bowles (whose home is listed in the National Register). In 1911, Harris Park and also the surrounding area incorporated as Westminster. The school house became known as the Westminster Grade School. The little school house signifies the early historic beginnings of education in the city and it continues today to serve children in the area.