Pueblo County officials have ordered the closure of Riverstone Academy’s building, citing unresolved health, safety, and zoning violations at the school that has drawn statewide attention for billing itself as Colorado’s “first public Christian school.”
According to a Jan. 6 letter sent by the county’s assistant attorney, Riverstone officials must confirm by Monday evening that they will close the school’s current location. If they fail to comply, county officials say they will seek an emergency court injunction requiring immediate closure.
The order marks another major setback for Riverstone Academy, which opened in August with roughly 30 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The school promoted itself as offering “a Christian foundation” alongside a Christian curriculum, a characterization that quickly sparked legal and constitutional questions about the role of religion in publicly funded education.
It remains unclear whether closing the building will lead to the school’s permanent shutdown or whether leaders will attempt to relocate or transition to an online model. In a December email obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request, Executive Director Quin Friberg acknowledged the challenges facing the school, writing that Riverstone had “gotten a bit ahead of ourselves” while expressing a desire to find a way to keep students enrolled.
Friberg did not respond to requests for comment Friday evening or Saturday. Leaders of Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services — the public education cooperative that authorized Riverstone — also did not respond to inquiries.
The school first came under broader scrutiny in October, when Education reEnvisioned Executive Director Ken Witt publicly described Riverstone as Colorado’s “first public Christian school.” The statement surprised state education officials and raised immediate concerns at the Colorado Department of Education, which warned that public funding could be withheld because the state constitution prohibits religious public schools.
Witt has argued that denying public funding to the school would constitute religious discrimination. Emails later obtained by Chalkbeat suggest Riverstone may have been established, at least in part, to provoke a legal test case on whether public funds can be used for religious schools. The U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked last year on a similar case from Oklahoma.
Riverstone operates in a former office building located in a light industrial area near concrete, landscaping, and marijuana-related businesses. County records show that Friberg met with officials in July to discuss opening a school in the leased space. In late August, Pueblo County sent a six-page letter detailing numerous zoning and building requirements that needed to be addressed before opening. Despite that warning, Riverstone opened roughly two weeks earlier.
By late October, county health, fire, building, and zoning officials cited more than a dozen violations and placed the school on “fire watch,” requiring staff to patrol the building every 30 minutes to check for fire hazards.
In the Jan. 6 closure letter, Assistant County Attorney Marci Day outlined multiple failures by school officials to bring the building into compliance.
“You were notified at a meeting with Pueblo County Planning and Development in July that the zoning for the property did not allow for the use but proceeded to open Riverstone Academy to the public in August,” she wrote.
Day noted that as of Jan. 6, Riverstone had not submitted three required applications: a special use permit to operate in a light industrial zone, a site development plan, and an application to change the building’s occupancy designation from business to educational use. Without the occupancy change, fire and health officials cannot determine what upgrades are necessary to meet safety standards.
“Due to the current conditions and the construction that will be required to bring the buildings and property into compliance with all building, fire, health, and zoning codes it has been deemed unsafe to allow the continued occupancy of the buildings, particularly by school children, prior to final approval by Pueblo County,” Day wrote.
Records show that required upgrades include removing interior walls, installing new sinks and drinking fountains, adding fire safety fixtures, and building a wheelchair-accessible ramp at the entrance. Pueblo County Planning and Development Director Carmen Howard confirmed by email that the county has since received Riverstone’s special use permit application.
Additional emails obtained through open records requests indicate that Friberg was aware the school’s future was uncertain. In a Dec. 30 message to Howard, he thanked county officials for meeting with him to explore options.
“I also appreciate your willingness to help us work through a situation where we have gotten a bit ahead of ourselves,” he wrote.
The closure order adds to growing legal and political debate in Colorado and other states over whether charter or publicly funded schools can operate with explicit religious instruction — an issue that could eventually return to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Originally reported by Ann Schimke in Chalk Beat.
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