The Story Behind Thompson School District R2-J’s Name

I grew up in Loveland, attending school all the way from Lincoln Elementary School to Loveland High School. All schools of which, are a part of the Thompson R2-J school district. I never knew what ‘R2-J’ stood for. I decided, 30 years after graduating, that I’d find out.

Thompson R2-J. The Loveland and Berthoud area’s school district, with over 16,000 students. I’ll bet not one of those kids could tell you what the ‘R2-J’ stands for.  Not that they need to know the answer in order to pass a quiz or test, so I guess that it’s not terribly important.  It’s just kind of bugged me for years. ‘What the heck is R2-J, anyway?’

Larimer County had some information. It turns out, that in 1960 voters approved to reorganize 30 school districts in Colorado into three.  Those three would be comprised of Poudre R-1, Thompson R2-J, and (Estes) Park R-3. The Rs stand for ‘reorganization’ and then the numbers. Makes sense.  A friend of mine who works for the school district says that they have material that states that the J stands for the district being JOINTLY in more than one county, since they have schools in Larimer, Boulder and Weld counties.  'Thompson' of course, refers to the Thompson Valley region.

‘Thompson R2-J School District.’

I do feel better know, for knowing!  Don’t you?