Boulder homeschool shuts down after city cites violations, raising questions about oversight and what counts as a school

Update at 4:20 p.m. on May 13, 2025: This story has been updated to include comments from the Sage Program’s former coordinator.

Dozens of families packed Boulder City Council chambers on May 1 in support of a homeschool program called Sage Programs that had operated quietly for decades but recently shut down after being flagged for code violations.

The city said it received two complaints in February from community members raising concerns about unsafe, unpermitted buildings and the operation of an unlicensed school. In response, the city visited the site and confirmed the violations. Sage then voluntarily closed its doors, leaving 30 families to scramble for another option mid-school year, and launched a GoFundMe that has raised over $34,000.

Supporters say Sage is more of a spiritual nature-based community than a formal school and therefore it wouldn’t be appropriate to become licensed. The city disagrees, citing safety concerns for kids and the fact that some programs ran Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., as evidence it functioned as a school and must be licensed in order to continue operating.

But concerns about Sage go beyond building safety, and its closure is drawing new attention to a loosely regulated corner of Colorado’s education landscape — where families pursue models that fall outside the bounds of traditional oversight.

One of the complaints came from Jules McDougal, a former Sage teacher whose contract was not renewed after a year teaching first grade there because of a mismatch in views on teaching. She said the program wanted someone who would focus more on the arts, while McDougal thought students were not getting enough required curriculum.

Sage Hamilton, founder of the program, believes in the power of imaginative play — a Waldorf-inspired view — and has built the program around that.

McDougal said that the emphasis on imaginative play went too far, at the expense of academic instruction — claiming students received only about an hour of structured learning out of the six hours they were on site. She also said she was concerned about the physical safety of the children on site and kept raising concerns she said were brushed off.

But the most serious concern, she told Boulder Reporting Lab, involved a report of child abuse that was not mentioned in the city complaint. In spring 2021, McDougal said staff were told that a young girl at the program had been sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend. She said she was advised not to report it, under the belief that involving authorities would not be in the child’s best interest or the best interest of the program, which she said wanted to avoid attention.

“They were adamant that I shouldn’t report it,” she alleged.

Hamilton strongly disputes this, saying that when the mother came to them with this information, the mother had already reported it to authorities. She said she recalls the family working with a court-appointed therapist.

Leila Talore Gass, Sage’s program coordinator from 2019 to 2025, also disputed McDougal’s account. She said the child was already under the care of Child Protective Services when she joined the program and that no one discouraged McDougal from reporting again. Gass said staff were focused on supporting the family, adding that McDougal’s comments appeared to stem from frustration after her contract was not renewed.

Both public and private school teachers and childcare providers are mandated reporters, even in cases where they are told a report has already been made.

McDougal said she reported it anyway — but said she struggled with the idea that others might not have. While this happened about a year prior to her leaving the program, she said the incident caused a rift when she told Hamilton she had reported it. At the time, she was an assistant kindergarten teacher in training. Hamilton disputes that a rift occurred.

A tall fence and plenty of freedom

Sage is a nonprofit founded by Hamilton and her partner, Christopher Sassano, almost 30 years ago. The two live on a large residential property in rural North Boulder, where they hosted daily programming for around 30 children ranging from pre-K to third grade.

They also ran mentorship programs, summer camps and hosted ceremonies on the land.

Supporters of Sage describe the property as a sanctuary — a nature-based alternative to traditional school. Hamilton, who once taught at Shining Mountain Waldorf School, said she left because she was disillusioned with indoor, structured learning.

“I got tired of seeing kids [sitting] at a box in a box,” said Hamilton in an interview.

Sassano has a background in biodynamic farming and led daily lessons in the garden. Hamilton described the program as “Waldorf-inspired” and spiritual. They aren’t contesting the city’s citations but maintain they are not operating a school and don’t intend to seek licensing to become one.

“My husband and I put up a fence and just did exactly what we wanted behind that fence,” she said. “The city is in its rightful place.”

Several parents who attended the council meeting described Sage as a rare and meaningful alternative to traditional education.

“Children feel at home and deeply nurtured by the people that bring this rich nature experience to children,” said Abel Villacorta, a parent who spoke at the meeting.

Supporters had planned to sing during public comment at the meeting but weren’t allowed. Afterward, Aiyana Rutherford, daughter of the Sage founders, gathered the group of at least 50 supporters outside the municipal building to sing a song.

“Well here we are gathered on the side of the road,” she said. “It’s a lot different than being at the shire.”

According to tax filings, Rutherford became the organization’s treasurer in 2022-23, the same year Gateway Apprenticeship Program — the nonprofit behind Sage — reported a jump in revenue from under $200,000 in 2021 to over $1 million, following a grant from an anonymous family fund. In 2023, the nonprofit purchased the neighboring property for $3 million.

Oversight questions and blurred boundaries

It’s unclear whether all Sage families formally registered their children as homeschoolers with the Boulder Valley School District, as required by state law. Parents who homeschool must submit an “intent to homeschool” form and are legally responsible for providing instruction in core subjects for at least four hours a day over 172 days a year.

Because Sage operated as an unlicensed program, it wasn’t required to track attendance or follow a curriculum — leaving the responsibility for meeting state standards on parents. Whether those basic instruction requirements were met for students above pre-K remains unclear. Hamilton said the program lacks formal grades or curriculum and is instead built around intuition and community needs.

“We don’t have grades, we don’t have curriculum guides,” she said. “What we have is trying to be heartfelt and listen to what the community of people who come to us need.”

However, the website does require parents to choose a grade level during registration.

She also said the program shouldn’t be labeled a school due to the constraints that would come with licensing, such as fencing the pond or banning the use of sharp gardening tools. She suggested it might be closer to a church.

“If you think about it, it starts almost sounding like a religion. We’re almost pagan. If we went down that road we could have a lot of freedom,” she said.

According to Brad Mueller, Boulder’s director of planning and development services, the city has offered to help Sage in submitting an application to operate as a private school, which could be processed while they address the building code violations. Hamilton has indicated they’ll pass on that offer, but may go the route of becoming one of the first licensed outdoor preschools in the state.

City inspectors documented a number of unpermitted and potentially unsafe structures on the Sage property, including an accessory dwelling unit built inside a barn, a partially finished shed with electrical work, a greenhouse attached to the main house and a deck lacking required guardrails and handrails. A large yurt with a support platform, also built without permits, is being removed and sold, Mueller said.

Inspectors also noted a high risk of fire due to multiple stacks of improperly stored materials across the property. In addition, several play structures may not meet the safety standards required for licensed schools. City staff are now working with the State Licensing Agency to determine whether further action will be taken, according to Mueller.

Hamilton acknowledged some of those risks but said she believes the emphasis on safety is overly restrictive, saying kids should be allowed to be more free.

“There’s this mentality around being safe. You have to protect yourself from all the bad things,” she said. “You buy life insurance and bet on something bad happening to you.”

McDougal said safety was a concern in part because she said the program would try to avoid scrutiny from the outside world and fly under the radar — something she believes contributed to issues being overlooked. In an incident that happened in her class, she said, a candle was lit during part of the day and a boy accidentally set a a container of unlit matches on fire, badly burning his hand. His parents took him to the hospital. Hamilton and Rutherford vehemently denied this version of events.

Hamilton said they have homeowners insurance that would cover incidents on the property, and that they care deeply for the family whose son was burned. She said he was the third child of that family to attend the program and they made sure to stay in touch as he was healing.

Since closing, some children from Sage have begun attending Shining Mountain or Boulder Valley Waldorf, while others are staying home in hopes the program reopens.

A new era for alternative choice

Homeschooling has been legal in Colorado since 1992, following a decades-long push by parents who believed early formal education was stifling. Today, families turn to homeschooling for many reasons — from special needs and bullying to religious values and pandemic-era concerns.

In 2024, Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill allowing outdoor “forest schools” to operate as licensed childcare centers under the Department of Early Childhood — a move seen as legitimizing nature-based learning. Meanwhile, 15% of Colorado’s public schools are charters — one of the highest rates in the country — and at least 10 states, including Texas, now offer voucher programs to fund private or home-based education. Colorado declined to pass a similar amendment last year, though advocacy groups continue pushing for it.

While the state supports school choice through its charter and licensed homeschool options, Sage’s closure highlights a gray area — where some families seek even less structure and oversight.

BVSD currently has about 400 registered homeschool students, though it’s unknown how many others are unregistered. According to BVSD communications director Randy Barber, BVSD has less coordination with homeschool families than other districts.

Declining enrollment across BVSD affects the district’s overall budget. If the rise in alternative education options continues, it could accelerate that trend, driving up the cost per student.