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Falcon Talking of Additional Charter Schools ; Parents, Developers Spearhead Effort

Posted on: Saturday, 27 August 2005, 03:01 CDT

Developers worried about selling homes in a fasting school district and parents fed up with crowded classrooms want to open charter schools in Falcon School District 49.

The Banning-Lewis Ranch subdivision developer has plans for a K- 8 school to open next year, although an application for the charter school hasn't officially been made to the district.

Last week, about 25 parents and other community members met to discuss starting another charter school in the district.

D-49 has grown by about 12 percent -- or 1,110 students -- per year for the past five years; growth slowed to about 6 percent this year.

Nearly 1,200 homes will be built in the Banning-Lewis Ranch area by 2007, said Ken Wright, president of SchoolStart, a company that helps start charter schools. But the developer is worried about building and then having to tell parents their students will go to school in portable classrooms, he said.

Wright has been working specifically with the developer in the Banning-Lewis Ranch -- Banning Lewis Ranch Management Company LLC.

Spokeswoman Kim Mutchler said the company likes to have parks, trails, a community center and other items in place before people move to the community. A charter school would allow them to have a school in place in the heart of the community, she said.

The district's Accountability Committee is expected to review the charter proposal this month, Wright said.

D-49 Superintendent Steve Hull said the district is open to charter schools. Every application would be considered individually, he said.

"We just want to make sure it's a quality education for our students," Hull said.

The district has one charter school -- Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning, on Meridian Road, east of U.S. Highway 24.

A building for the Banning-Lewis Ranch charter school, which would be a K-8 school with Core Knowledge curriculum, would be built in Banning-Lewis Ranch Village 1, Wright said.

Core Knowledge requires students to learn specific things in each grade, and the curriculum is sequenced and builds each year on prior knowledge.

SchoolStart is working with the district, Wright said, to see how the charter school can help alleviate crowding in the district.

A group of parents has also shown some interest in creating another choice for D-49 students. Schoolchoice advocate Linda Stahnke organized a meeting Aug. 16 to discuss a charter school.

Several parents were ready to form a steering committee and start planning a charter school even as Stahnke warned them it would be hard to meet the Oct. 1 application deadline.

For a school to open next fall, applications are due Oct. 1. The district has until mid-December to approve or deny applications.

Nearly all of the parents at the meeting expressed concern about how crowded D-49 schools had become and many said they were interested in a school similar to The Classical Academy, a charter school in Academy School District 20.

The group plans to take a tour of The Classical Academy and talk with Mark Hyatt, the school's president, Stahnke said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0394 or schaney@gazette.com

Source: Gazette, The; Colorado Springs, Colo.

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