The organizer of the proposed Mesa Verde STEAM Academy Charter School is gearing up to present a proposal to the Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 School Board in late August.
Kay Phelps has come before the board before to provide a glimpse of what the academy could do for students in the elementary grades.
She said what she will be giving a comprehensive plan to the school board, which will have up to 90 days to respond.
Phelps said science test scores in the Re-1 school district are low and she believes that students would be able do more with the integrated model that her charter school would use.
Under this plan, Phelps said students, faculty, parents and the community would work together to integrate learning in a manner to cultivate character and intellectual development, environmental stewardship, and personal, local, and global responsibility.
She said the academy promotes student success by providing a comprehensive core curriculum enhanced by infusing science, engineering, technology, and art into core content areas of literacy as well as integrating instruction with real-world applications in mathematics and social studies.
Over the next three weeks, Phelps will be holding presentations about the proposed charter school in Montezuma County communities to tell them about this vision.
She said while the charter school would accept students from Dolores, Mancos and Towaoc, it would concentrate mostly on students in Cortez.
To prove the successes of charter schools of this type, Phelps pointed to a STEAM Academy charter school in the Adams County School District 12, in which each student was deemed to be adequately based in the core subject areas.
I am comfortable that we have a very strong (program), Phelps said. Its research based and is very engaging.
The plan for the charter school would begin with a kindergarten to third-grade school with 90 students in the 2013-14 school year, adding a fourth grade the following year and then a fifth grade in year three.
When Phelps approached Re-1 a few months ago, board members were concerned about the students it would lose to the charter school, which would result in a loss of funding to the district.
Phelps, on Thursday said, while she would prefer to work under the umbrella of Re-1, the school could also be formed through the state under the Charter School Institute.
However, if the Re-1 board were to approve the charter school, Phelps said it would receive $180,000 to $200,000 a year from the state to start up the school possibly at the old Lakeview Elementary School site.
The community meetings will be at the Mancos Library on Tuesday, the Cortez Library on Thursday and the library in Towaoc on Aug. 14. All of the meetings start at 5:30 p.m.
michaelm@cortezjournal.com
