NTPS board approves 10-year lease with Bezos Academy. That’s right: That Bezos

The North Thurston Public Schools board on Thursday approved a 10-year lease with the nonprofit Bezos Academy, an early learning endeavor founded by Jeff Bezos, the man who brought us the online retailer Amazon.

The tuition-free, all-day, year-round preschool with wrap-around day care services is now set to occupy three classrooms at Seven Oaks Elementary in Lacey. The Bezos Academy Lacey — Southeast will serve 60 students, said Troy Oliver, assistant superintendent of operations, after Thursday’s board meeting.

Although tuition-free, students are selected through a lottery. Families who earn up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level can apply. That’s around $100,000 a year for a family of four, according to an example shared by Oliver.

Instruction at the school also is Montessori-inspired learning, which the academy describes on its website.

“These principles include children having choice in their work, maintaining a prepared environment, and using a child’s interests and movement to support learning and cognition,” the site reads. “We believe that these principles, among others, promote creativity, independence, collaboration, and leadership.”

The academy will pay $1 in rent per year, but will pay all utilities, pay to renovate the space, hire staff and create its own entrance at Seven Oaks, Oliver said. That work will begin next April. The school is expected to open in 2025.

How did the Bezos Academy connect with the school district?

More than 18 months ago, the district reached out to a contact at the academy about the Young Child and Family Center. That’s the proposed multipurpose facility that intends to serve children and families on former ball fields near Nisqually Middle School.

The school district, the city of Lacey and South Sound YMCA are the key partners in that proposal. The contact at Bezos Academy has attended Young Child and Family Center meetings, Oliver said, and as the district learned more about them and they learned more about us, it finally resulted in the agreement at Seven Oaks, he said.

The early learning need in the Lacey area is real. According to recent school district data, 500 children who entered North Thurston kindergarten programs, had no prior preschool learning, Oliver said.

“Quality preschool programs can be hard to access, either due to to cost or capacity, and this will open the door to school readiness for even more children in our community,” said NTPS board president Gretchen Maliska in a statement. She was unable to attend Thursday’s school board meeting.

The partners also want the Young Child and Family Center to have an early learning component, and there’s a chance that the Bezos Academy is part of the project, Oliver said.

He said the academy, rather than opening stand-alone locations, prefers to partner with an existing structure. For example in Centralia, the academy there has partnered with the United Way Learning Center of Lewis County.

As of October 2023, there are 17 Bezos Academy schools in Washington state, Texas and Florida, according to a news release.