Weld RE-4 approves American Legacy Academy charter school application

The Weld RE-4 school board voted unanimously to approve the charter of American Legacy Academy, or ALA, for the 2023-24 school year on Monday night.

The contract allows for ALA to open a kindergarten through eighth-grade school across two campuses, the first of which will open next year. The contract starts next summer and runs through June 2027.

ALA will be the Windsor and Severance school district’s second charter school, joining Windsor Charter Academy. Ascent Classical Academy of Northern Colorado is also located in Windsor but it's authorized through the state.

The charter application was submitted in April this year and had to be approved or denied by September, per statute, but the board granted a one-month extension “for completing contract negotiations and approving a contract,” according to the resolution.

Michelle Scallon, Weld RE-4 superintendent, said they’ve built “a great relationship” with the American Legacy Academy team, headed by chairman of the board Julie Babcock, and look forward to “a long-lasting partnership with ALA.”

Prior to the vote, board member Aaron Smith offered to recuse himself from voting if the other board members felt he had a “personal gain or pecuniary gain” because he has a letter of interest into the school. No board members expressed concern, though, so Smith voted.

The opening of American Legacy Academy, which will give priority to Weld RE-4 students, should help the district address its quickly-growing student population. At maximum capacity, ALA could serve 648 students at each campus, according to the contract. Last year, five of nine schools in the district were operating beyond 100% capacity.

Weld County voters are also being asked to vote on a $271 million bond this November to help the district build more schools to address overcrowding. Last year, the district failed to pass a $180 million bond to address the rapid growth.

Want to know more about charter schools?Here are 4 things to know.

Where will American Legacy Academy be?

That’s still up in the air as ALA has not been able to lock down a location for either of its two campuses.

If the school fails to open one campus by the fall of 2023 and doesn’t get an approved extension, its contract with Weld RE-4 terminates.

ALA had previously requested the district give it land in the RainDance community to build the charter school, but the board ultimately decided to keep that land, which is earmarked for a traditional public school.

After the board voted against giving ALA the land, the charter school offered $2.1 million in cash to the district for the 10-acre spot, but the board voted 4-1 against selling the land. Most board members said they simply had to listen to their constituents, and it was clear that the RainDance community did not want a charter school on the land.

The contract between the school and the district does allow for an extension if ALA continues to struggle securing land. ALA leaders must notify the board by Jan. 1, 2023, if they suspect they will need an extended timeline for opening and can give “good cause,” and the district’s consent “will not be unreasonably withheld.”

If ALA comes to the board after Jan. 1, however, it is the board’s discretion if they want to give an extension.

Babcock told the school board she wanted to be upfront that building a school right now is not an easy task because of the “high-inflation environment and high interest rate environment and the slowness of the stream of goods,” but that they are confident they will open one building next year.

Babcock told the Coloradoan that they still do not have a final location, but are working on a few different options and remain hopeful.

“This is our mission and we are committed to getting a school opened by August,” she told the school board Monday night. “We might come to you and say, ‘can we make it September?’ but we are committed to opening this school by August of 2023 (with) one location.”

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Molly Bohannon covers city government and higher education for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @molboha or contact her at mbohannon@coloradoan.com. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Weld RE-4 approves American Legacy Academy charter school application