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Charter school placed on hold
Mountain Middle organizers pull application for '10
Herald Staff Writer
Heleno
The school's organizers, led by Nancy Heleno, withdrew an application for charter approval they had submitted to the Colorado Charter School Institute.
Heleno said she will regroup in an effort to start the school in August 2011.
“Anytime an authorizer asks an applicant to refine an application to best meet the needs of students, it is the correct course of action," she said in an e-mail. “We do not have approval for a 2010 opening, but view this simply as a bump in the road."
Mountain Middle School is modeled on High Tech Middle School, a San Diego charter school. It shares many of the same principles as High Tech High, the model for Durango's Animas High School.
First among these is a project-based curriculum, a concept that drew questions from the CSI board during a meeting last week in Denver.
“The board had a lot of questions about how they were going to do that," said Lee Barratt, acting director of the institute.
Heleno said she talked with the board for more than two hours at the Nov. 17 meeting. “It was apparent that the board of directors wanted a little bit more curriculum information," she said.
Mountain Middle School proponents have the option of resubmitting their application, Barratt said. Heleno, who served on Animas High's board before resigning to focus on the proposed middle school, said she plans to do just that.
“We will proceed with vigor to revise our application for a 2011-12 academic year opening for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders," she said in the e-mail. “Though many families of current fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders in Durango are disappointed, the revised plan will be better than the initial application."
Heleno added in an interview that middle school supporters will work with the CSI, Colorado Department of Education and League of Charter Schools to revise the application.
The school hopes to enroll 112 students during its first year, including 56 sixth-graders, 28 seventh-graders and 28 eighth-graders, Heleno said.
Organizers have collected 161 nonbinding letters of intent to enroll, she said.
While it is uncertain where the school would be located, Heleno said she plans to meet with two property owners next month.
Mountain Middle School, if founded, likely would act as a feeder for Animas High School. AHS became Durango's only charter school when it opened in August.
Two previous local charter schools, Community of Learners and Excel Charter School, closed after suffering from low enrollment and financial difficulties.
Heleno said the American middle school experience must be improved.
“It is where we fail most often," she said.
chuck@durangoherald.com'>chuck@durangoherald.com
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