Enrollment for The Juniper School, a new charter school, opened Monday.
Classes will start in fall, and the school is aiming to enroll 150 students by March 10, said Tammy Fraley, president of the school’s board of directors.
The school is accepting students in kindergarten through fifth grade, and plans call for about 25 students per grade, she said.
The school’s curriculum will incorporate Expeditionary Learning Education, Montessori education, project-based learning and inquiry-based learning.
Teachers, consultants and parents helped put together the curriculum, and the proposal has been well-received, Fraley said.
“People love the child-directed learning,” she said.
A head of school should be selected in the next few weeks, and that person will hire staff with help from a committee, she said. The staff positions will be determined by the enrollment numbers, she said.
The school received a grant from the Colorado Charter Schools Program to cover start-up costs of $215,000 annually for the first three years.
It plans to enroll 228 students its second year, and it doesn’t expect to grow beyond that, Fraley said.
The school is moving into the second-story space above Big Picture High School near east 12th Street and East Second Avenue. The space is occupied by The Liberty School, which is building a new facility on Western Avenue near Junction Creek.
The Juniper School does not expect to be in the space above Big Picture permanently, Fraley said.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
Enrollment process
Final application drop-off will be 3 to 6 p.m. March 10 at the Durango Public Library, 1900 East Third Ave.
Enrollment closes March 10, and students will be chosen through a March 15 lottery.
Enrollment materials are available on the school’s website,
thejuniperschool.com
.
