By Ruth Anne Maddox

Correspondent

They’ve got a sponsor and their application will be submitted to the state today so the founding board of Aspen Classical Academy, a proposed charter school that will be located south of the river, expects to begin looking in earnest for a home.

Board Chairwoman Misty Schutrop of Savage said that the school is still looking for a location, but it has been narrowed down to settling in Savage, Prior Lake or extreme western Burnsville. Previously, the board was also considering the Shakopee area. Plans have been in the works for the school for more than a year and the school is expected to be open in fall 2008.

Until the charter school receives state approval, Schutrop said, the board can’t commit to a lease. However, the feelers are out for “anything appropriate,” she said. The board is looking for “an empty shell of anything” – from an office building to a church that has classroom space available – and, come fall, they hope to be able to settle on a site. “It’s a school waiting to happen,” Schutrop said.

On June 19, Aspen Classical Academy was approved for sponsorship by Friends of Ascension, a nonprofit that also sponsors Seven Hills Academy in Bloomington and Paideia Academy in Apple Valley. Charter schools must have a sponsor – usually a nonprofit organization or a private higher education institution – which keeps the school accountable for its finances and curriculum. Per-pupil dollars from the state follow students in Minnesota, so a child enrolled in a charter school would take that funding with him or her. Funding also comes from grants.

Already, more than 65 families with about 100 children ages preschool through fifth grade have expressed interest in the new school, Schutrop said, adding, “We expect full enrollment when we open.”

The school has been approved for K-2 for its first year of sponsorship and it will be able to add a grade each year up to eighth grade. The maximum enrollment once it reaches K-8 will be 360 students – or two classrooms of 20 students each for each grade.

“We’re committed to keeping it small,” Schutrop said.

The charter school’s founding board met Thursday (June 21) to offer an update of its plans. Schutrop said while the school will still offer a Core Knowledge-based education, there has been a shift in focus from a natural science specialty to early literacy. The goal would be for students to achieve full literacy by third grade.

The board is also considering adding a preschool component that would accept children beginning at age 3.

The next step for Schutrop and the other four members of the founding board will be to attend training through the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools. Board members can serve for up to three years once the school is open and then the board converts to an elected board made up of a majority of teachers from the school.

“We’re still moving forward every day,” Schutrop said.

Anyone interested in learning more about the school or in joining the founding board can contact Schutrop at (612) 986-5762 or e-mail AspenClassicalAcademy@msn.com.

The founding board’s next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. July 25 in the large meeting room at Savage Library, 13090 Alabama Ave.