July 2, 2005
Charter school will open this fall

Shari Chaney
Colorado Springs Gazette

In two months, a vacant lot southeast of downtown will be transformed into a school for hundreds of students and an educational resource center. The 21st Century Charter School of Colorado Springs will open Sept. 6 in a new building at 525 E. Costilla St.

The Greater Educational Opportunities Foundation, which will run the charter school along with a local board of directors, is paying $4 million for the land and construction of the new 30,500-square-foot building, said Kevin Teasley, GEO’s chief executive officer.

The school’s lead teacher, Greg Cope, said roughly 230 students have applied to the school for the coming school year. The school is approved to accept 270 students.

The building will have two octagon-shaped ends connected by a middle section that will include a gymnasium and “community empowerment center.”

The center will offer information about school choice, magnet schools, charter schools, tutoring options, No Child Left Behind and how to be more involved in schools, Teasley said. It will be open to the community, not just parents of students at 21st Century Charter School.

“We’ll be in the business of sharing that information,” Teasley said. “Our mission is to get children quality education.”

The octagons on either end of the school will have classrooms around the edge with walls that have glass on the top half. Teasley said observers can be in a center area and see into each of the classrooms.

Elementary-aged children will be at one end of the school, and middle and high school students will be in the other, Teasley said. The school will open this year to students in kindergarten through eighth grade and add a grade each year for four years.

In a classroom of roughly 30 students, there will be one teacher, one aide and 10 computers, Teasley said. Students work in small groups, either with the teacher, the aide or at the computer work stations.

The idea of small groups and individualized learning is key for parents when they hear about the school, Cope said.

Once built, the school will have a longer school day — from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. — and a longer school year.

Robert Sheets, chairman of the school’s board, said the philosophy behind the longer day is that schoolwork is done at school and isn’t homework.

GEO Foundation will open three charter schools this fall, including the one in Colorado Springs.