colorado district may see construction of new charter school

Plans are in the talking stage for the construction of a new K-12 school in Grand Junction, Colorado that would be go up on a currently vacant and mostly wooded 28-acre site.

The facility would be a part of the Juniper Ridge Community Schools and could include the construction of several other buildings on a proposed campus located north of Patterson Road between 7th and 1st streets.

The site was purchased last year by the school.

Although school officials have said they would like to see several structures built at the site, members of the Board of Education of District 51 have raised questions over the proposal, saying it would be easier to secure just one building with a single entry point.

The matter is expected to be revisited by the board early next month. The hope has been that if the project ultimately wins board approval, construction could begin later this year or early next year with a fall 2019 completion date.

The Juniper Ridge Community School was opened in the fall of 2013 with 134 students. Enrollment at the school has since more than doubled and is now just short of 300.  

The school focuses on the education plan developed by educational theorist Rudolph Steiner more than a century ago that puts an emphasis on imagination in learning, hands-on activities, and critical reasoning.

It is one of more than one thousand such schools globally.

By Garry Boulard

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