KALAMAZOO, MI -- Great Lakes Explorations Academy, a charter school emphasizing outdoor and environmental-focused curriculum, will open this fall in Oshtemo Township, according to American Quality Schools Corp.
AQS, a not-for-profit organization that operates charter schools in Illinois and Indiana, is building a new school facility on a 40-acre site at 6200 West KL Avenue near the intersection of Ninth Street.
AQS hopes to open Great Lakes Explorations Academy with 300 students in grades K-5 in fall 2015 and plans to add one grade a year through eighth grade.
An informational meeting for parents and others will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 7, at the Oshtemo branch of the Kalamazoo Public Library, 7265 W. Main St.
The new school is being chartered by Ferris State University and, as a public charter school, is tuition-free. However, the school will not have bus service and parents will need to transport their children to and from school.
"The basic foundation curriculum will be the Core Knowledge sequence, which will be supplemented with nature and environmental elements from nationally recognized programs such as the Project Learning Tree and the Expeditionary Learning program," a press release said.
"The teaching strategies are based on problem-based and place-based learning, which stress critical thinking, problem-solving and hands-on learning," the release said.
The school will be modeled after Discovery Charter School, an AQS school in Porter, Ind., that opened in 2010 and had 511 students in grades K-8 in 2013-14, according to the Indiana Department of Education website.
Discovery's test scores were above the Indiana state average in 2013-14, although that is expected considering Discovery's sociodemographics. About 22 percent of Discovery students were from low-income households in 2013-14, compared to a state average of 49 percent.
The racial makeup of Discovery Charter School in 2013-14: 77 percent of students were white, 11 percent Hispanic, 6 percent African-American, 4 percent Asian and 3 percent were multi-racial.
"This school promises to be an exciting place for children to learn," Michael Bakalis, president of AQS, said in the press release. "We want these young people to be thoroughly prepared to succeed in high school and beyond, but also to become stewards of our nature and environment."
Christina Yates, spokeswoman for AQS, said the company has just finalized purchase of the school site, which is on the north side of KL Avenue just east of Ninth Street.
She acknowledged the schedule for constructing a new school by the end of August will be tight, but it should be ready. The school will be built in two stages: The initial construction this summer will have involve a school with capacity of 300 children in grades K-5 and the second stage will involve classrooms for grades 6-8.
Once both stages are completed, the school will have a capacity of 450 students, Yates said.
The school will be located within the boundaries of Kalamazoo Public Schools, and is not far from Prairie Ridge Elementary on Ninth Street.
Applications for Great Lakes Explorations Academy may be obtained from the school website at www.gleacademy.org or by calling the toll free number 844-492-GLEA.
Applications are due by April 22. Should applications exceed available spaces, a lottery for admission to the school will be held, according to the press release.
More information is available at the school website at www.gleacademy.org.
Kalamazoo County currently has six charter schools, including four schools serving the general population.
About 1,000 students in grades K-8 are enrolled at those four schools: Paramount Charter Academy, which is operated by National Heritage Academies, and Oakland, Evergreen and Forest academies, which are operated by Foundation for Behavioral Research in Augusta.
Paramount and Evergreen are located in Kalamazoo, while Oakland is in Portage and Forest Academy is in Comstock Township.
The county has also Youth Advancement Academy for expelled students and Lakeside Academy for residents at Lakeside for Children, a Kalamazoo residential facility for children who have been removed from their home.
Julie Mack is a reporter for MLive.com. Reach her at jmack1@mlive.com.