Although the second five-year charter for McCurdy Charter School is not set to begin until next summer, school officials said they have been hard at work at completing a piece of the process that has been in the works for more than four years: The completion of a brand new $8 million two-story building.
The new charter term begins July 1, 2017, but the Public Education Commission must receive the school’s application by Oct. 1, so it can be reviewed by the December deadline.
The decision to pursue a new building was made four years ago, when the state evaluated the school’s existing facilities and the fire marshal determined the overall conditions were significantly lacking.
The weighted New Mexico Condition Index, according to documentation provided by the state’s Public Schools Facility Authority takes into account the cost to correct state adequate standard deficiencies.
The deficiencies are weighted in order to create priorities. Systems in need of immediate repair, or those that pose a health or safety danger, are weighted at the highest value to ensure those schools get treated with the highest priority.
“They don’t have to be perfect,” Authority Director Robert Gorrell said. “They just need to provide the same average conditions of a traditional school.”
He said the bar is lower for charter schools to begin with, because their facilities don’t have the same structural requirements that traditional schools have, such as providing a cafeteria.
McCurdy officials had been trying to correct their facilities’ problems since 2012, but ran into issues after the Public Education Department suspended the school’s Board of Finance, Nov. 21, 2013, due to financial concerns.
After correcting their finances, the Charter School’s Board of Finance was reinstated this spring and school officials working with McCurdy Ministries began to secure financing to build the new school.
“We are still planning for the groundbreaking (of the new building) to happen in mid-August,” School Director Janette Archuleta said. “We have revised our parking and traffic patterns for our secondary students and families.”
McCurdy school officials are anticipating some confusion regarding parking for students and their families and have taken steps to ameliorate traffic and parking issues during construction of the new building.
Archuleta said elementary students and families will continue to use the north entrance to the campus from South McCurdy Road and exit at Camino Arbolero.
She said secondary students and their families will use the driveway entering and exiting in front of Bachman Hall with student drivers parking west of that building.
Families with children at both elementary and secondary levels will be allowed to use either drop-off or pick-up areas.
Archuleta said the closing date for financing changed to Aug. 19, due to some of the survey work that needed to be completed.
The school is planning a ceremony for students, staff and the community, but the date has yet to be determined.
“We believe we are making solid progress in our rechartering efforts,” she said. “Everything is progressing very well. We have very robust goals and we are pleased with the progress that we have seen.”
According to documentation used in the renewal process, the statewide authorizer from the Public Education Commission looks at past performance to determine if a renewal charter is appropriate.
The following are grounds for non-renewal:
• If the school committed a material violation of any of the conditions, standards or procedures set forth in their original contract
• Failed to meet or make substantial progress toward achievement of the Department’s minimum educational standards or student performance standards
• Failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management or
• Violated any provision of law from which the school was not specifically exempted.
Archuleta said for McCurdy, school officials are reviewing four years worth of data, looking to see if they have implemented their charter’s goals, including the beginning of service learning programs, community engagement and the implementation of advanced education accreditation standards.
Most important to the school, is measuring academic progress in reading, math and language arts.
In November, the Charter School Development Corporation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which assists public charter schools nationally with their financing needs, attached themselves to the project.
The nonprofit focuses on schools serving low-income students.
In addition to finalizing the construction of the new building, officials have also retained the help of former state Public Education Department staffer Karen Ehlert.
Ehlert is an educational consultant currently helping local schools to navigate through the process of obtaining their state charter. She is also working with La Tierra Montessori School this fall.