The Alabama Public Charter School Commission met Monday, approving one application for a new charter school and denying another.
The board approved an application for Woodland Preparatory, a charter school to be located in Washington County and set to open in fall 2019. Al.com reports the school plans to open with 260 students in prekindergarten through 7th grade. The school plans to add one grade each year, eventually growing to serve 664 students from pre-K through 12th grade.
Voters also denied an application for the Eugene Edwards Technology Charter School, a proposed K-2 school that was to be located in Bessemer.
Logan Searcy is the liaison between the Alabama Department of Education and the charter school commission. She says board members carefully questioned the applicants on how the proposed school would help students achieve academically.
“And so they asked for further clarification in those areas, giving them an opportunity to overcome what obstacles they might have listed. They did recommend to the group that they come back for the next charter school application cycle and submit again in December of 2018.”
The state’s first charter school, ACCEL Academy in Mobile, opened last year. University Charter School in Livingston, Alabama is scheduled to open in August.