Twice is nice at American Academy; second campus approved
Meridian Village will be the new home to American Academy’s second campus for the 2013-2014 school year.
Article and photo by Kathy Dunker
On Tuesday, June 5, the Douglas County Board of Education (DCBOE) unanimously approved American Academy’s (AA’s) application to replicate. The school plans to open the new doors to their second campus in Fall 2013.
While 80 percent of interested families requested the new school be located in the Lone Tree or Highlands Ranch area, the Douglas County School District (DCSD) preferred the Parker area due to projected overcrowding of neighborhood schools. AA found a site in between the two at Meridian Village, a development just east of Lone Tree on RidgeGate Parkway between Meridian Village Parkway and Chambers Road.
The new school site is next to a park in a new family oriented development close to where RidgeGate Parkway becomes Main Street at the boundary of Parker. The final step on securing the site will be a positive vote from the DCBOE which will be decided at their July 17 meeting.
AA has re-assembled the construction team it used for its current facility and has already had its first meeting in mid-June. Contacts have been made with county representatives, as well as site engineers and surveyors, to map out the requirements of the specific piece of land chosen for the new building.
Once the basic information about the site is established, AA’s architect and preconstruction manager will begin designing the actual building. The building shell will be the same basic footprint as the Castle Pines building. The geography of the land as well as the program requirements of the new school will then determine the interior layout. The school expects to break ground no later than November of this year.
AA has scheduled parent information meetings this summer to help answer questions about the second campus. The meetings will be held at two locations, the AA cafeteria and the Parker Library meeting room (PLMR). The current meeting schedule is as follows:
Thursday, July 5, 1 pm, AA cafeteria
Monday, July 9, 6 pm, PLMR
Wednesday, July 11, 6 pm, PLMR
Friday, July 13, 10 am, PLMR
Thursday, July 26, 3 pm, AA cafeteria
Monday, July 30, 6 pm, AA cafeteria
Thursday, August 2, 6 pm, AA cafeteria
Be sure to check the enrollment information page of the American Academy website at www.americanacademyk8.org for the most up to date information, as the meetings are subject to change.
To RSVP for any of the meetings, please e-mail registrar@americanacademyk8.org.
