Charter school to graduate to large campus

After settling in the valley last year, American Preparatory Academy has big plans to expand.

As in 112,000-square-feet big.

The charter school, 6000 W. Oakey Blvd., is set to build a second campus at Patrick Lane and Jim Rogers Way, formerly Solutions Avenue. The academy plans to complete the project by August and triple its enrollment, according to administrative director Rachelle Hulet.

Charter schools are public schools that operate separately from the Clark County School District Board of Education but receive funds from the school district and state based on the number of students attending.

“This is our first year in Las Vegas, and we currently serve 408 students,” Hulet said. “After construction, the new campus will enroll about 960 students, but within three years, we hope to be at capacity, which is 1,350 students.”

Construction started in December and is set to take place in two phases. During phase one, the Oakey campus is set to transition from teaching K-9 to K-6, and the new campus is set to serve K-10.

Once phase two is completed, the new facility is set to teach K-12, offering additional programs such as orchestra, band, choir, dance and more.

“Our current campus is about 12,000 square feet,” Hulet said. “So with this new campus, we will be able to fully implement our academic programs and offer other types of classes that we don’t have room for at the Oakey campus.”

The academy was founded in 2002 in Utah by Hulet’s aunt Carolyn Sharette, who was frustrated with the quality of education her children were receiving in Colorado.

With five campuses in Utah and one in Zambia, Hulet and Sharette worked together for five years to bring the American Preparatory Academy to Las Vegas.

“We believe a strong focus on academics and parent involvement is required for the success of our students,” Hulet said.

The school uses a classical education model, which is linked to the ancient Greek trivium of knowledge and divides the learning process into three phases: grammar, logic and rhetoric.

During the grammar phase, students learn through the repetition of distinct facts. In the logic phase, they create linkages between those distinct facts so by the time they reach the rhetoric stage, they’re able to form ideas and arguments based on the facts and linkages.

To further academic success, the students are divided into smaller groups based on their learning levels in reading, math and spelling, according to school administrator Stacie Schwartz.

“Students need to learn at the level they are capable of learning at,” she said. “It helps them become more positive in their learning. We don’t do what’s best or what’s easiest for the teachers or the parents. We do what’s best for our students.”

In addition to academic achievement, the school also stresses character development and encourages children to be “builders” and not “wreckers,” Hulet said.

“They learn to be kind, honest, trustworthy and helpful, as well as learning to be smart,” she said. “It benefits the community because we end up with a whole bunch of students and family members that have been involved in a positive environment, and now they’re turning to the community to offer the same kind of support. They learn to work hard no matter what they’re doing.”

For more information, visit vegas1.americanprep.org or call 702-266-7889.

Contact Henderson View reporter Caitlyn Belcher at cbelcher@viewnews.com or 702-383-0403.