By Ursala Hudson
Special to The SUN
Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS) is the community’s first district-authorized public charter school, open to all Archuleta County families on a tuition-free basis.
The school is intentionally small, with a 1-to-15 teacher/student ratio and mixed-age classrooms — qualities that lend themselves to a personalized, student-centered education.
Over the next few weeks, School Director James Lewicki will offer several enrollment open house meetings at PPOS, 7 Parelli Way, just north of Walmart in Aspen Village. These roundtable meetings will be held during the following dates and times in month of February:
• Thursday, Feb. 7, at noon.
• Wednesday, Feb. 13, at noon and 6 p.m.
• Tuesday, Feb. 19, at noon.
• Thursday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m.
The open house meetings will provide instructions to parents who wish to enroll children in grades kindergarten through sixth-grade for the 2018-2019 school year, as well an overview of the project-based learning model currently being used at the year-round school. Lewicki will go over the school philosophy, requirements and enrollment process, and offer time to answer any questions.
Children must be age 5 by Sept. 15 to qualify as a kindergartener for the 2019-2020 school year.
If PPOS receives more applications than slots available for 2018-2019, students will be chosen by a random lottery.
Charter schools in Colorado have been operating at the request of the state legislature since 1992, are publicly funded, and are intended to provide families and communities with a local educational choice of the public school they wish their child to attend.
Due to the unique nature of this school, your child(ren)’s enrollment application(s) will not be considered complete unless you can attend one of the February enrollment meetings or else make special arrangements to meet with the school director or a school board member. Please contact Board President Ursala Hudson at 946-6204 or email uhudson@ppos.co to arrange a special meeting.
Enrollment packets will be available at every presentation and in the school office at 7 Parelli Way.
