Grand River Preparatory High School Gears Up -Press article

This is so exciting-Excel just had an offspring...high school! We can be so proud and pleased to be associated with this new development! Tomorrow July 23rd at 6:30 pm, is the 2nd parent/student information night, an opportunity to meet the principal and find out about the nuts and bolts of the school. It will be held at the Kellogsville CRC church building, across the parking lot from the high school, at 610 52nd St.

Here is the press article from today:
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
By Beth Loechler The Grand Rapids Press

KENTWOOD -- Building renovations are under way, teachers are preparing, students are enrolling and charter school guru J.C. Huizenga's first high school -- Grand River Preparatory High School -- will open for business Sept. 2.

"It's real. It's really happening," said Ed Richardson, director of charter schools for Grand Valley State University.

Open enrollment for ninth-graders is this week, Principal David Angerer said.

GVSU's board of trustees voted Friday to add a second location for Excel Charter Academy, a K-8 school, and expand the grades offered. That second location, on 52nd Street between Division and Eastern avenues, will be Grand River Prep.

That means Excel students automatically can advance into the charter high school, which will open with only a ninth grade but is expected to grow one grade a year until it's a four-year high school in 2011.

Students from Vanguard, Vista and Cross Creek charter academies also will be "feeder schools" for the new high school, meaning their students will receive preference in enrollment. If classrooms aren't filled by students from the four schools, others entering ninth grade will be accepted.

All four of the K-8 schools are managed by National Heritage Academies, a for-profit company founded by Huizenga. The high school will be managed by American Dream Network, also created by Huizenga, to focus on the upper grades.

Judging by the number of interested families, Angerer estimated more than 80 students from the NHA schools will enroll this week. He plans to cap enrollment at 100 freshmen.

Angerer has hired all but one of the six full-time and two part-time teachers that will instruct the freshman class, he said. He's still interviewing for a full-time Spanish language teacher.

The college preparatory curriculum will include five core subjects -- math, science, English, history and Spanish -- and options for art, band and chorus. Students will wear uniforms and will be expected to gain admission to college as a condition of graduation.

Renovations of the building, formerly home to Kelloggsville Christian School, should be substantially complete in early August, Angerer said.

Send e-mail to the author: bloechler@grpress.com