Two organizations have submitted letters of intent to the Arkansas Department of Education stating their desire to set up open-enrollment charter schools in Pine Bluff for the 2013-2014 school year.
Exalt Education of Little Rock and Responsive Education Solutions of Lewisville, Texas, are seeking permission to open the Exalt Academy of Pine Bluff and the Quest Middle School of Pine Bluff, respectively.
The Exalt Academy would prepare students from under-served communities for competitive colleges and advanced careers, Exalt founder and CEO Benjamin J. Lindquist wrote in the intent letter. Lindquist writes that the school will serve students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade with a total enrollment cap of 540.
Lindquist said that Exalt specializes in equipping students from low-income homes with the broad foundation of knowledge, skills and attributes essential for 21st century success.
The letter notes that Exalt typically starts a charter school with 240 students in grades kindergarten through fifth and expands through the eighth grade over its first several years of operation.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Responsive Education has plans for a campus catering to students in grades five through eight with a maximum number of 220 students in year one.
The Quest Middle School of Pine Bluff would utilize what it terms a classical curriculum that will ensure students have a solid foundation of content learning, according to the letter of intent written by Responsive general counsel Chris Baumann.
The letter states that the mission of Responsive Education is to provide hope for students through an encouraging, innovative learning environment where they are academically successful and develop into lifelong learners.
The ADE required any group seeking to start an open-enrollment public charter school to file a letter of intent by June 30.
By Aug. 31 all open-enrollment applications must be filed with the ADE and with the superintendent of each public school district likely to be affected by the proposed charter school.
Local school boards then have 45 days from the day they receive the charter school’s application to decide whether to approve it or not, including the submission of written conclusions and the results of any vote to approve the charter application to the state Board of Education and the applicant.
By Sept. 30 all local school boards from districts likely to be affected by the proposed charter school must submit any written findings or statements to the state board.
The state board will consider the applications during November and December, with those applications approved by local school boards receiving expedited consideration.