story by Christina Elias, photos by Gloria Cowdin
French immersion charter school Académie Lafayette plans to expand into a high school, which will open in the fall of 2015. One grade will be added each year, beginning with ninth grade in 2015. The high school will be a separate third campus, in addition to Lafayette’s Cherry Street and Oak Street campuses.
“We have a High School Planning Team working on budgets and curriculum, but eventually we will be hiring staff, including a principal to make hiring decisions, finalize curriculum, etc,” Académie Lafayette Director of Communications and Admissions Katie Hendrickson wrote in an email. “Much of the work must be done well in advance, and the students who would have an AL high school as an option are currently in seventh grade.”
According to Hendrickson, the high school would not simply be a continuation of the K-8 French immersion curriculum and will come with many changes.
“One difference in programming will be that the high school would not be a French immersion school,” Hendrickson wrote. “Other languages would be offered, such as Mandarin and Spanish. All classes (besides the language courses, of course) will be taught in English. The program will be an International Baccalaureate program, so we’ll be following the rigorous IB standards.”
Hendrickson says that the high school will not be exclusive to Académie Lafayette middle school students.
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“The first class of students will be from around 75-100 students, and will certainly include AL eighth grade graduates, but it will be open to other students who live within the boundaries of the [Kansas City Public School] district,” Hendrickson wrote.
For Lafayette alumnae and STA juniors Arinna Hoffine and Fee Pauwels, whose eighth grade graduating class consisted of 19 students, the concept of an Académie Lafayette high school isn’t very appealing.
“Can you imagine going through high school with only 19 people?” Pauwels commented. “Some people would be taking different classes and there would literally be like five people in your class.”
Hoffine said that because of continuing growth in class, the high school might be better suited suited to future Académie Lafayette students.
“I think it’d be okay now, since the grades are so much bigger,” Hoffine said. “My sister is in seventh grade and she has like 40 people in her grade . . . I just feel like they should wait until it gets bigger. Even just 40 kids in your grade would be awful. I don’t think you’d get to reach your full potential in classes, because here [at STA] you can go to [higher-level] classes if you need to and there you would have to take certain classes. And socially, it would suck.”
Hoffine and Pauwels agreed that sending a child to a new high school would be a risk, especially if it’s not accredited yet.
“I feel like you can’t risk it, sending your kid to a high school that’s just starting,” Pauwels said. “There are so many different flaws.”
According to Hoffine, parents are aware of the upcoming expansion, and many are optimistic about what it means for their children who currently attend Lafayette.
“We legitimately were just talking about this at dinner like two days ago, and I think [my mom] was kind of open to the idea,” Hoffine said. “My mom was really excited about it, and I was like, ‘Do not do it.’ Me and [my sister] Shiva, who’s a year younger than me, were like, ‘That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.’”
According to Hendrickson, Académie Lafayette must follow charter regulations and state requirements, and will therefore be working closely with their sponsor, The University of Central Missouri (UCM), to make sure they meet all requirements.
“We’re scheduling informational meetings for the AL community early in 2014, but have already introduced the idea in a letter from our board of directors and in a newly released strategic plan,” Hendrickson wrote.
