SUN and DPS have announced that they are partnering with Phillips Andover Academy, one of the oldest private schools in America, to bring a new campus to Stapleton.
While this school will technically be a DPS charter school, it will be managed by the Phillips Andover administration. The new High School serving grades 9-12 will offer boarding in addition to day students and will have a capacity to hold up to 2,000 students with 1,950 spots held for Stapleton kids.
“We are very pleased that an elite institution like Phillips is coming to Stapleton. We were really freaked out by the idea that we might get a regular Denver High School here which of course wouldn’t be a good fit for our kids,” said SUN President Mike Victoria.
Some Stapleton and Park Hill residents have commented that this new school may worsen the image Stapleton has within the larger Denver community as a neighborhood that is more suburban than urban – not as diverse racially and socioeconomically as originally designed.
DPS Board member and Stapleton resident, Katie Jungling commented in response to this, “You know, we’ve been getting a lot of heat for not being diverse enough, and it was just, well, you know, becoming a lot of work to keep talking to people about it, so we just finally decided to go the other direction and play to our strengths. We are what we are – let’s just say it, privileged.”
Jungling commented further, “And since this school is going to be managed by a company from the East Coast, well, I think any other charter schools that are still really public schools will be, I think, seen as a lot better and more local. I think this should definitely cut down on complaints.”
The new school will be located north of I-70 on the land designated for a High School. Construction should begin this fall, with the school opening up in the fall of 2014. School officials are planning a six hour Orientation Day that will be held late Summer 2014.
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