More Info
For more information about Lula Lake Academy visit www.nextgenerationschool.org
Lula Lake Academy’s November Fundraiser:
The school is hosting a Farm to Table dinner on Nov. 14. This sit-down dinner costs $100 a plate and the food will be provided and prepared by the staff at Harvest Food grocery. Live entertainment will be provided at the dinner by the Old Time Travelers. To make a reservation, visit www.nextgenerationschool.org
Lula Lake Academy is the school families living on the Georgia side of Lookout Mountain want, according to Debbie Tringale.
“This is going to be the community’s charter school,” said Tringale, executive director of the proposed school. “And we’re definitely gaining momentum and support.”
This mounting support comes in the wake of bad news. The State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia did not accept Lula Lake Academy’s application this year. Tringale said the news was expected, and the board is working with a slew of volunteers to strengthen the school’s application for next year.
Lula Lake Academy hopes to open in 2017 as a state charter school built upon the theme of nature conservation and stewardship. School officials say the academy will offer a middle and high school education rooted in the environment and will serve the diverse socioeconomic population of Walker and Dade counties.
Bonnie Holiday, executive director of the State Charter Schools Commission, previously told the Times Free Press it is common for less than 50 percent of the charter petitions to be accepted, and schools are encouraged to reapply.
Out of the 15 schools that sent petitions to the Charter Commission in 2015, only three received a charter. Several of the petitions were withdrawn or did not meet legal compliance requirements.
The Charter Commission gave Lula Lake Academy five recommendations to improve its charter petition, and Tringale said each of these recommendations are things the school board anticipated.
“I think not being accepted this year will actually help us,” Tringale said. ” This letter says everything we already knew.”
One recommendation was to clarify the school’s academic programming and curriculum.
Tringale said she currently is working on that with teachers who hope to have jobs at the school. Since more teachers are applying to work at the school than the number of positions available, Tringale said she also is using this stage of developing curriculum as a sort of “interview process.”
“The teachers that help now will float to the top,” Tringale said. “Plus, they get to help develop the curriculum they will use in their own classrooms.”
Other Charter Commission recommendations include verifying grant revenue and donations, demonstrating community support and entering into a lease agreement for a facility.
Tringale said the school is in negotiations for 70 acres of land in Walker County. The board has set the goal of raising $125,000 through fundraisers and grants for facilities. The school has several fundraising events scheduled over the next six months and has a volunteer applying for grants that can be directly applied to facilities, Tringale said.
The support of parents throughout the community and a variety of sponsors on the mountain and in Chattanooga are a driving force for the future of this school.
Thomasene Todd, a Lookout Mountain resident, hopes the school can be an option for her two sons. Both of her boys attended Fairyland Elementary School on Lookout Mountain, and she would love to have a public school option on the mountain for them as they enter middle and high school, she said.
“Location is a big thing, and everyone I have talked to about this school has been excited about the idea of what is happening and what this could be,” Todd said.
The executive director of Wild Trails, Randy Whorton, said he is thrilled that his nonprofit can partner with Lula Lake Academy. Whorton said a partnership between Wild Trails and the school will serve both organizations and the community. He has plans to build a series of trails on the school’s property and hopes to connect many of the existing trails on the back of the mountain.
Whorton plans to support the school financially and to help it with programming throughout the school year.
“We want to help kids be healthier people and go outdoors and explore,” he said. “And this is exactly what this school plans to do.”
Mike Pollock, the executive director of the Lula Lake Land Trust, said the organization also plans to partner with the school in a way similar to the more than a dozen partnerships it has with schools across the region. He plans to allow the school to use the Land Trust’s property as much as possible, and supports the conservational focus of the school.
“The intent to put a school in a sort of a rural environment on the back of Lookout Mountain may be something that is needed,” Pollock said. “It could give a lot of kids an alternative and connect them to their home and their environment that surrounds their home.”
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.