Renewed Natomas Campus Welcomes Students

SCHOOL MASCOT WILL BE CHOSEN BY STUDENTS & ADDED TO GATE

STUDENT SHELVES LIBRARY BOOKS

OUTDOOR SCIENCE CLASSROOM

SPACE FOR RAISED GARDEN BEDS

NEW GYM FLOORS

NEW LECTURE HALL SEATS TWO CLASSES

STRUCTURAL REPAIRS MADE TO BEAMS

SPACIOUS QUAD AREA

BY BRANDY TUZON BOYD

THE NATOMAS BUZZ | @natomasbuzz

The Natomas Unified School District reopens one of its campuses today, August 15 as the district’s first-ever dependent charter school.

“The re-opening of Leroy Greene Academy is something to celebrate and we look forward to expanding the opportunities for our kids with the two exciting programs they are offering,” school board president Lisa Kaplan said.

A charter school is a publicly-funded, independent school established by teachers, parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a local or national authority.

The new and revisioned Leroy Greene Academy this morning will welcome 210 students to classes – more than two years after district officials unanimously voted to close Leroy F. Greene Middle School due to ailing academics and reports of structural issues.

Leroy Greene Academy will start with 150 7^th graders and 60 8^th graders. The school is meant to grow one grade level each year to become a 7-12 grade campus.

Initially, school district officials envisioned the campus would reopen as a magnet school with a focus on science, technology, engineering and math. But earlier this year the Natomas school board approved reopening it as a dependent charter school – the first within the district’s boundaries – citing more flexibility in hiring and academic programs.

Leroy Greene Academy school offers two program choices for students: Visual Arts and Technology or Business and Marketing. There are seven class periods and one advisory period at the end of the day. The class ratio is 30 students to one teacher.

The school’s administrators including Principal Angela Herrera, a former assistant principal at Natomas High School and her assistant principal Carolyn Walker, a former assistant principal at Natomas Middle School, and some teachers moved over to Leroy Greene Academy from other Natomas Unified schools.

Over the last two years, the 18-year-old campus underwent an extensive $7.2 million facelift – from new brick veneer throughout to new flooring and repurposed classrooms. (The school district has a funding application pending with the State of California for $2.5 million in state-share funding.)

Said Kaplan, “I had the opportunity to tour Leroy Greene during construction and this week upon completion and I know my fellow board members are pleased with the modernization and refreshing of the campus.”

Principal Herrera said community feedback is one of excitement that the school is reopening after being closed two years.

The majority of students enrolled for the charter school’s inaugural year live in south Natomas, she said. When Leroy F. Greene Middle School closed at the end of the 2009-10 school year, students living in south Natomas were bussed to Natomas Middle School – the district’s only 7-8 grade campus at the time.

The Natomas Unified School District has 17 schools within its boundaries. Of those, four are distinct, financially independent charter programs for kindergarten through 12^th grades.