"Liberty-based" charter school to seek state approval in Colorado
The growing community of Sterling Ranch has long been in need of its own school, but now it could get two new schools.
A proposed K-12 charter, John Adams Academy, has gotten the green light to bypass the Douglas County School District and seek approval through the State Charter School Authorizer.
A recently approved school bond means Sterling Ranch will get its first neighborhood school in 2027, but the proposed charter school could open sooner.
"That's Callum, the little one, and that's Bennet, the blondie," said Sterling Ranch mom Lori Wright, while flipping through a family photo album.
Like many Sterling Ranch parents, Wright advocated for the school bond measure and is looking forward to a public district elementary school opening in her community.
"It is an issue that is at the forefront of all parents of school-aged kids in this neighborhood," Wright said. "We want a place that is open to all children that is going to have the resources to help kids who may have special needs."
Another Sterling Ranch mom, Ellie Reynolds, hopes a different kind of school opens. She's seeking approval for John Adams Academy, which describes itself as a "liberty-based" charter school, with multiple existing campuses in California.
"I have a 4-year-old who's getting ready to go into school, and I looked around and I wanted this classical education, but the waitlist in Douglas County for classical education schools was too long And so I thought, I'm a mom. I can do this. I can go out and, you know, I can work to put one in my own neighborhood," said Reynolds, who's a founding board member for the proposed John Adams Academy.
Reynolds says a classical education is "focused around learning the basics of the great writers and how to learn, not what to learn. So instead of instilling, you know, certain math skills or really instilling things into your child, you're teaching them how to think and learn for themselves."
At a December board meeting, the Douglas County School District released the proposal to the Colorado Charter School Institute, an independent state agency within the Colorado Department of Education that reviews and approves or denies applications for prospective charter schools. John Adams Academy will need to go through CSI's application process and will not have to comply with district policies.
That doesn't sit right with some neighbors. The Dougco Collective, a group that advocates for public education, shared concerns about the board's decision in a recent blog post.
"That process has been deliberately designed to avoid transparency and input from people who live in Douglas County and in the Sterling Ranch neighborhood," Wright said.
"All that they deal with at CSI is charter school applications. So that's why we really think it's the best fit for us," Reynolds said. She says community concern has been blown out of proportion due to the charter seeking state authorization.
Wright worries about the proposed school's stated mission: "Restoring America's Heritage by Developing Servant Leaders."
"There are just a lot of buzzwords and implications on their website that give me a little bit of pause about whether the curriculum would really be bipartisan," Wright said.
"None of that is there. It's a classical education. We focus on teaching about the philosophers that we've all learned about, the Founding Fathers. I think that, ultimately, that's the great thing about choice, is that if you don't feel like it's right for you and your family, there's so many other options," Reynolds said.
Reynolds is now working with Sterling Ranch to find a potential site for the K-12 school, which can eventually hold 750 students.
The next step is for Reynolds to collect letters of intent from interested parents and then present the application to CSI. She hopes to open the school in spring 2026.
"What I really don't want to happen is for the neighborhood school to be delayed or for its scope and size to be adjusted," Wright said. "I want a neighborhood school in this neighborhood as soon as possible, and I'm nervous that that might change if this charter is approved on the timeline that the neighborhood school is."
Sterling Ranch assures neighbors they have plenty of space for schools, and the community will need at least five at full build-out. They also say the dedicated school site south of Titan Road is reserved for the DCSD neighborhood school.
The Sterling Ranch Development Company shared the following statement with CBS News Colorado:
Sterling Ranch is proud to be Colorado's best-selling housing community since 2020, offering a thoughtfully planned, inclusive environment where families can grow, learn, and build lasting connections. Our commitment to facilitating an excellent education for our residents is central to our vision of creating a community that serves residents' diverse needs and fosters a sense of connection and pride. With nearly 8,500 residents today and plans to grow to over 33,000, we are working to ensure Sterling Ranch has the infrastructure needed to support this vibrant population. This includes at least five primary and/or secondary schools located within the community to provide convenient, high-quality educational options close to home. We believe our residents deserve options when it comes to best meeting the educational needs of their children and there are many paths to this destination, from collaborating with public and charter schools to securing vital funding for future schools. We have heard from the community, and they have asked for this type of school, and we are excited and committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure Sterling Ranch continues to set the bar for exceptional community living.
