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Cheyenne Classical Academy opens its doors after seven months of construction

CHEYENNE — Cheyenne Classical Academy held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday to celebrate the opening of the new charter school and its building at 5200 Ridge Road.

Renovation of the former Cheyenne Alliance Church has been ongoing since Jan. 8, when school officials held a “groundbreaking” event. In the following months, Sletten Construction would remain hard at work on the school as the rooms started taking shape.

On its website, the capital city’s second charter school states, “Cheyenne Classical Academy is dedicated to training the minds and improving the hearts of students through a classical education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences.” The school also will teach kids the principles of moral character and civic virtue that emphasize virtuous living, financial literacy, character development and civic responsibility, the website says.

Charter schools receive government funding through the local K-12 public school system after their receive a charter through a state licensing board. They typically offer different curriculum than other public schools, which give parents more options. They also can provide more specialized educational programs tailored to the needs of specific student populations.

Cheyenne Classical Academy (CCA) initially is a tuition-free school serving 200 students in grades K-5, with plans to expand one grade each year, ultimately turning into a K-12 school model. CCA is a three-phase project; the opening was only phase one.

The CCA website says, “As the school grows, extracurricular activities will grow, too. Guidelines are yet to be determined, though. Music and art are already offered, and sports teams will eventually be included, too.”

The way students are chosen is through an initial lottery process put on by CCA and charter management company administrators after parents enroll their children in the school. The initial lottery determines who will be in each class. If one sibling is selected into a class, their sibling(s) will have priority enrollment into their classes. Students already enrolled in the school from the previous year will not have to go through the lottery process for re-enrollment the next year.

Cheyenne Classical Academy is currently enrolling incoming Patriots for the upcoming school year. However, there are limited spots available.

Currently, there isn’t a homeschool program at CCA. There will be ongoing discussions between board members on where that could go, school officials said.

Chairman of the board Nathan Winters opened up Friday’s ceremony by thanking Bill McIlvain, former Wyoming Speaker of the House, who came up with the idea to bring a public charter school to Wyoming and brought it to him to help bring their vision to light.

“We’re not going to fail, and we’re part of a great experiment that’s going to succeed,” said Winters. “We’re looking forward to their future, that’s why we’re here.”

After his speech, kids and parents were encouraged to pray for a moment.

Krista Grantz, a first-grade teacher, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that despite their plan to turn CCA into a K-12 school within the next five years, they’re not sure their curriculum will expand too much because of the Hillsdale College model remaining tried and true.

“They for sure want to open up different clubs and extracurriculars, (though),” said Grantz. “We’re excited to continue to offer as many opportunities as possible to the kiddos of Cheyenne.”

The first day of school is Monday, just as it is for other Cheyenne public schools, with drop-off starting at 7:40 a.m. Pickup is estimated to be between 3 p.m. and 3:20 p.m.