Broomfield's Bal Swan Children's Center is proposing to expand to the elementary grades by opening a charter school in the Boulder Valley School District.
The plan is to house Grove Elementary School, which would be overseen by a separate board of directors and principal, in a new building on the Bal Swan campus. Bal Swan is a nonprofit child care center that serves about 180 students ages 2 to 6, with an emphasis on providing an inclusive program.
"Kids are coming out of Bal Swan with empathy, intrinsic motivation and a growth mindset," Bal Swan Executive Director Debbie Kunz said. "We see kids through a strength-based lens. Families have asked us to continue that to elementary school."
Bal Swan submitted its application to Boulder Valley this week. If the application is determined to be complete, it will be reviewed by the District Accountability Committee and a committee of district staff members. Each group will have 45 days to complete the review. The application then will go the school board, which has 90 days from the date it was submitted to make a decision.
If approved, the school could open as soon as August 2025. The plan is to start with early elementary grades and add a grade each year. Kunz said about 160 families with children who would be in kindergarten, first and second grades in the fall of 2025 have signed intent to enroll forms so far.
At full buildout, organizers said, the school would enroll up to 350 students.
Grove Elementary is the first charter application in Boulder Valley in more than five years. In 2018, the school board denied an application for Ascent, a K-12 classical education charter. A charter high school extension of Boulder's existing Summit Middle School was approved in 2018, but organizers couldn't find a location and it didn't open. It's been more than 20 years since a new charter school opened in Boulder Valley, which has five charters.
Kunz said the proposal for Grove Elementary is the result of many years of requests from parents. Bal Swan, originally founded in the 1960s to serve children with disabilities, is located at 1145 East 13th Ave. The site is less than a mile from Boulder Valley's boundaries with both the Adams 12 and Jefferson County school districts, according to organizers.
The child care center is currently raising money for a new, more modern facility that would include an infant-through-preschool center plus the new elementary.
"Through private philanthropy, we can cut the facility costs," Kunz said. "We need the community to help us build."
Along with needing to raise money for a building, Grove Elementary is proposing to open at a time when Boulder Valley is struggling with declining enrollment. Projections show K-12 enrollment shrinking from last school year's 27,273 students to 25,587 students in five years.
Though some of the district's schools would lose students to Grove, organizers said, they're projecting that Grove will help grow Boulder Valley's overall enrollment by drawing students from the surrounding school districts. None of Boulder Valley's existing charter schools are located in Broomfield.
Kunz said Bal Swan's leaders considered opening a private elementary school, but decided a charter school better fits with the school's core value of equity. Charter schools are public schools that are operated independently.
"We want a free, public option," she said.
The plan, according to the application, is for the school to provide "an inclusive, responsive learning environment that challenges and supports all students, including learners who may struggle in traditional schools. Our approach to instruction will promote community, empathy, confidence and academic achievement."
Kunz said social emotional learning would be infused throughout the school day instead of compartmentalized and taught through separate lessons. The school also would use an experiential, project based learning model and provide a lower student-to-teacher ratio for more individualized attention. Every classroom would be staffed with both a teacher and a para-educator, she said.
"We want to be a fully inclusive environment," she said. "We would like to meet every child's needs within the classroom."
Heather Matthews, a Grove Elementary board member and parent of an 8-year-old who previously attended Bal Swan, said her family was among those that wished their child could continue for elementary school.
"We call it the Bal Swan magic," she said. "Your child shows up and somebody notices something about them. It gives them a bounce in their step. They're making friends, working through challenges. They're learning about something that's important to them. They're learning in a hands on, curious way. Grove really is for all children."
She said the goal is to partner with Boulder Valley to provide another model, noting the school's focus aligns with the district's support for social emotional learning and neurodiverse learners.
"There's so much alignment," she said. "There's really a lot for the Boulder Valley School District to gain."