Lava Hot Springs Academy on track to open in fall 2025
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LAVA HOT SPRINGS — Progress is being made on a new charter school that will occupy the same building as a long-standing elementary school.
After a series of discussions about potentially closing Lava Elementary School as a cost-saving measure, the Marsh Valley School District 21 Board of Trustees voted on Feb. 12 earlier this year to explore the possibility of opening a charter school in its stead. In the last 10 months, progress has steadily been made on the school, with Lava Hot Springs Academy expected to open at the start of the next school year.
“We’ve turned something that could have been a really sad situation for a lot of residents and the school children into a win-win situation because now they’re going to get a charter that’s open to the whole valley,” said Kolleen DeGraff, who will become the academy director upon the school’s opening.
Most recently, the board voted to approve the memorandum of understanding and lease agreement at its Sept. 9 meeting, making it official that the charter will occupy the same building that Lava Elementary School did.
Most of the building was constructed in 1979 after the demolition of the original building, built in 1911. Its attached gymnasium was built in 1934, according to the Idaho State Historical Society.
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Before this, DeGraff drafted an around 60 page charter petition and presented it to the school board at its September meeting, which they approved.
In addition, people who had been involved in the effort to preserve Lava Elementary came together to form an advisory committee and held public meetings to get an understanding of what the community wanted out of the charter.
After the September approval DeGraff established a founders board, made up of seven members, who have been tasked with establishing the new charter school. In December, they will transition into a charter governing board, which will have five members.
The next steps forward for the charter will be to begin the grant-writing process and bring in more funding for the school, which DeGraff expects will last until January. One grant the school plans to apply for is a historical society grant, thanks to the nine-decades-old gymnasium.
After hiring faculty and staff, which should be completed by some point in February or March, the governing board gets to work on actually creating the school, based on the input received from the public.
“We get to sit down and just figure out what the school day is going to look like. What’s the curriculum specifically going to be? How are we going to improve the look of the school and the way it functions?” DeGraff said. “To me, that’s the fun part.”
At some point in January, the lottery for school admission begins, when prospective students fill out an admission form to join the school. Priority is given to students who live in Lava Hot Springs and second priority is given to students in the Marsh Valley School District.
While at some point in the future there could be a waiting list, DeGraff doesn’t expect that happening right away.
“I would really love that if we filled it up and had a waiting list,” DeGraff said. “I think it will eventually, but right now, I think everyone who applies will get in.”
The charter school has an interest form available right now that will allow parents to be notified when admission is open. DeGraff said that these forms have already shown an interest from people across and outside the school district.
“That tells me something about the desire for what they hope the charter can achieve for their children,” DeGraff said.