Popular classical school gains room to grow
After rapid enrollment growth led to a need for larger facilities, the public charter school Aristoi Classical Academy is breaking ground on a new campus in Katy.
The open-enrollment school, which offers a tuitionfree classical, liberal arts education, plans to build on 22 acres it purchased at 5610 Morton Ranch Road. The first phase of work will provide a 20,000-square-foot multipurpose building and gymnasium, a 4,000-square-foot kitchen, portable classroom buildings, and an athletic field.
Headmaster Brenda Davidson said of the site, “It will give us room for kindergarten through 12th grade, with a garden in the center for science classes and athletic fields.”
The $10 million cost to buy the land and build the first
phase of facilities was financed through sale of municipal bonds.
The school, now based at a campus on 11th Street near Avenue D in Katy as well as at leased space on Avenue A, serves grades kindergarten through 10 and will add 11th grade in the fall and 12th grade in fall 2017.
Architects are developing a master plan for the site. The goal is to move grades 5-12 to portables on the site in the 2017-18 school year. Construction will then begin on the secondary building to house those grades.
The second phase of the project is expected to begin in two to three years. The completion of that phase will allow Aristoi to move elementary grade levels to the Morton Road campus.
Aristoi’s enrollment, expected to be about 750 in the fall, grows on average 100 to 125 students per year. Enrollment ended in April for next fall. After returning students enrolled, others were selected through lottery, and Aristoi maintains a growing waiting list.
The first graduating class will occur in the 201718 school year.
Davidson explained that since charter schools do not receive funding from the state for facilities, the academy will start a capital fundraising campaign.
The school is planning to host a gala and auction in the fall and will start reaching out to area corporations for support.
Emphasis on history
“Aristoi” is a Greek word to describe nobility, or those with the best qualities. Davidson said that the school is on a mission to provide a challenging classical education, starting as early as kindergarten.
The curriculum is built around classic pieces of literature and philosophy and has a strong emphasis on history.
“Classical education is about merging wisdom and virtue,” Davidson said. “It supports the formation of a student’s character. There’s such a thing as truth, and it’s noble. They determine that through their reading and understanding of history.”
“We take our students from the Greeks to Rome to the U.S.,” she said. “When our founding fathers came to America, they brought with them a classical education.”
Students start learning Latin in the sixth grade and continue studying it through junior high. They may add another language to their repertoire in high school.
The athletic department offers flag football, track, basketball and volleyball. Soccer will be added soon.
The school has a band and theater department, as well as art with a focus on art history.
Students built their foundation in elementary grades, Davidson said.
“They’re learning vocabulary; they’re reading the classics,” she said. “They learn math concepts and science concepts that they will build on for the rest of their education.”
In fifth through eighth grade, they begin diving into critical thinking.
“They have a lot of conversations and ask a lot of questions,” Davidson said. “Even in math, they’re talking it through and are able to explain what they did and why.”
In high school, the students start developing writing skills.
“They need to be able to speak and write eloquently and persuasively,” Davidson said. “We want to give them the ability to make a difference in the world around them. We’re developing responsible American citizens who will make informed decisions.”
‘Unique school’
Aristoi is a “first generation charter school,” opening as one of the first 20 in the state in 1996, Davidson said.
It was first called West Houston Charter School and was dedicated to performing arts but saw attendance drop to 192 and switched to a classical curriculum in 2006.
“The only classical school in the area were private, where parents have to pay $10,000 to $20,000 a year for a child to attend,” Davidson said. “We wanted to offer this to everyone, not only those with the financial means to afford it.”
Aristoi offers a similar curriculum at no cost. Davidson joined the campus as a first-grade teacher during the 2006-07 school year, the first of its transition.
Since becoming a classical academy, the campus has become increasingly popular.
“It was really a turnaround school,” Davidson said. “It’s been a challenge, but the community has embraced classical education.”
Davidson said ultimately the goal is to make a classical education more accessible to students.
Tia DeCuir has two children enrolled at Aristoi — sixth-grader Della, 11, and second-grader David, 8.
DeCuir discovered the school while driving by one day and signed her daughter up.
“They got her out of her shell,” DeCuir said. “She just blossomed. She was getting by fine before, but she started thriving.”
DeCuir was so pleased with Aristoi that she enrolled her son the following year.
“They’re getting this wonderful classical education and it’s free,” She said. “I just have to pinch myself.”
Cindy Wall is the parent of five children, with four attending Aristoi — Amanda, 14, in eighth grade, Parker, 13, in seventh, Caitlyn, 10, in fifth and Connor, 6, in first. Next year, her youngest child Caroline will join her siblings in kindergarten.
Wall wanted to enroll her children in a private school.
“But it’s expensive when you have multiple kids,” she said. “We couldn’t afford to do it for all of them.”
Wall said that Aristoi allows all of her children to be together on one campus.
“It’s a very unique school,” she said. “It’s a diamond in the rough. It’s a beautiful school if you’re looking for something different.”