Wheeler District charter school application approved
An application for a dual-immersion charter school has been approved for Oklahoma City' s Wheeler District.
The Oklahoma City School Board voted in favor of an application to create Western Gateway Elementary School. The new charter school proposal passed a vote during a board meeting Monday.
Ashley Terry, director of public life for the Wheeler District, said the school's charter application committee was “overjoyed to finally move forward with the opening of Western Gateway Elementary.”
“The school will provide a unique opportunity for students to learn in an immersive, inclusive environment,” Terry said in a statement. “We're excited to collaborate with OKCPS to create a one-of-a-kind bilingual education program in south Oklahoma City.”
Western Gateway has applied to teach English-speaking and Spanish-speaking students in the Wheeler District neighborhood south of the Oklahoma River and west of S Western Avenue.
The school district still needs to negotiate a contract for the creation of the school, though the application was approved.
Representatives of the Wheeler District submitted an application for the school twice before but, until Monday, had been unsuccessful in gaining board approval. The board heard presentations of the application in April and again in June before voting to deny the proposal July 15.
Western Gateway had 30 days to appeal the decision. The newest submission resolved the school district's two primary concerns with the application.
First, board members were concerned the chart er school wouldn't be able to maintain a student body with at least 60% of children who qualified for free or reduced lunches. The school dramatically widened the boundaries of its proposed academic enterprise zone to include more low-income neighborhoods surrounding the Wheeler District.
With its bounds expanding by 75%, the enrollment zone will cover half of the residences in Will Rogers Courts and portions of t he Higgins Heights and College Hill neighborhoods. The board specifically recommended the school's attendance zone include these areas.
The school expects only 10% of initial enrollees to come from within the Wheeler District. As the neighborhood development grows, representatives said they expect fewer than 40% of the student body to come from Wheeler District homes during t he proposed five-year period of the application.
The board's second concern prompted Western Gateway to no longer include fifth grade classes in its application. The district has moved fifth grade to the middle school level.
To match the new district feeder pattern, Western Gateway will educate children from pre-K through fourth grade.
Superintendent Sean McDaniel recommended the board approve the application after seeing the two issues resolved.
Board member Carrie Coppernoll Jacobs voted in favor of McDaniel's recommendation, but she voiced concerns about the school's application proposals, particularly in maintaining a 50% Spanish-speaking student body.
“I hope that we all work closely together, as it sounds like we have been doing, to support all kids,” Coppernoll Jacobs said. “I have a lot of reservations but today I'm going to err on the side of going with the superintendent and his expertise.”