The planned American Leadership Academy-West Foothills campus near 175th and Olive avenues in Waddell was on a tight but possible turnaround, breaking ground April 23 with plans on opening for classes in August.
But the tail end of the pandemic scuttled those efforts. In mid-June the charter school announced the campus opening will wait a year, until 2022-23.
American Leadership Academy spokeswoman Melody Hudson stated in an email the length of time to build a K-12 school like ALA-West Foothills is normally less than a year.
“The primary reason construction hadn’t begun when we decided to delay the opening is that we were delayed in receiving building permits from local building officials due to pandemic-related backlogs. However, we have since received a building permit for ALA West Foothills and have begun moving forward with construction. As a result, there is ample time to complete construction ahead of the school’s new opening in August 2022,” Hudson stated.
She said the school has been met with a high volume of interest in applications for the charter district’s first West Valley campus.
The school will provide updates to all stakeholders and encourage those interested in ALA-West Foothills to follow the school on Facebook and join its interest list for real-time communications.
“When we announced the new school’s opening would be delayed to August 2022, we made individual and personalized calls to each and every family who had applied. We also shared our plans with those who have expressed interest. As a part of those communications, we let them know we’d be there to support them every step along the way, and we’d personally notify them when it’s time to begin to apply for the 2022-2023 school year,” Hudson stated.
The closest ALA comparison in the nearby area of Surprise is the Paradise Schools charter district. It has a K-5 elementary school campus at 15333 N. Paradise Ave., Surprise. Paradise Honors’ middle and high school campuses are a bit more than two miles north of The future ALA-West Foothills.
“Our enrollment numbers at Paradise Honors High School are up significantly prior to this announcement. Their decision obviously may affect parents who may have anticipated enrolling at ALA with enrollment being at or near capacity at this time. However, every year we have a number of late withdrawals, which should provide limited opportunity for these parents,” Patrick Schrader, Paradise Schools’ executive director, stated in an email “We are closed until July 6, so we will not know anything clearly until then.”
ALA declined to publicly release its financials on the purchase of this land or estimated cost of the construction of the new campus.
Hudson said when the delay was announced, there were a few positions left to staff at both the elementary and junior high/high school campuses based on likely enrollment projections. In addition, ALA has plans to increase staffing as enrollment increases in future years.
“We recognize that our faculty and staff are our greatest assets, alongside our families. Therefore, it is important to ALA that we find ways to leverage their talents and take care of them until ALA-West Foothills opens,” Hudson said. “Teachers will be preparing for the campus’ opening by working on lessons, collaborating with ALA teachers from other ALA campuses, and training on ALA curriculum, policies and procedures. This will allow the faculty and staff to be fully prepared and ready for the first day of school in August of 2022.”
Will Dunman was announced this spring as ALA West Foothills’ director.
Hudson said the campus has hired an assistant director of athletics and fully staffed the fine arts programs. Head football coach Timoti Su’e Su’e Liufau, a former assistant at Millennium High in Goodyear, was hired to lead the football program alongside athletic director Dakota Anderson.
She said both will remain on staff over the coming year and other administrative hires will be revealed in the coming months.
While the ALA high schools in the East Valley are known for athletics, Hudson said fine arts, leadership, service and other extracurricular activities are equally important.
In some ways an extra year will help to examine the best way to put together an eventual 2,000-student campus, Hudson said.
“Yes, by delaying ALA West Foothills’ opening to August 2022, we can provide the appropriate predictability and assurance to families. Further, we can offer tours and welcome enrolled families to an open house and orientation in a fully completed building ready to serve families and the community,” she said.
Richard Smith Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps @rsmithYWV
Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.
An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.
For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.
As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.
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