LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - Nearly 500 slots have been filled at the new Willow Charter Academy, scheduled to open in August.
Officials from National Heritage Academies, the charter school’s management company, hosted an open lottery Thursday to determine which children would be accepted. The lottery was necessary because the school received 538 applications for the 492 available slots.
Amy Johnson, a National Heritage Academies registrar, tells The Advertiser (https://bit.ly/1qEZ3rj ) those who did not receive slots were placed on a waiting list.
Fewer than 20 parents made it to the Clifton Chenier Center Thursday for the lottery. Several of those in attendance expressed relief when they saw their children’s names appear on a large screen as the electronic lottery took place.
“We’re excited,” said Teresa Robertson, whose daughter and two sons received spots in second, third and fourth grades respectively.
Robertson said she applied her children to the charter school hoping for smaller class sizes and more emphasis on character development, in addition to academics.
“They do focus a lot on the morals and values at the school,” she said. “I think that’s something that’s missing in their schools now. It’s not that they don’t want to do it; it’s just hard to fit it in sometimes.”
Overall, the school filled 100 kindergarten slots, 84 first-grade slots, 84 second-grade slots, 84 third-grade slots, 84 fourth-grade slots and 56 fifth-grade slots.
Willow Charter Academy will open in August in the former Albertson’s supermarket next to Northgate Mall, just off of the Evangeline Thruway near Willow Street. Earlier this year, the school named Melissa Jones Clarke as its first principal.
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Information from: The Advertiser, https://www.theadvertiser.com
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