CdA charter school gets new agreement

The Coeur d’Alene School District this week renewed the charter for Coeur d’Alene’s first and only charter school.

The charter governing the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy for the past five years expired Wednesday. The new agreement lifts limits on enrollment, allows for any grade level and has no expiration date.

Though the charter allows the school to grow, Principal Nels Pitotti said the school is limited by its resources. Housed in a former garden center, the school started with 168 students and has nearly doubled. Portable classrooms and renovations have helped ease crowding, but Pitotti said the school’s long-range plan calls for “slow, calculated and deliberate growth.”

Land purchased near the school is slated for expansion and to remedy the school’s congested parking lot.

When the school was chartered five years ago, it was pitched as offering a rigorous college prep curriculum. “I believe we were able to meet our original goals and intent,” Pitotti said.

Despite a reputation as having “nothing but brains,” Pitotti said the school doesn’t, and can’t, discriminate against students who want to attend. Anyone who wants to take on the challenge and whose name is drawn in the lottery for admission can attend, he said.

Last year’s graduating class had an average score of 1,240 on the SAT. A perfect score is 1,600.

Last year’s graduating seniors were offered a total of $2.25 million in scholarships, Pitotti said.

When the school opened, only students in grades 7 through 10 were accepted. Each year, the school expanded to eventually serve grades 6 through 12.

Pitotti said the school’s board of directors has already decided against expanding to include elementary classes.