A Glimpse at New Schools: Thomas MacLaren School (Colorado Springs)

Update, 8/18: Denise at Colorado Charters offers more information on the new Thomas MacLaren School, as well as an account of the ribbon cutting ceremony.

If you live in the Colorado Springs area and have a student heading into the middle school years, you may want to take a look at the new Thomas MacLaren School. The tuition-free public charter school opens this month with classes from 6th to 9th grade. Eventually the school will serve students all the way up through high school.

Many things set MacLaren apart from traditional public schools, but most prominent are:

  • A classical education curriculum that builds from the basics of grammar (6th-8th grade) to the logic of finding “implications and relationships that exist among the ideas already learned” (9th-10th grade) to the higher-level rhetoric (11th-12th grade) “wherein students begin to synthesize and relate concepts already learned” — all students will be required to take four years of Latin
  • Student uniforms
  • Single-sex classrooms (that’s right: No yucky girls! I may have to look into this school….), except the fine arts classes (including choir, drama, etc.) and lunchtimes will be co-ed

Although located in the boundaries of Colorado Springs District 11, MacLaren has been authorized by the state’s Charter School Institute. Among the many other valuable pieces of information you can learn about the school is that the middle school grades each will open enroll 25 boys and 25 girls, while the high school grades will open enroll 20 of each.

If you live in the Springs area and have some time this weekend, you may want to check out the Thomas MacLaren School’s official ribbon cutting ceremony on Sunday, August 16, at 4 PM.

But even if you can’t make that special event, you may want to consider enrolling to find a spot for your child in this classical education program, giving your son or daughter the opportunity to become well-versed in Latin and other rigorous academic subjects. But don’t delay: Tempus fugit!