News

FernLeaf Charter School to locate in Fletcher

A site plan shows proposed school buildings for FernLeaf Community Charter School.

By Bill Moss, Published: October 23, 2015

FLETCHER — FernLeaf Community Charter School will locate its school on 26 acres of land on Cane Creek across the road from Fletcher Community Park, the school announced Thursday.

The Fletcher Planning Board on Tuesday approved FernLeaf’s site plan for the development on Howard Gap Road.

"The large size of this property, its proximity to Fletcher Park and the fact that it is still ‘in town’ represent an amazing opportunity for FernLeaf," Michael Luplow, a FernLeaf board member and leader of the charter school, said in a news release. “It affords the natural elements we were looking for but is still close enough to town that we can engage with the community. It provides the space needed for our active learning environment and provides opportunities for outdoor education, gardens, outdoor classrooms, and community gathering spaces.

"With substantial frontage on Cane Creek, we envision an opportunity for a wetland restoration project that would involve all grade levels, numerous facets of the community, and a variety of organizations over a 5-10 year period," added Luplow, who teaches orchestra at Apple Valley Middle School. "This type of school/community wide project would facilitate the teaching of numerous aspects of the curriculum, connect students with their community, and help everyone to understand the importance of protecting our waterways. Along with a potential restoration, we also envision numerous opportunities for the creation and study of various wildlife habitats. In the long term, we would like to see the development of the site as something of an environmental and conservation teaching campus to be utilized by other schools and the community as a whole.”

The site plan and renderings of the facilities can be found on FernLeaf's website.​

FernLeaf is a small, compassionate, K-8 tuition free public school opening in August 2016. It will begin accepting applications for grades K-3 beginning in January. Interested families are encouraged to submit their​Intent to Apply ​forms via the school’s website as soon as possible.