American Prep eying vacant Pleasant View building to launch new school
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- The ex-Capstone Classical Academy charter school in Pleasant View, photographed Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.
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- The ex-Capstone Classical Academy charter school in Pleasant View, photographed Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.
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- The ex-Capstone Classical Academy charter school in Pleasant View, photographed Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.
PLEASANT VIEW — For two-and-a-half years, the ex-Capstone Classical Academy building in Pleasant View has sat empty, gathering dust and waiting for a new tenant.
Two possibilities to fill the space at 3885 U.S. 89 have emerged, then faded. Now, a third would-be tenant is eying the empty school building — Draper-based American Preparatory Academy, operator of seven facilities in Salt Lake and Utah counties.
Even so, it’s not a sure thing American Prep will end up in the 4-year-old, 35,000-square-foot structure, completed in 2018 as a school. It’s two stories and can accommodate 500-plus students.
The charter school operator is mulling launch of a school serving K-6 students at the location and recently started soliciting enrollment applications from the public. However, American Prep hasn’t been able to secure a license to operate as a charter school at the location, which would bring state funding with it. Thus, officials are proposing a tuition-based model.
“It’ll be private, fully private. We won’t receive any public funding,” said David Sharette, business development director for American Prep.
That may make it tough to get off the ground, he said. Tuition would be $1,100 a month for students in first through sixth grades, according to the American Prep website detailing the plans. On the other hand, Sharette said American Prep would get “good terms” from the building owner if it uses it.
“The owner of the building has obviously been stuck in a bad spot with an empty school building just sitting there,” he said. An entity called Charter WC Pleasant View of Aventura, Florida, is listed in online property records as the owner of the building and the 5 or so acres where it sits.
A Pleasant View city rep is anxious to see the school building getting use. “We are excited at the prospect of it being utilized. It’s a beautiful facility,” said Amy Sue Mabey, the Pleasant View city administrator.
Whatever the case, Sharette said American Prep officials, who would like to start operations in the 2023-2024 school year, probably won’t make a final determination on whether to move forward with their plans until next March. They first want to get a gauge of interest via online applications and planned meetings with the public.
Capstone Classical Academy, which launched in August 2018, operated for less than two school years in the Pleasant View building, closing in April 2020 due to financial difficulties brought on by low enrollment. The building was built for Capstone.
Another proposed charter school, Utah Mountain School, planned to move into the space. Those behind the school secured permission to operate it as a charter school, enabling access to state funds. But the plans dissolved in May 2021 even before the school started operating because the school organizers couldn’t drum up the sort of interest among would-be students needed to make it feasible, according to Jennifer Lambert, executive director of the Utah State Charter School Board.
The Weber Housing Authority earlier this year put forward a proposal to use the building as a rehab facility for people with substance abuse issues. Those plans, too, fizzled, according to Andi Beadles, the Weber Housing Authority director.
Sharette said the preference of American Prep officials would be to operate the Pleasant View facility as a charter school. However, he lamented what he said was a bias against new charter schools among state officials, which he maintains is what led to the denial of American Prep’s charter application.
Lambert, however, said American Prep officials need to resolve a lingering dispute with state officials over funding of special education at another American Prep school before it will be able to get a charter. Utah State Charter School Board officials, she said, are proponents of charter schools.
Sharette said American Prep puts a focus on classical literature and texts and teacher-centered instruction. “We use direct instruction where the teacher is fully at the helm,” he said.
American Prep operates three charter schools in Draper, two in West Valley City and one in Salem. It also operates an early learning center in Draper.