St. Croix Preparatory Academy
OverviewSt.
Croix Preparatory Academy opened in 2004 and is now the single largest charter
school in Minnesota. Starting with a K-7 in its first year, it now has a full
K-12 program with 960 students and 700 students on the waiting list. With the
rapid growth, the school quickly found itself in four different buildings in
downtown Stillwater and needed to find a permanent location for the school. In
2009, the school finished the construction of a new facility, just south of
Stillwater in Baytown Township.
St.
Croix Prep is based on a classical model of education. According to its website, a classical model
focuses on providing students with the life-long educational tools to learn and
think for themselves. The tradition is grounded in the time-tested methodology
of learning called the “Trivium”. It
recognizes that critical learning skills must precede critical thinking skills.
The Trivium methodology is organized into three distinct stages corresponding
to the general stages of a student’s cognitive development: grammar, logic
and rhetoric stages.
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2004
opened with 200 students in grades K-7
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2005
enrolled 252 students in grades K-8
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2006
enrolled 342 students in grades K-9
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2007
enrolled 444 students in grades K-10
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2008
enrolled 735 students in grades K-11
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2009
enrolled 880 students in grades K-12
2010
enrolled 960 students in grades K-12
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In
2008, with the decision to expand to high school, SCPA hired Bob Kreischer, the
founder of Mounds Park Academy to develop the upper level program. Today, the
upper level program boasts eleven sports programs and several fine arts and
additional extra-curricular activities.
Click here to see the St. Croix Preparatory Academy dashboard
Directors:
John
Gutierrez, Executive Director
Andrew
Sachariason, Dean of Students
Lisa Heathcote, Director, Lower School Wanda
Renner, Director, Middle School
Robert Kreischer, Director, Upper School
Address: 4260 Stagecoach Trail North
Website: www.stcroixprep.org
Email:
Phone: 651.395.5901
Core Strengths
The
core of SCPA’s success is its solid academic program and focus guided by the
strong leadership and management of the school, led by Executive Director Jon
Gutierrez. The school has been able to managed the rapid growth while also maintaining a stable internal culture
and strong academic results.
Parent
satisfaction which averages over 94% over a four-year period and student and
faculty retention also averaging over 94% during the same period, illustrates
the success of the school.
The
stability is reflected in the fact that the school now has individual directors
for the Lower (K-4), Middle (5-8) and Upper
(9-12) Schools as well as a new Dean of Students, who serves as the
academic leader for the entire school
