Pikes Peak area charter schools seeing increase in enrollment since pandemic

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Charter Schools in Colorado Springs that are allowing in-person learning the first week of classes say they are seeing more enrollments.

Surveys done by school districts in Colorado Springs show that the majority of parents want their students to return to the classroom.

Officials with New Summit Charter Academy say within the last two weeks they have seen an increase in the number of students wanting to enroll and more have been placed on their waiting list.

"Our waiting list has actually doubled in size,” says Kim McClelland, the executive director and principal for New Summit Charter Academy.

The director says it's a trend not only happening at her school.

"What I hear from other leaders and other charter leaders is that they’ve seen an uptick in some of their enrollment as well," McClelland said.

New Summit has around 650 students with classes from kindergarted to eighth grade making it a little easier to make decisions when it comes to protecting students from the virus. McClelland says, "We do have more autonomy to make decisions that are based fully on our own community."

They also just announced on Wednesday their middle school will also resume in-person classes with of course all of the same safety precautions.

However, McClelland did say not all of their students opted for in-person learning saying about 30 percent of the school will start the year off with e-learning instead.

Despite the increase, McClelland says there are still spots open for multiple grade levels except for kindergarten and sixth grade.