To all the students, parents, staff, and administration, welcome back to JA for the 2025–26 school year! We hope everyone had a great summer. Just as a reminder, we have a parent survey available for you to fill out about the upcoming school year. As a parent-governed charter school, your feedback can directly affect the school. Please follow your appropriate campus link below to complete it:

JA campuses

Summit campuses

We are also looking for awesome volunteers to come check out and help with the committees! JA has many different committees and organizations that directly shape the school we love. From policy and governance, PTO, finance, facilities, and many more, your time and input will further guide the school and help with critical activities. Please use this link to check out the committees, complete this committee interest form and/or reach out to the contact person or Board member liaison to express your interest!

We are pleased to announce that the dates for the upcoming Board meetings have been set. These meetings will provide valuable opportunities for discussion and decision-making on key issues affecting our school community. Last year, we rotated the meeting location between our campuses to encourage participation. To simplify logistics, all meetings this year will be held at Summit Westminster. Meetings are also available through Zoom for families that would like to remain informed but are not able to attend in person. We'll look for other opportunities to visit and interact with our individual campuses. Detailed agendas and additional information will be shared in advance of each meeting. Your involvement and feedback are crucial as we work together to shape the future of our school. All meetings are scheduled for 6pm and the dates are listed on the Board page here.

Tremendous progress is being made on the Secondary track! The concrete has been poured, and we expect to begin surfacing the track in the last week of August. We also received our permit for the grandstands and are beginning the fabrication process. We anticipate the track surface being available for use by mid-September with the grandstands completing in October. We're planning a celebration to commemorate the completion of this exciting project. More information will be shared as details are finalized!

Separately, Pre-K and JagCare are both up and running at the Elementary’s new next door facility! Our team has been hard at work over the past few months preparing the facility and securing all required permits. It has been amazing to welcome students into the building with the start of school. Over the next few weeks, we'll be completing a few final projects like replacing the older exterior doors with solid core alternatives.

The Board is delighted to officially welcome Dr. Ann Schultz as the new Principal of JA Secondary. With more than 30 years of experience in education, Dr. Schultz has served in Wisconsin as an elementary, middle, and high school principal, as well as a superintendent. Since moving to Colorado, she has led as Executive Director at Cherry Creek Academy and as Director of Academics at Colorado Early Colleges.

The Board’s first principal presentation of the year was given by Dr. Schultz who believes the true magic of education happens in everyday connections among students, teachers, and families—and supporting those relationships is what excites her most. Over the summer, she began meeting individually with staff members and now greets students at the door each morning. She has also begun aligning campus goals with the four pillars of the board’s five-year strategic plan: Talented Team, Successful Students, Connected Community, and Financial Fortitude. We look forward to her leadership in carrying JA’s mission, vision, and reputation forward.

As we all get back into the swing and schedules of the new school year, you may notice a lot of familiar faces. Seeing the same families and teachers year after year is one of the things that makes JA feel so much like a family. Having the same dedicated staff and administrative team is also what makes JA such a great place to work. At the recent Board meeting, the Principals shared their schools’ retention rates from last year to this year—and the results were impressive:

Elementary: 91.2%, Secondary: 88%, Coal Creek: 85%

As many of you know, Jefferson Academy has four main pillars outlined in our Strategic Plan: Financial Fortitude, Connected Community, Successful Students, and Talented Team. This year, we are focusing on the Talented Team pillar. We already have one of the best teams in the charter school system, and as a Board, we want to ensure that our staff continues to thrive and perform at the highest level for generations of JA students to come. You can view the full Strategic Plan here.