Partnership with NAU Continues (5.20.2024)

Hello FJA Families,

I hope you are doing well. I'm writing to share that our middle school's partnership with NAU's South Beaver School will extend into the first semester of next school year. This means that while Aries Builders and Loven Contracting complete our buildings and sitework for our permanent Gemini Campus this summer/early fall, our middle school students will begin this upcoming school year at South Beaver in August.

South Beaver has been good to us and, in just two short months, has afforded us some unique academic and extracurricular opportunities (NAU disc golf course, lunch at the student union, and STEM Day at the Skydome, just to name a few). So, we are content to be staying on an extra few months.

We are also confident in the construction timeline that our project management/ contractor team has now been able to specify. Below are some important pieces of that timeline. We are looking forward to being at our forever campus at 1800 N. Gemini Drive in the near future and in time for the start of the second semester at the latest:

• Final city permits completed in June

• Buildings arrive from Phoenix and are on site in July

• Sitework and inspections performed during July through October

• Welcome Students to Gemini Campus: after Fall Break OR after Thanksgiving Break, depending upon site readiness

Many of you have asked what you can do to support our relocation efforts. We will call on folks to again help with donating and moving boxes, as well as some major springtime campus landscape projects. Additionally, you can always share our donation website with others, as the relocation project is costly-approximately $9 million in total. Spread the word among friends and families who believe in the power of a small school like FJA to foster students' sense of belonging, connectedness, and confidence: https://givebutter.com/giveFJA.

Please do reach out if you have any questions. Assistant Director Kristin Patterson and I are available and happy to chat. Thank you! Dr. Morrison.

FJA Continues to Receive Support!   (5.8.2024)

A heartfelt thank you to the GeoFamily Foundation for their generous donation of $25,000.00, we have earmarked these funds to support our Middle School Relocation Project.  In addition to this contribution, we have received several donations from members of our community, helping us to raise 25% of our initial $150,000.00 fundraising goal.  Thank you all for your generosity!  We recognize that this will be a long-term fundraising effort and appreciate the support of our community.  If you would like to donate to the Middle School Relocation fund, you can learn more here: https://givebutter.com/giveFJA

GRATITUDE (4.2.2024)

grat-i-tude: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

We officially marked the end of our Bonito Era! Thanks to FUSD for hosting us all these years. Not surprisingly, our students were exceptional in their attitudes and actions during this whole process. We had schoolwide matches of boom ball, student farewell songs, and student odes to the building read-aloud. Some favorites included "Ode to Mr. Irwin's Rickety Desks," "Ode to the Other Side of the Building," "Ode to the Gluestick on the Ceiling," and "Ode to the Lack of Windows (sarcasm)." Feeling thankful and ready for our fresh start!

Today is our middle school’s first day at South Beaver! Lots of great energy in the air and gratitude all around to NAU for offering us this beautiful temporary home before we move to our permanent Gemini Campus. This would not have been possible without NAU Space Manager Valerie Barret having the vision and coordinating all the moving parts to make things happen swiftly. On behalf of FJA’s students, staff, and families, many thanks to NAU Facility Services, Fire Life Safety, Police Department, Property Surplus, CPRM (Contracts, Purchasing & Risk Management), Information Technology Services, and the university as a whole.

THANK YOU TO OUR COMMUNITY! (3.18.2024)

 Many hands made for lighter work as our dedicated volunteers, families, students, and staff helped to kick off our temporary relocation to the Beaver Street School on NAU’s campus.  It is a huge undertaking to move a school and we appreciate the support and help of our community!  It feels wonderful to begin to imagine our students in this light filled school building as it brings us one step closer to our permanent home on Gemini!

Our plan submittal to the city went extremely well and we have the green light to move ahead with permitting requests and submissions.  Our dedicated crew of architects, contractors, development team and administration continue to meet weekly and are steadfast in keeping the forward moving momentum of the project.  We remain committed to securing FJA’s new permanent home!

Currently our buildings are being assembled and finished at the warehouse in the valley and are on track for on-time delivery.  We have sitework ahead to ready the land for the buildings and we are looking forward to the work beginning once permits are in hand.

WE'VE FOUND A TEMPORARY HOME! (2.28.2024)

We are happy to share that we've secured an excellent location for our middle school students and staff to finish out the school year together: 506 South Beaver Street. 506 South Beaver Street is an NAU building on the very north edge of campus and was formerly the South Beaver School. The building has large classrooms, lots of windows and natural light, and-best of all-enough space to accommodate all our students and staff under the same roof. An additional benefit of our new lease is that it is runs through the first semester of next school year, in case we have any construction delays at our new Gemini Campus.

For some of you, the move to the South Beaver Street location might be more convenient; for others it may add a little time to your morning routine and travels. With this in mind, we will open up our school doors a bit earlier every day, at 7:30 instead of 7:45 a.m. However, school will still officially start at 8:00 a.m. each day.

We appreciate all of our families' support. Thank you. Thanks are also due to Kara Kelty at FALA and Justin DiNardi at FUSD as they helped us explore different temporary location options. And we owe a very special thank you to NAU for being a true community partner. NAU Space Manager Valerie Barret was aware of our situation through the similar one faced by the university's Early Learning and Development Center, and she had the vision and determination to help make our new temporary home a quick reality.

How Can You Help?

Some of you have inquired how you can help our school. We still need boxes! If you have some, please drop them off at either campus's office. We are also looking for some extra hands to help move teachers' materials and supply boxes from Bonito to Beaver over the first weekend of Spring Break (March 9 th through 11 th). If you are interested, please reach out to Assistant Director Kristin Patterson at kristinpatterson@fjacademy.com and let her know your availability.

WE ARE MOVING! (2.21.2024)

Even though we had hoped to finish out the school year in the current building on Bonito Street, we are very excited to be moving to another location to finish out the school year!  This move brings us one step closer to our forever home, the new Flagstaff Junior Academy Middle School, located on Gemini Street! 

Despite there not being much activity on the Gemini property itself, our builders are hard at work in their warehouses assembling our buildings, so they are ready for delivery as soon as the site work is finished this spring.  We look forward to opening the doors of our permanent home next fall. 

In the interim, we will have to move to another location, and our families are asking, “How do you move an entire school?”  And the answer is with a PLAN and one box at a time!  The administration has been busy developing a relocation and moving plan, working with our staff and teachers to make sure this temporary move is as smooth as possible, with minimum disruption for our students. 

How might things look and be different for your student over the next month?  Mainly, their classrooms will begin to look different.  Teachers and support staff will begin to pack up our campus and classrooms over the coming weeks, beginning this Friday afternoon during our normal monthly all-staff meeting.  Additionally, students might also see some extra people on campus, as a core group of volunteers and substitutes come in to lend an extra hand. 

On a final note, there is one thing that WON’T change: Your students will continue to be cared for and educated by our dedicated and amazing teachers and staff.  They are devoted to making sure all students have the best educational experience possible at FJA.

FLAGSTAFF JUNIOR ACADEMY SECURES PROPERTY FOR NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL CAMPUS (11.30.2023)

(Flagstaff, AZ. November 30, 2023) -- Flagstaff Junior Academy (FJA) has secured the property located at 1800 North Gemini Drive in an agreement with Charter Schools Development Corporation, which is financing the project. Covering more than six acres atop McMillan Mesa, the new location will provide a permanent home for the school’s middle school campus, serving 250 students and staff members.

For more than 10 years, FJA has held a series of one-year leases with Flagstaff Unified School District for their current location, situated within the old Flagstaff Middle School at 755 N. Bonito Street. This location is no longer available after the 2023–24 school year as it is slated for demolition.

The new campus allows for expansion in student enrollment and an environment that more closely aligns with the school’s values. Featuring 16 modular classrooms and a large multipurpose building from builder Aries Buildings, out of Colorado, the facility will showcase sustainable structures that meet stringent energy codes as set forth by the State of Arizona, ensuring the greatest energy efficiencies. A future phase of construction will allow for a gymnasium, an additional instructional building, and more parking. “While our current location has served us well, we are beyond excited about the many opportunities and the long-term stability that the new campus will offer our community,” shared FJA Executive Director Dr. Carissa Morrison.

The Flagstaff Junior Academy relocation project is slated to cost $8.4 million dollars total, including property acquisition, building construction, sitework, landscaping, etc. The school has been fortunate to work with a team of talented partners to make this relocation happen, including APMI Architecture, Loven Contracting, Aries Buildings, Colwell Shelor Landscape Architecture, and Flag Homes Real Estate’s Jerome Naleski, who as FJA Board President waived his agent’s commission in support of the project.

“We are grateful for Jerome’s generosity and leadership during the FJA’s years-long property search. With our future middle school site now secured, our plan is to shift gears and fundraise

in earnest to ensure a successful relocation and expansion.” Dr. Carissa Morrison added, “We invite our entire community—former and current FJA families, friends of the school, and like-minded individuals who believe in the FJA mission—to go to www.givebutter.com/giveFJA to donate. Any amount is appreciated.”

Flagstaff Junior Academy is a free public charter school that serves PreK through 8th graders by educating the whole child through academics, experiential excellence, and community. Applications for the 2024–25 school year and more information about the relocation project are available at www.fjacademy.com