Las Cruces Academy

Dear friends of the Las Cruces Academy,

We’re starting an occasional newsletter to share the news of how the LCA is developing with your help.  This edition summarizes the news since our founding, with a focus on the very active past month.  It’s abbreviated to be readable in everyone’s busy schedule, and we anticipate shorter newsletters in the future.  If you’d like more details on anything,  please email us, or call us at 521-9384 (Lou Ellen) or 571-2269 (Vince).

Thanks,
Lou Ellen Kay and Vince Gutschick
(Very active trustees David Gutschick and Sue Shiao are back at school in California)

Please let us know if this newsletter is useful, as well as how we might make it more useful.  Also, please forward this to other interested parents and teachers whom you know.  Let us know about any possible sources of support – donations, work, scholarships for students - from the community on up to national levels; we’ll pursue all the leads.  Thanks again.

Before starting the news of the month, here is a quick overview of the initial work:

• The Academy was incorporated in March, 2007.  Its articles of incorporation and by-laws are online (http://lascrucesacademy.org/wiki.cgi/ArticlesOfIncorporation and http://lascrucesacademy.org/wiki.cgi/Bylaws).   It was licensed in the county; it will be licensed instead in the city very soon.
• It has non-profit 501(c)(3) status from the IRS, retroactive to March, 2007.
• A Board of Trustees directs the Academy; the four of us mentioned above are on the board, as well as new trustees, Paul Deason and Harry Helmuth.  (More news below.)
• The Academy has a bank account at the FirstLight FCU.  Financial recordkeeping and tax preparation has been arranged with Fristoe and Associates, PA, in Las Cruces; they have offered minimal charges while we start up.
  • We have done extensive surveys on our needs and potential:
  • How gifted children learn – personal experiences, consultations with teachers and founders of schools for the gifted, books, Web articles; studies of model schools (Perth Modern School, Illinois Math and Science Academy)
  • Curricula that meet their needs; we have outlined curricula in math, science, history, English, and Chinese, and are working toward Spanish and other subjects
  • Other subjects: physical education needs; music and art curricula.
  • Licensing and accreditation (school, teachers, principal); Lou Ellen has taken the first course on the way to reach 24 credits in early childhood and 9 in school administration  for her certification as principal (completion needed in 6 years)
  • Useful procedures for admission, rules for students
  • Sources for grants, from community to national levels
  • Building space and configuration, play areas, teaching materials, furnishings
  • Developing a museum that the students will contribute to and also operate as docents
  • Developing outreach programs (radio, fliers) for the whole community of students in Las Cruces.
• We have recruited students and teachers, via the Website (below), personal contacts, and brochures (we printed 500 copies and we are preparing more).  The brochures have been placed in high-traffic locations where interested parents pass and have attracted a number of inquiries already.
• Many donations have come in, in cash ($900) and in kind (over 1,600 books, worth an estimated $4,338), marketable artwork estimated at $3,950, and other educational materials and furnishings, for a total of over $11,000.  Extensive Website development was also contributed by David and Sue. Donations continue to come in, from local sources as well as benefactors in Colorado and California.
• The Website (http://lascrucesacademy.org) was set up by David and Sue.  It is hosted by godaddy.com with full functionality and security (SSL certificate for secure pages); it is managed with MoinMoin wiki engine.
• We looked at several buildings to lease – this is firming up rapidly in the past month, and the likelihood is that we will buy a building; see below.

News of the past month, organized by topic

• Students and teachers
  • We have strong interest from 6 students, all of whom we hope to have join us in the LCA in August.  Our financial projections call for 28 students.  We’ve met with a number of you in small to large-ish groups, and we’ll continue to do this.  We’ll recruit even more in the coming months.  Please help us by passing this newsletter on and talking with your friends and acquaintances.   Everything helps.
  We are preparing new brochures in quantity.  Following the advice of our financial advisors, we are also considering directed mailings and radio spots.
  • We have initial agreements from Chinese and Spanish teachers, and two other highly qualified teachers are considering the Academy.  Lou Ellen will contribute teaching in math and science.  Our teachers are moving in from their other careers to work with us part-time.  We expect to need 6 or 8 teachers, depending on grades included.  Again, we are actively recruiting and your help is always appreciated.
• Sound advice on teaching and recruiting:
  • We met with Karen Mikel of the PREP program, which engages 6th to 12th graders to prepare them for engineering studies, and to get them excited about it.  We also shared many ideas about administration, its good and bad aspects as presently constituted and how to do it best.
  • We met with Lucy Rathgeber of PAGE (Parents and Advocates of Gifted Education) to talk about gifted-child education in general.
  • Lou Ellen attended the monthly meeting of PAGE on April 8th.   She spoke briefly about the Academy to this very dedicated group of parents, facilitators, and students.
• Building.  This has been our major challenge.  The city has a considerable list of requirements (1-acre lot, location on a major feeder road, etc.).  City fire inspector James von Schriltz, who has been extremely helpful, noted many other requirements (sprinkler system, all doors opening outward and fitted with crash bars instead of knobs, fire escape from second floor, etc.), and we have others (play area in place or developable; location near center of area from which students will be drawn; attractive premises).
  • We examined  30 locations, 4 of them in detail, plus one more of 5 acres for future expansion.  The best match on almost every count is the old Porter mansion, 920 N. Alameda Blvd., at Picacho (NE corner):

The building is beautiful, while requiring some repair (water damage on one wall, cracks in the stucco, rotted ornamental viga ends) and significant upgrading for use as a school (fire sprinkler system, fire alarms, door rehanging, addition of 2 doors, fire escape from 2nd floor, extra handrail on stairs, plugging of unused fireplaces, etc.).

• Consequently, we have invited 6 contractors, each recommended by a contractor in town whom we have known for more than a decade, to examine the premises and develop estimates.  We expect the total to be about $100,000.
• The owners are interested in selling, not leasing, for personal reasons.  We have put the purchase of the building into our financial plans.
• Zoning was originally thought to be problematic, in that we might need a variance because the lot is only 0.55 acre.  Steinborn realtors have been very forthcoming, and gave us a copy of the city ordinance for this property, showing that it is already zoned for use as a school, public, private, or parochial.
• The realtors have also been candid about price bargaining and many documents (title binder, survey, inspection report).
• The building, as we discovered, is in the Alameda-Depot Historic District.  This restricts the changes we can make, but should ultimately work in our favor.  We may qualify for funding from the state’s historic preservation fund and also the city’s downtown development fund.  We attended a city planning on April 7th; we are in compliance with all current and future zoning.
• We met with a recently retired realtor to craft an offer to the owners.  She also advised us on all the details we should request, and have since successfully requested, from the realtors, including the survey and title binder noted above.
• In a recent development (April 8th), we were informed by our realtor that the owner is now considering a lease to a business associate, and will decide on this by Monday.  We are hastening to decide on, and generate, a serious offer to buy the property.
• Toward that end, we went to the City of Las Cruces Office of Community Development, with the idea of requesting a pre-purchase inspection.  The city does not do these, but, upon purchasing a city business license, as we did, the city will do the inspections within 7 business days (by April 17th).  They will list all items out of compliance, just the information we need.
• On April 9th, city fire inspector Steve Archuleta met us to help determine the permitted occupancy.  From his information, we estimate this as at least 100 students, which meets our growth plans up to year 4.  Steve and James, the other fire inspector, will be sending us additional information.

• Financing
  • For purchasing the building, doing the renovations, and equipping the school, we anticipate getting a loan for $600,000.  The costs of paying teachers and equipping the building were estimated in great detail, detail that the banks don’t need but that we need.
  • All of us have worked in concert with three financial advisors, and primarily with Tom Heilpern of SCORE and Mike Levine of the Small Business Development Center, both in Las Cruces, to develop the narrative and the numbers in the business plan.  In the course of a dozen meetings, we learned a good deal about business accounting and cash flow.  Both Tom and Mike think that the plan is in very good shape, ready to go to the banks next week.   We also have brief but important advice from Norm Fristoe, our bookkeeper and tax preparer, that we (Vince and Lou Ellen) should buy the building in our name and lease it at no added cost to the Academy.  This is good for taxes and also for getting a loan (we have excellent credit, while the school has no credit record).
  • We met with bankers from Pioneer Bank, Citizens Bank, and the Bank of the Rio Grande, for initial explorations.  These devolved into deeper discussions of finances.  Each bank prefers to structure loans (terms, rates and their adjustment, collateral) differently.  We will be meeting them again very soon to develop loan bids.
• Everything else
  • Sandy Nakamura has moved from the board of trustees to our nascent board of advisors, because she is busy with a full-time job with the public schools, researching for her Ph. D. in education, and being a grandmother.  Paul Deason and Harry Helmuth are joining the board of trustees.  Paul is a private consultant with a long resume in federal service.  His resume will soon be visible on the Website. Harry is a history and economics teacher, retired military with experience in business, and recently retired from the Las Cruces high schools, not to mention being one of David’s all-time favorite teachers.
  • The board met on March 30th to discuss finances, the building, recruiting, and other topics.
  • We purchased a Xerox 6180 MFP/D copier, to be delivered in the next few days, to handle all office work, plus economical printing of color brochures and other publicity.  The choice resulted from research and visits to owners of other models.
  • Many of you have offered help in recruiting students and teachers, organizing school records, doing renovations, and more.  We deeply appreciate these, and, of course, will gratefully take you up on any offers.
  • We attended several meetings to connect to the community for ideas, logistics, and possible financial support.  We participated in the Chamber of Commerce’s Good Morning, Las Cruces program on March 14th, meeting many leaders of businesses, small to large.  We attended the monthly business meeting of the Southern New Mexico High-Tech Consortium on March 17th, and briefly presented the LCA ideas.  We also participated in the monthly luncheon of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance on April 1st.
  • Following up on the above, we are registered to participate in three more events this month:
    • the Southern New Mexico High-Tech Symposium, on April 17th, at the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum., where we will make a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation at 1:15 PM in Session 1.
    • Education Day, on April 18th, at the County Building
    • ENGAGE-New Mexico, on April 25th, at the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, where we will have a table and also participate in discussions. This forum concentrates on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education.
  • Operations: in seeking a quote for insurance, we learned that many other tasks are in line, particularly developing written policies on everything from safety to employment to access control and more.  We will buy some customizable manuals on safety (rather than write 200+ pages ourselves) and draft other policy statements on models that are available from a variety of sources.  We have been advised by Tom Heilpern that insurance is much more affordable if we can join a private-school association.   The associations we have found thus far require that the school has already been in operation, but we are still searching.
  • Board member David Gutschick will return to Las Cruces in mid-June, following graduation from Caltech, and will work the next 6 months on the LCA fortunes.

In summary, the LCA is taking shape, and a good shape, very rapidly.  We are very happy with these developments, and particularly with the great feeling of community in this enterprise