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A Little History . . .
New Branches School grew out of a private, non-sectarian school called The Climbing Tree School, which was formed by a small group of parents and teachers who came together with an idea for an innovative type of school. They wished to provide an alternative to the programs and practices of traditional schools.
The Climbing Tree School opened in September of 1971 and was approved by the State Board of Education in December of the same year. Twenty-one students attended during the first year. For the next four years, the school operated out of a two-room country school building in Comstock Park. In the spring of 1975 the members of the community voted to sell the Comstock Park facility and relocate within the City of Grand Rapids. After renting space from Saint Francis Xavier School for six years the school facility at 256 Alger St was purchased in 1980.
In January of 1994, members of the Climbing Tree community decided to begin working together to form a new charter school. Charter schools, part of the educational reform movement, act as an independent public school, overseen by an authorizing body. Charter schools receive the same per pupil allotment as the local public school districts in which they reside.
After many months of work on the charter school application and contract, the New Branches' Charter was authorized by Central Michigan University in August, 1994. It was the third school in Michigan to receive a charter and was the first school to be approved by the State of Michigan.
New Branches Public School Academy has been a staple in the Grand Rapids community for 15 years. Starting in the 2006-2007 school year New Branches School began a growth process, adding 1 new classroom each year. We started with the addition of a second Kindergarten room and have moved up a grade each year since. In 2007-2008 New Branches proudly added the specialized 6th Grade Environmental Outreach Program. Following this addition the school began to upgrade the environmental theme through all of our classrooms. Currently we have 200 plus students filling our school in Kindergarten through 6th Grade. |
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