Growing charter school's new setting feels right at home

TYNGSBOROUGH - Ivy grows on one side of the spacious brick building. Acres of green grass and towering woods surround the school. Upon first sight, one might be led to believe it's a pricey private institution.

But this sanctuary is actually the new home of the Innovation Academy Charter School.

"Students, faculty, and parents have been thrilled by the new building," said Walter Landberg, the school's executive director and high school principal. "They pull up here and think that it looks just like a private school, like Exeter or Andover. But it's a public school."

On Sept. 3, the school opened at this new location on Tyng Road, after moving from Chelmsford.

The 80,000 square-foot building in Tyngsborough was purchased from Boston University at the beginning of July for $7 million, according to Landberg.

The school serves grades five through 10, with a middle school and a high school.

Plans call for Innovation Academy to add an additional grade each year until a full high school is created.

For the school, which had been renting space from the Town of Chelmsford to accommodate its growing student body, the move here was imperative for its anticipated expansion.

"It was really important for us to find space for both schools," said John Schneider, chairman of the board of trustees. "We needed extra space for the high school, and it will help for the middle school and the high school to grow together."

Currently, the school has an enrollment of roughly 450 students. It plans to add 75 students each year as it develops its full high school. Ultimately, Landberg expects a body of 600 students when the expansion is complete.

The school also plans to gradually increase its staff as it expands. Each year, it hopes to add five to seven teachers. The school has increased its maintenance staff from one to three this year.

Application to Innovation Academy is open to anyone in the state, though prospective students are chosen through a lottery format. Higher priority is given to those from the region, and Landberg said that Lowell, Billerica, and Chelmsford students are well represented among his school's population.

So far, students have been impressed with the new facility.

"This school is much nicer than the old school," said Melissa Kiessling, 15, of Billerica. "The classrooms here are so much bigger and not as cramped. They're of a newer, higher quality."

Sam Freeman, a 10th-grader, echoed Kiessling's sentiments and noted the increased opportunity that the Tyngsborough location provides.

"There's a lot more room here on the campus to do other activities," said Freeman, 15, of Chelmsford. "You can go outside and go around the grounds. We've already had a biology class outside. This location offers a much more personal experience."

Previously the school was located about 10 miles away on Brick Kiln Road in Chelmsford, where it had been situated since 1996.

Landberg said the Chelmsford property has since been sold to Merrimack Educational Collaborative for $3 million. To fund its purchase and relocation to Tyngsborough, the school has worked with both MassDevelopment, an organization that aids in-state economic development, and Century Bank of Boston.

The aesthetic transformation from its diminutive site to its new expansive location has been the most talked about aspect of the school's move.

"I think [the new site] is physically beautiful," said Schneider, a Lowell resident whose daughter Rosey is a 10th-grader at the school. "You look at the building and it says, 'This is about learning.' This is the type of place where you can grow as an individual and have a lot of pride."

Boston University had used the Tyngsborough property for corporate education training before the sale. However, despite no longer owning the building, which was erected in 1987, BU still leases the space on evenings.

As of now, the school has no formal plans to add to its 200-acre property. However, it has a vision of creating playing fields and perhaps a field house for a gymnasium, though nothing has been drawn up. .

For Landberg, the best features of the new school are its auditorium, wireless networking throughout the building, and classroom furnishings, which he describes as being "college level."

"Overall, this purchase has been tremendous for our school," he said. "Right now, one could actually argue that we are in perhaps the nicest charter school in the entire country."