Academy Charter School welcomes city sewer line

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Piece by piece, the picture slowly comes together for Academy Charter School. Eight years ago the school opened with 20 kindergartners. Each year since then it has added one additional grade and now stands at 231 students, in grades K-8.

Every year, the school has added and remodeled buildings as it expanded. This summer, an important but unseen piece will be added to the K-8 school - a sewer line, hooking it up to the city of Palmer's sewer system.

Currently, the school uses a septic tank for all its sewer requirements, but principal Barbara Gerard said it is inadequate for a school its size. The tank was originally installed to serve 150 students but with seventh grade added last school year and eighth-graders coming on board this year, the sewer system is now overworked.

Rep. Bill Stoltze, R-District 16, was a Valley politician who had a hand in making sure Academy received the $100,000 municipal grant to pay for a sewer line. On Wednesday, the school held a special assembly with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade government students, to honor him with a Champion of Public Education plaque.

"It's funny sometimes what you get remembered for," Stoltze said. "You get credit for putting in a sewer line."

While he may not want his name attached to the new project, Stoltze said the sewer connection is a necessary component for the growing school.

"This is just a bare-bones place here and it's a health and safety issue," he said.

Now in its eighth year, Academy is running at full capacity, with no plans to add more students. The school, which employs specialty teachers who hold degrees in science, geography, art and music, operates at the old Mat-Su Borough maintenance site with the use of eight portable classrooms.

"We shouldn't have a big system like this running on a septic system," Stoltze said.

Construction on the sewer line project is slated to begin sometime this summer.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.