State approves new charter school

PALMER — Birchtree Charter School has gotten a green light from the state and will be holding an informational meeting this week for interested parents.

The meeting, hosted by the Birchtree Parent’s Guild, will start at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Palmer Library.

Birchtree aims to be a “Waldorf-inspired” school with a curriculum that takes into account a child’s developmental stages and puts arts and handicrafts on an equal footing with the standbys of math, science and reading.

Lori Berrigan, one of the parents organizing to create Birchtree, said in an e-mail that the school had recently cleared its final bureaucratic hurdle and won approval from the state.

"We are officially a school option in the Mat-Su Valley," she wrote.

In addition to Thursday’s meeting, interested parents should save the date of April 21, when the school will hold its lottery to select its inaugural group of students.

"We will have 48 spots for Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade, 24 spots for 3rd and 4th grade, 24 spots for a combined 5th and 6th and 24 spots for a combined 7th and 8th," Berrigan wrote

For more information visit the school’s website at birchtreecharterschool.org