Uno! Dos! Tres!

WASILLA — About 300 students, teachers and government officials turned out to turn earth Monday for the ceremonial groundbreaking for Fronteras Spanish Immersion charter school.

The mood was largely jubilant and upbeat. The school has sought for years to obtain a permanent facility for the school on public land after years of leasing property owned by Northgate Church. The borough assembly voted to accept a $6.9-million U.S. Department of Agriculture loan in February. Officials have publicly admitted that the plan could be risky. It’s one solution to a dilemma facing the borough’s six charter schools, who until recently paid some portion of rent toward borough property tax, and the school has set aside that portion to pay off bonds, unlike other public schools.

Some officials — like superintendent Deena Paramo — traded heavily on the school’s Spanish-language elements in remarks Monday.

“Nacimos listos!” she said. “That means ‘We were born ready.’”

Before the groundbreaking, participants counted to three in Spanish, shouting “uno, dos, tres” before turning ground.

“Basically, I wanted to thank everybody for all the work that was put in to collaborate on this venture,” Paramo added.

USDA Alaska Rural Development Director Jim Nordlund – whose 13-year-old daughter has attended a Spanish-immersion program since kindergarten – said the collaboration among the various stakeholders, including parents, local legislators, USDA staff, borough and school officials, and others, was exceptional.

“There’s a couple firsts here,” he said to applause. “It’s the first publicly-financed, publicly-constructed charter school in the State of Alaska, and it’s also the first charter school our agency has funded in the state of Alaska. So we’re very proud of this day, not only for Alaska, but really across the nation.”

Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss, who originally vetoed a $15 million ballot initiative that would have constructed a building for the school, was apologetic.

“Today is an atonement for what I was told was going to be political suicide for vetoing a bond initiative that was going to be put before the voters,” he said.

DeVilbiss’ veto came in the context a $215-million bond that which has constructed multiple schools over the year, and a promise to keep new school debt off the borough books for five years. DeVilbiss faces a mayoral reelection campaign this fall.

Alaska Rep. Jim Colver (R-Sutton) led the subsequent effort to obtain a USDA loan from his then position as an assemblyman after initiative supporters could not overcome the veto.

“This firmly establishes the Mat-Su as a leader in charter schools across our state,” he said, to applause. “The first publicly-financed, publicly-owned charter school to be designed and built from scratch. And we own it.”

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.