On Aug. 4, students, parents, staff and other members of the Falcon School District 49 community gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the newly constructed Banning Lewis Preparatory Academy. The school represents the first charter high school option for the district, and will serve 1,050 students in grades six to 12.Banning Lewis Ranch Academy, which previously served kindergarten to grade eight students, will now only serve elementary students while secondary students will feed into BLPA.Several members of the BLPA community expressed gratitude and excitement that the building was finally complete, including Todd Morse, BLA head of the school, and DeAnn Barnett, BLA board president.ìWe have got a beautiful building here, but it is really the people inside the building that are going to be meeting the needs of those we serve,î Morse said. ìThey are absolutely committed to putting kids first.îìI want to thank everybody that has had a hand in this project,î Barnett said. ìWhen you have a project this big, there are many hands that need to help.î
