On June 30, groundbreaking ceremonies for the Banning Lewis Preparatory Academy in Falcon School District 49 took place at the school site in Banning Lewis Ranch Village II. The 80,000-square-foot two-story school will serve as an extension to the existing Banning Lewis Ranch Academy charter school, which currently serves kindergarten through eighth grade. The BLPA will be open for grades six to 12 in the fall of 2017.ìOur families have been wanting this expansion for a long time and are excited to get it going,î said Deann Barnett, BLRA board president. At full capacity, the new school will serve 600 high school students and 450 middle school students, she said. The upcoming eighth-grade class will be the first to graduate from the high school in 2021.The building was privately financed and will be the districtís first charter high school.Students, their families and representatives from the BLRA, D 49 and Oakwood Homes attended the ceremony. Members of the United States Air Force Civil Air Patrol also attended with a hot air balloon, but weather conditions did not allow for inflating the balloon.Micah Lumpkins, a student at BLRA, said she will be part of the first class to attend the new school, which will phase in one grade at a time, starting with grade six. ìI really like that I will be the first generation,î she said.
