West Denver Prep is now in the east.
And the north and the south.
So the name that made sense when this group of open-enrollment public charter schools was small doesn’t fit any more.
That’s why, when 1,700 West Denver Prep students return to class this month, their schools will have a new name: STRIVE Preparatory Schools.
“STRIVE Preparatory Schools has a new name because the network of schools is entering a new era. Our families’ demand for an excellent education has spread far beyond our first community roots,” said Chris Gibbons, the group’s founder and chief executive.
West Denver Prep’s first middle school opened in 2006. As of last year, the group had grown to four schools.
This fall, it will operate seven schools, serving grades 6 through 9, located in neighborhoods from Montbello in the far northeast to the southwest tip of the city.
The group is growing geographically and also is expanding beyond middle school to include high schools.
This spring, West Denver Prep announced plans to locate its second high school in vacant parts of the North High School building.
The first STRIVE high school is to open this fall in southwest Denver. Like other charter schools, STRIVE schools are free and open to the public.
