The vision of SkyView Academy began in 2004 when a group of Highlands Ranch parents came together to create a more challenging and meaningful educational program for their children and the community at large. The founding team was comprised of many qualified and dedicated parents, teachers, and community members with diverse backgrounds who shared a common educational vision for the school.

After two years of planning and developing the school and receiving all the necessary approvals from the Board of Education, the founding team was unable to identify a suitable facility in Highlands Ranch. As a result, a school building was chosen in Parker and the team opened their program in this community in August 2006, branded as North Star Academy.
 
Our founding team’s original intent was to utilize the Parker facility as a short-term, temporary solution because it was not located in the originally desired Highlands Ranch location. The intent was to relocate the school to their community in three years after a suitable facility could be identified and long-term financing was secured.
 
What our founding team did not expect was the huge demand for their program from the Parker community. Thus, in the spring of 2007, the North Star Academy Board of Directors, comprised of many of the original members of the founding team, unanimously and collectively agreed to develop a new multi-campus strategy which would keep the original school in Parker and create a sister school in Highlands Ranch. The intent was to have the sister school, originally marketed as NSA West, open with the same mission, vision, and educational program of North Star Academy in Parker.

The North Star Academy Board of Directors spent the next year and a half further developing this multi-campus strategy, working with experienced consultants from the charter school industry. In November 2008, the Board received the necessary approval from the Douglas County Board of Education and was on track to open the Highlands Ranch school in fall 2009.
 
Unfortunately, several things happened in a short period of time that forced the Board to postpone their opening for one year and discontinue the development of the multi-campus strategy. The state of the municipal bond market caused the abandonment of the initial bond financing plan. A new committee had to be created to identify other possible financing opportunities that would provide the necessary funds to acquire the intended facility and proceed with the renovation. Additionally, the Board was informed by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) that in order to receive necessary startup grant funding for their Highlands Ranch school, changes would be required to the intended governance and administrative structure which challenged the feasibility of a multi-campus strategy.
 
As a result of these required changes, several members of the original founding team came back together to create a new plan to ensure the successful launch of the Highlands Ranch school. This team started down the path they had been down five years earlier – securing financing, acquiring a facility, recruiting students and parent volunteers, and ultimately, renaming the school.
 
As a result of some very creative strategies, an amazing group of parent volunteers and lessons learned from their original school in Parker, the founding team successfully secured the necessary financing to acquire its facility and unveiled its new name to the community at a Ground Breaking ceremony on February 6, 2010.
 
The new Highlands Ranch school, now known as SkyView Academy, opened for its inaugural year on September 7, 2010 in its permanent home in Highlands Ranch at 6161 Business Center Drive. 
  
Timeframe Milestone
2004 Spring A group of Highlands Ranch, Colo. parents comes together to create a challenging and meaningful educational program for their children and the community at large. The founding team is comprised of highly qualified and dedicated parents, teachers and community members with diverse backgrounds who shared a common educational vision for the school.  
2006 Fall This founding group opens its initial program in Parker, Colo., after a facility acquisition in Highlands Ranch was unsuccessful. Branded North Star Academy, the school opens in August 2006 with the intent to move the school back to Highlands Ranch and serves grades K-8.
2008 June The founding group submits a second K-8 charter school application to the Douglas County Board of Education
September A group of parents representing families from a variety of Core Knowledge charter schools in the area including American Academy, Cherry Creek Academy, Littleton Academy, North Star Academy, Platte River Academy, and others actively begins researching the best practices of charter high schools throughout Colorado.
October Live lottery event enrolls 425 students for inaugural school year.
November Final approval of charter contract received from Douglas County Board of Education.
2009 January School announces decision to delay opening due to poor economic climate.
November Founding team reaches agreement with Douglas County School District to enter into ground-breaking financing arrangement securing financing.
December Charter school acquires the former Home Depot building in Highlands Ranch.
2010 January Lottery conducted with previously offered seats receiving priority; enrolled 625 preschool – fifth grade students for its inaugural year.
February 500 prospective families and community members attend Ground Breaking ceremony as founding team unveils architectural plans and the name of their new school - SkyView Academy.
March SkyView Academy names Merlin Holmes, a 20-year industry veteran, as its Executive Director.
April SkyView Academy names its Academic Deans.
800 prospective family and community members attend facility tours. 
August SkyView Academy receives approval to extend the program to add high school — becoming the first preschool–twelfth grade charter school in Douglas County. 
More than 1,000 individuals attend SkyView Academy’s Grand Opening celebration including parents, students, community members, DCSD members, and elected officials.
September SkyView Academy opens with 625 students enrolled in preschool through fifth grade. 
December First class of ninth grade enrolls for SkyView Academy’s high school program.
2011 April SkyView Academy announces architect for middle and high school expansion.
July SkyView Academy names its high school staff members for the 2011 – 2012 school year. 
August SkyView Academy begins the 2011 – 2012 school year with 710 students enrolled in preschool through sixth grade and ninth grade.
2012 January SkyView Academy receives the John Irwin School of Excellence award for Outstanding Academic Performance. 
More than 1,700 students are on the school’s waitlist. 
SkyView Academy Milestones