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Guam - It was a first for Guam - the opening of a charter school. And although it was years in the making, the Guahan Academy Charter School overcame many hurdles and now is ready to expand.


After a successful first school year the charter school is gearing up for another year but this time a little bigger in terms of student population. GACS principal Donna Dwiggins told KUAM News, "We have always had the commitment to add a grade a year we had eight graders this year and a small literacy academy group which were technically ninth and tenth grade age so we are adding those eight graders move up to ninth grade."


Adding a ninth grade level along with the literacy academy will increase the student population by about 125 students and has GACS searching for additional accommodations. "The facility we have an ad out currently and our receiving proposals for a temporary facility for our ninth grade and our literacy academy kids it's because as you can see we are at max in the facility that we are in now," she said.


Dwiggins says this interim facility will not be on the same campus as the GACS location, noting, "Our long-term plan is that we would have an interim short term kind of situation that we would move our literacy academy and high school students into. So then as we move forward with our plans to move into our own facility we would have a building that would be a high school a building for the middle school and a building for the elementary."


Dwiggins says they must grow the student population by a grade a year so that when they move into their permanent facility the costs are supported by the student enrollment.


She adds that registration for the upcoming school year lottery are being accepted at http://www.GuahanAcademy.org.