Phoenix Elementary School District voted to approve the business terms of a two-year lease with ASU Preparatory Academy, or ASU Prep, on Nov. 29, following four months of rent negotiations.
In July, the school district voted to terminate a lease agreement with ASU Prep that ends June 30, 2019. The proposed replacement lease increased the rent from $300,000 annually to $2.7 million. Amid concerns about a possible relocation, ASU Prep, located at Seventh and Fillmore Streets, began negotiating the terms of the new lease with PESD.
“While we believe our families and their students at ASU Prep are more than deserving of a long-term agreement at reasonable rates we are confident that improved dialogue and communication between PESD and ASU Prep will result in a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship,” James Rund, the vice president of educational outreach and student services for ASU Prep, wrote in a Nov. 26 letter to PESD.
The business terms authorized the legal counsels for the school and district to negotiate the legal terms of the lease on Dec. 7, according to the Phoenix Elementary website. The district will then be able to vote on the legal terms as soon as Dec. 13.
“It would definitely give our students and their families the knowledge and the stability that they are going to be in that building for another two years after the conclusion of this current school year,” ASU Prep’s Chief of Staff Corey Woods said.
On Nov. 14, PESD proposed a two-year lease where the school would have to pay $550,000 the first year and $800,000 the second year.
Rund stated in his letter ASU Prep would accept a two-year lease at $550,000 annually, but would not accept the rent increase of $250,000 for the second year. Instead of the increase, ASU Prep offered in-kind services worth $75,000 to $250,000.
Woods said in-kind services are services that the school can provide the community with while benefiting the district.
“They are basically services that we have that they would not have to pay for and that we can actually use to help them,” Woods said.
The charter school’s close proximity to Arizona State University’s Downtown Phoenix Campus introduces students to the university, according to Assistant Dean Kristin Gilger of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“We’ve had students from that school of course come over and tour the campus,” Gilger said. “It helps them identify with ASU and feel more comfortable. They get to know some of the people and its resources.”
Despite the worry of keeping the school at its current location, the school will stay committed to its students and their educations.
“At ASU Prep, we have the same commitment to a exceptional education for our students and a warm, welcoming environment for them as well as their families,” Woods said. “We remain committed to that.”
Gilger said ASU Preparatory benefits students by helping them reach post-secondary education.
“It is creating a pipeline for students who maybe are underserved and helps them to maybe get to ASU,” she said.
Woods said he believes the matter will be finally decided at the Dec. 13 governing board meeting.
“We hope that we could remain if a deal gets worked out and that we would remain in partnership with the Phoenix Elementary School District to raise outcomes for all students of both ASU Prep and Phoenix Elementary,” Woods said.
Contact the reporter at ldiethel@asu.edu.
Correction Dec. 14: A previous version of this story misspelled James Rund’s last name as Round.
Lisa Diethelm is the Politics editor for the Downtown Devil while she studies at The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. She grew up in California and started her journalism career in high school.
