Dear Parents

After a three-year effort to secure a permanent home for our school, Amana Academy's Board closed on the 100,000 square foot Alpharetta Square shopping plaza where it has been operating since 2007.  The school was able to secure more than $8.6 million in 30-year bonds without the use of any county or school district capital program dollars to acquire the property. With this purchase, Amana Academy has joined the elite handful of chartered public schools capable of building or purchasing their own facilities.    In addition to purchasing the 10.66-acre site, the school intends to use the proceeds from the bonds to renovate 18,000 square feet of the plaza for new middle school classrooms and STEM labs including a "Club Shop" in time for the new school year. 

On April 11, 2013 Amana Academy's Board closed on the 100,000 square foot Alpharetta Square shopping plaza where we have been operating since 2007

The Architect for the middle school expansion is Paul Van Slyke of Good Van Slyke.  Evergreen Construction, whom Fulton County Schools used to build Cambridge High School, was chosen by Amana to complete the middle school renovation project.  Pre-construction work on the new middle school wing (where Curves is currently located) has already started.  The construction will continue into August, so middle school students will start using their new classrooms after Labor Day (details to come over the summer).  Most elementary classrooms will remain relatively unchanged, yet as existing middle school space is freed up at Labor Day, the school will dedicate those classrooms as elementary, Arabic, EEOB, and PE/Health classrooms.

The Architect for the new middle school expansion is Paul Van Slyke of Good Van Slyke.  Others pictured include Brandon Comer, Dick Ward, Laura Stowell, and Pam Holloway

What helped us achieve this milestone was that we had solid financial standing, strong academic results, and an ethic of transparency with our authorizers - Fulton County Schools and the Georgia Department of Education.  This property really works for us, because it allows for our anticipated growth to 800 students (4 classes per grade), and because of the school's close proximity to 95-acre Wills Park, downtown Alpharetta, and business partners - who can support our Expeditionary STEM Education initiative.

Mr. Ken Zeff, Chief of Fulton County Schools Strategy and Innovation Division, shares our enthusiasm, and stated, "Amana Academy now joins two other Fulton County charter schools (KIPP South Fulton Academy and Hapeville Career Academy) who own their own facilities.  These schools have demonstrated exemplary financial management, governance transparency and academic performance over many years, thus earning the trust of the District, the State and financial partners.  We are happy to support their continued service to the students of Fulton County."

In December 2012, Amana Academy successfully completed the Georgia Department of Education's site approval process. We then secured approval for the issuance of bonds to fund the project via the Development Authority of Fulton County and the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.  With these approvals in-hand, Amana Academy was able to obtain the bond money needed to purchase the property this April.

The purchase of our building and renovation of the new middle school wing marks the first phase of our facilities plans.  In the coming weeks and months your will hear more about the Board's capital fund raising campaign to complete future phases of the campus in the coming years including renovation of an elementary wing and larger spaces for the media center, cafeteria, and gymnasium.  While these phases may take years to complete, we know our community can do great things!

The actions we are taking are meant to enable our students to fulfill on their potential as citizen scholars.  We hope to celebrate the purchase of our new home with our students on the May 23rd Field Day.  All are welcome!

Signing Closing Paperwork:  Left to right:  Micheal Coleman, Calvin Stamps, Susan Pease Langford, Kristina Leidner-Eisenhardt.

RECOGNITIONS

This was an incredible team effort by our Facilities Planning Group (FPG) and an outside team of financial advisors, attorneys, and investors.  The following people and others deserve our utmost appreciation for their contributions to this project.

The Families and Staff of Amana Academy
Calvin Stamps - Amana Board Treasurer, and FPG Lead
Maher Budeir - Amana Board Chair, and FPG Member
Pam Holloway - Amana CFO, and FPG Member
Andrea Cooper Gatewood - Amana Board Member, and FPG Member
Kristina Leidner-Eisenhardt - Amana Board Chair-Elect, and FPG Member
Abdul Ghalayini - Amana Board Member
Amana Academy Board Members
Ehab Jaleel - Amana Executive Director, and FPG Member
Saleem Javaid - FPG Member
Liz Lambert - Amana Business Manager
David Beak - Commercial Real Estate Agent with NAI Brannen Goddard
Brandon Comer - Comer Capital Financial Advisors
Ed Norwood - Comer Capital Financial Advisors
Susan Pease Langford - Bond Attorney at Peck, Shaffer & Williams LLP
Lew Horne - Development Authority of Fulton County
Laura Stowell - Fulton County Schools Charter Coordinator

Patrick Burke - Fulton County Schools Deputy Superintendent Operations 

Bill Edwards - Fulton Board of Commissioners
Dick  Ward - Dougherty and Company (bond underwriters)
Andy Polsky - Dougherty and Company (bond underwriters)
Margot Kleinman - Nuveen Investments
Debra Golymbieski - Construction Management Contract
James Drinkard - City of Alpharetta
Michael Coleman - Local Counsel Attorney at Epstein Becker
Alan Wynne - Real Estate Attorney at Epstein Becker
Paul Van Slyke - Architect with Goode Van Slyke
The Team at Evergreen Construction   

Arial view of the property