The New America School is withdrawing its charter school application with Jefferson County Public Schools and undergoing reorganization. It will focus on implementing its approved charter school in the Adams 14 district and contract school with Denver Public Schools. The Board of Directors accepted the resignation of the Executive Director and is making leadership and staffing changes, including appointing heads of school for the Adams 14 and Denver schools and a head of student affairs for the Denver school. Resources will be redirected from administration to instruction.

1. New America School
P.O. Box 201015, Denver, Colorado 80220
Adams 14 Telephone: 303-991-0130
Denver Telephone: 303-320-9854
October 19, 2004
John Peery
Jefferson County Public Schools
Dear Mr. Peery,
Many thanks to Jeffco Public Schools for your consideration of our charter school
application. As I explained when we spoke in person, the New America School is
undergoing some transition and re-organization and we feel it is in the best interests of our
students and organization to withdraw our application at this time. We will be spending this
school-year implementing our first charter school in the Adams 14 School District and a
contract school with Denver Public Schools, and will bring our learning to the development
of future charter school applications. We appreciate your time and look forward to working
with you again.
Additionally, on September 15th, the Board of Directors of the New America School
accepted Alby Segall’s resignation as Executive Director effective immediately. Since that
time, the board of directors of the New America School has been taking a close look at the
schools’ needs and our resources, combined with the feedback we’ve received from many of
the staff and District representatives. We are pleased to announce a re-organization that re-
directs much of our resources to your schools and minimizes the amounts being directed to
administration. It is our commitment to both the Adams 14 Charter School and the Denver
Contract School to provide the best instruction and learning environment in keeping with
the terms of both agreements. As a result we have made the following changes effective
Monday, October 04, 2004:
• Created a Head of School for both Denver and Adams 14. We have appointed
Melanie Roberts as Head of School for Adams 14 and Marla Jacobsen as Head of
School for Denver. It is the board’s intention to give each school the full-time, on-
site leadership each needs to provide the best quality program for our students. The
top priorities of both heads will be interview and fill the open teacher positions and
to address some of the ongoing classroom needs of teachers.
• Added a Head of Student Affairs and Vocational Counseling for the Denver
Contract School. We have appointed Jeremy Cooper to this position. His job will
be to work with students at this school to facilitate their advancement to the next
level of their education or work careers, along with creating a rich and empowering

2. school environment for all. This is a key component of the Denver contract and we
feel it is important to dedicate resources to this end.
• Reduced the New America School non-profit staffing to include a President and
Administrative Assistant who will facilitate the many business functions for both
schools. These include, but are not limited to payroll, human resources, accounting
and legal services. It is our intention to provide these services to the schools in a
more cost-efficient manner than they can provide them on their own. A job
announcement will be issued this week for the position of President and it is our goal
to have a new person selected by the board of directors in early November.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call me at 303-246-8696.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the New America School, I thank you for your
consideration of our request and patience as we undergo these positive changes.
Sincerely,
Susan A. Lythgoe
Interim Executive Director
The New America School