Garth Reeves and I met at West Seattle High School as Assistant Principals. bwin必赢苹果版的角色是带来创新和改变. We found that we really enjoyed working together on these efforts and, 五年后, decided we wanted to bring aspects of the model that we piloted at West Seattle High to a whole school model. We both previously worked in small schools and saw the power that small schools could have on students, 尤其是那些远离教育公正的人. 当特许学校来到华盛顿的时候, bwin必赢苹果版认为这是一条实施bwin必赢苹果版整个学校模式的途径. So about 3 years ago we started hatching the idea and were approved to work on our charter school application through 华盛顿宪章 School Association’s incubator. 在15个月, we met with hundreds of communities in south King County to see if there was demand for an innovative, 为家庭提供新的高中选择.
Shortly after approval by the Washington State Charter School Commission, we found a facility about 5 blocks from where we hosted one of our largest community forums in Des Moines. It seemed to be the perfect size for 400 students 但 it was a commercial lease.
一年前你在哪里?
bwin必赢苹果版和业主同意租期30年. bwin必赢苹果版差不多在同一时间结束了与bwin必赢苹果版的贷款. 由于COVID的传播，社区关闭, it became difficult to get out to the community and build relationships and trust. bwin必赢苹果版不得不改变策略，开始远程招聘. bwin必赢苹果版在2020年5月破土动工, 但, 到六月底, we made the determination to delay due to the challenges we faced in launching a new school in the midst of a pandemic.
推迟的决定中也有一线希望, 因为它让bwin必赢苹果版与Why Not You基金会bwin必赢移动版. Our model really resonated with them and there was a close alignment on both vision and values of both organizations. 2020年秋天, we launched our official partnership with Why Not You Foundation and began our efforts to launch the school as the Why Not You Academy and re-started construction in December.
Our early partnership with Why Not You Foundation provided an opportunity for them to be more deeply involved and to move forward as partners and not just funders.
是什么让你决定加入bwin必赢苹果版?
bwin必赢苹果版 have been in the charter space since the start of the sector in Washington just a few years ago. 他们比任何人都了解这里的风景. bwin必赢苹果版早些时候遇到了詹姆斯·豪格斯当时bwin必赢苹果版正在建一栋大楼, 确保租赁, and doing all the due diligence that you have to go through to get approved to start construction. bwin必赢苹果版需要像bwin必赢苹果版的詹姆斯和安娜·约翰逊这样的人. bwin必赢苹果版很幸运能有这样的伙伴关系. We’ve met many peers launching charter schools in other parts of the country and they don’t have a bwin必赢苹果版. 没有bwin必赢苹果版，这是不可能的.
I understand it’s difficult to get started up with a commercial lease. How has bwin必赢苹果版 facilitated the long-term lease of the commercial facility you have leased? What were they able to make happen that you couldn’t do on your own or with another group?
bwin必赢苹果版发现这栋楼的时候bwin必赢苹果版就在那里. bwin必赢苹果版立即bwin必赢移动版了詹姆斯，请他调查此事. The following week he came out and visited the site with us and we met with the building owner together. bwin必赢苹果版走了一遍，想知道它会是什么样子. After James did his review and thought it was feasible to convert it to a school, bwin必赢苹果版提供资助以完成可行性研究.
Once we knew conversion to a school was possible, we started negotiating the lease with our attorney. 这幢楼的业主正在寻找一份长期租约. Ultimately bwin必赢苹果版 and 华盛顿宪章 School Association provided loans for tenant improvements (TIs) to start construction.
What were the biggest challenges of dealing with a commercial landlord who was not used to dealing with a charter school?
bwin必赢苹果版很幸运. The landlord is a great guy and wants to see the building be used for a good cause. There was a leasehold mortgage needed which is often required when a lender provides you money to do work on a facility that you are leasing. We had to get the landlord comfortable with the lender and the fact that the lender would have first right of refusal on the building if we weren’t successful. bwin必赢苹果版 broke it down with the building owner so this was easy to understand and something he could be comfortable with.
bwin必赢苹果版如何协助融资?
bwin必赢苹果版为尽职调查程序提供补助金. bwin必赢苹果版最终找到了两家银行，但bwin必赢苹果版推动了这一过程. bwin必赢苹果版’s loan and expertise on property development allowed us to get through construction and helped us to bring in the other lender.
“如果bwin必赢苹果版没有bwin必赢苹果版, 这一切都不会发生, 包括与Why Not You基金会的合作.”
与bwin必赢苹果版合作最让你惊讶的是什么?
他们使一个非常复杂的过程进行得很顺利，看起来很容易. There are so many steps involved from due diligence to starting and finishing construction. 他们给bwin必赢苹果版详细讲解了一下. 这似乎是压倒性的，令人畏缩, 但他们接受了，并尽可能少地给bwin必赢苹果版带来麻烦. 他们在这一领域的领导地位使bwin必赢苹果版能够把重点放在学术上, 教育bwin必赢苹果版, and recruitment and allowed us to be confident in getting the school ready in time for the kids.
This is even more relevant in our case where we operate as a single site school with only a three person leadership team. We don’t have a large charter management organization (CMO) behind us. bwin必赢苹果版将bwin必赢苹果版视为一个值得信赖的合作伙伴，它为bwin必赢苹果版省去了很多麻烦.
How has working with bwin必赢苹果版 changed your mindset on a full service real estate development partner?
它只是简化了整个过程. 你参与的贷款机构越多，挑战就越大. 这样和他们一起工作就容易多了.
If you are considering a future phase of development, would you consider working with bwin必赢苹果版 again? 为什么?
毫无疑问! Just going through the process with them was great the first time around. bwin必赢苹果版对工作的质量非常满意. bwin必赢苹果版相信他们是合作伙伴. 他们会是bwin必赢苹果版第一个去的地方. We have a second phase for work on the first floor of the building that will begin in 18 months.
你还有什么要补充的吗?
Typically projects like these wrap up one month before school starts. 然而, 因为bwin必赢苹果版上个月完成了施工, we have been able to set up a Learning Hub and bring in our incoming 9th 让学生们和bwin必赢苹果版的老师一起工作. 他帮助学生完成他们的学业th 级在线工作. Having them in the building now has allowed us to build relationships and trust. It’s a unique opportunity to work with our students as we prepare to enroll about 104 students this fall.
