Atlanta SMART Academy announced in a press release that it expects to increase its student body twofold, on top of expanding its leased commercial space by an additional 10,000 square feet in preparation for the 2023-24 school year.
The tuition-free charter school will soon occupy approximately 30,000 square feet of Southwest Atlanta’s Hightower Station shopping center, serving as an anchor tenant for the development.
First opening its doors a year and a half ago, Atlanta SMART Academy now serves students from nine Georgia counties located in and surrounding the city limits.
“We are beyond thrilled to expand our footprint to serve more students in the community with personalized and caring instruction,” said Patrice Meadows, principal and founder of Atlanta SMART Academy. “Since opening in the fall of 2021 with 125 students, we have grown to 200 students this school year and will be able to accommodate up to 400 students next year.”
Meadows said that the expansion will allow Atlanta SMART Academy to further develop its performing arts programs, as the school intends to use the additional space to expand its multipurpose auditorium and create personalized studios for theater, music and dance instruction. The school will also build a STEM lab using space from the expansion.
According to its website, Atlanta SMART Academy is the only performing arts junior high school in Southwest Atlanta, combining educational focuses on science, mathematics and the arts to create a curriculum that better prepares students for high school-level learning and adulthood through lessons in critical thinking and problem-solving.
The school is now accepting new students for the 2023-24 academic year. Enrollment is open on the school’s website.
