A downtown Oklahoma City charter school is looking to expand and open a high school.
John Rex Charter School plans to open a new high school in downtown Oklahoma City for the 2028-29 school year, up the street from its current location.
The plans for the school were revealed at an Oklahoma City Public Schools Board meeting. OKCPS is the charter district's authorizer. Though, as Board Chair Paula Lewis pointed out, that doesn't mean the district will approve or deny the high school's application, due to a change in state law to the charter school act.
"It is not up to us to approve or disapprove whether they expand," she said at the meeting. "It's just for us to know."
District charter school coordinator Jason Mack said John Rex officials are eyeing a location near the intersection of NW 6th Street and Hudson Avenue, close to the Oklahoma City Federal Building.
"This high school is going to focus on postsecondary opportunities, so have a bunch of different tracks for stuff like cybersecurity, aviation, entrepreneurship," Mack said. "And then they will also have AP, concurrent and a general sort of diploma route on there."
John Rex opened in 2014 and currently has about 800 students. Mack said with the addition of high school grades, the district's long-term goal is to have approximately 1,700 students across all grades within the next eight years.
The Oklahoman reports there is high demand for the school. There are 671 new applications for the upcoming school year and a waitlist of more than 500 students, according to the newspaper.
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