Prairie Crossing School looks to Navy for students

Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake is looking to the Navy as a possibly greater source for future students.

Myron Dagley, the charter school's director, said a formal effort has started with Great Lakes Naval Station near North Chicago.

Dagley said many naval personnel are used to sending their children to smaller charter schools when stationed elsewhere in the country.

In an effort to attract the military families, Prairie Crossing officials have provided information about the school, its lottery process and other facets of the operation. Dagley said the idea is to encourage new base arrivals to live in the Grayslake or Gurnee areas within the boundaries of Woodland Elementary District 50 or Fremont Elementary District 79.

Residents living within the Woodland and Fremont borders have access to Prairie Crossing, which is a public school with 359 students.

"We actually have had ongoing communication with a relocation officer from Great Lakes," Dagley said Wednesday. "I know they have had a member of their staff come here and visit."

Prairie Crossing has an environmentally focused curriculum. The school accepts students from outside the Fremont and Woodland borders if their parents pay out-of-area tuition.

Meanwhile, some talk has surfaced about whether it would be a good idea for Prairie Crossing Charter School to have another name.

Prairie Crossing board President Dennis Munk said the issue arose in the fall. He said the name could be discussed as part of the school's overall marketing plan next year.

"No timeline has been discussed," Munk said. "The board is scheduled to engage in kind of broader strategic planning in May or June."

Prairie Crossing Charter School is within a Grayslake subdivision by the same name. One of the charter school's founders was Victoria Ranney, who with her husband heads the Prairie Crossing subdivision's development company.