Moab Charter School will begin the new school year under new leadership and with a strengthened support network, Administrator Kate Aiken said.
Aiken, who brings years of experience in education from both the U.K. and the United States, joined the small campus this spring and is steering its merger with Athenian Academy, a statewide public charter network.
The partnership preserves the Moab Charter School’s local character while tapping into Athenian’s resources in special education, human resources and finance, Aiken said.
A former children’s librarian who moved from England in 2006, Aiken has held educational leadership roles in Washington and Arizona. She and Assistant Administrator Yuli George—who has served Moab Charter for seven years—plan to maintain the school’s close-knit culture.
“We’re still our little Moab school with the same campus, the same heart and many of the same trusted staff members,” she said. “Now we have a wealth of support to best serve families and, in turn, best support the kids.”
Athenian Academy, founded in 2018, operates ten charter campuses across Utah and Idaho. Under the merger, Athenian will also provide IT support and access to cutting-edge educational software previously beyond Moab Charter School’s budget.
In-person classes for kindergarten through sixth grade will continue without change as usual, Aiken emphasized.
So what is new? In addition to the traditional program, Moab Charter will now offer a blended-education option for grades K–8 and a new support track for homeschool families, including “Epic Day,” a one-day-a-week on-campus resource day for homeschool families.
Volunteers will still fill classrooms and campus jobs, including AmeriCorps Senior foster-grandparents. And trusted traditions such as hands-on family events and small-team projects will continue under the new arrangement.
“We’re all about building strong relationships,” Aiken said. “This is just going to give us more tools to do that.”
To fund needed campus repairs, Moab Charter has kicked off “Donate a Plank,” selling $20 decking boards engraved with donors’ names. Intrepid Potash has pledged labor and materials for installation.
This summer, the school will staff a booth at the Grand County Fair to field questions and distribute T-shirts, and an open house is planned for early fall. Families may re-enroll current students or register new ones through mid-August.
“My career has always been about setting people up for success,” Aiken said. “Parents, teachers, but really it’s all for the kids.”
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