State school boss names Legacy top charter school

Legacy Traditional School earned an A grade on its annual Arizona Department of Education report card. 

It was the only charter school in Maricopa to achieve the top honor in the latest charter school grading period. 

The K-8 charter school pushed its grade up from a B last year. 

Principal Susie Pries said the school was happy about the news.  

“It’s super exciting. It takes a village,” she said, citing hard work by teachers and staff. 

Pries was assistant principal during the evaluation period last school year. That’s why she threw kudos to the school’s former principal, Chris Turner, and his staff from last year, for excellent marks from the state. 

Pries said the school would push to maintain the A grade by continuing to promote a “very positive” learning environment that is “student centered.” 

The charter school’s enrollment is full at 1,320 students, she said, except for kindergarten. 

Legacy Traditional School’s mission states that it strives “to provide motivated students with the opportunity to achieve academic excellence in an accelerated, back-to-basics, safe learning environment taught by caring, knowledgeable and highly effective educators in cooperation with supportive, involved parents.”