We are planning to open our doors to a pioneering class of 16 students in the fall of 2025. Doing so requires meeting ambitious funding targets, securing a site, coalescing a team of educators, and launching our admissions process. Realizing this ambitious goal will require broad community involvement.

If we can’t open a full program in 2025, we will consider opening a transitional program, or, more likely, we will continue working and fundraising for a 2026 launch.

We will post updates of our progress below, and we will send them out via email to our supporters.

Our financial projections are designed to keep the cost of tuition as low as possible while still maintaining viability and solvency for the school. Our current projections show us running a full program and balancing the operating budget in year four if we open with a tuition of $23,500. We will need to increase tuition at an average rate of 6.2% for the first four years in order to reach a sustainable balanced budget in year four of operation. The Board of Trustees will set tuition each year and we will make those determinations considering our families and the need to establish this school in this valley.

Yes. We are committed to making our school as broadly accessible as possible through tuition discount awards that are as generous as we can make them. To be clear, a tuition assistance program is absolutely essential to our mission of serving the common good and to our purpose of providing a viable choice for Teton Valley families.

Our ability to offer game-changing tuition assistance that puts a Tetons West education within reach is dependent on our philanthropic and grant-based fundraising.

Families applying for tuition assistance will be asked to submit an application that is typical for such programs, the National Association of Independent Schools’ (NAIS) School and Student Services (SSS) form, for instance.

As of September 2024, our startup needs fall into three categories.

1. A site – As an experiential, outdoor-oriented, and active learning program with aspirations for a close and supportive community, the site we are looking for will accommodate both indoor and outdoor learning, shop and studio spaces, and a space for community gathering. We are looking for at least 4000 sqft with a bit of acreage, parking, and easy access from anywhere in Teton Valley. We are also looking for a site that will allow us to grow as our program and our enrollment expand.

2. Funding Requirements – To get to launch, we need just over $415K for legal filings, hiring, admissions, siting, training, administrative systems, and planning for opening day. Our intent is to raise at least 75% of what we need to reach maturity before we open our doors. That way we avoid launching without the ability to deliver year after year. To reach maturity in four years, admitting one group of 16 students at a time, with 64 students in 4 grade-levels and 17 employees, we need an additional $1.8M.

3. Cofounders and Collaborators – We are looking for creative talent to help lift Tetons West off the ground. If it is you, you’ve got the time, vision, and determination to help build an exceptional high school from scratch. We have a detailed educational plan in place, but collaborative design is part of our model, so there are rich opportunities to dream, design, and create a shared Tetons West reality. There is a lot of work, tight timeframes, no guarantee of success, and currently it is all volunteerism. That could change with the work we do to generate seed funding and co-founder stipends.

4. Trustees – We are actively in search of qualified board members.

For our first year of operations, we intend to admit a pioneering class of 16 ninth grade students. In the preceding spring, we will hire 5 teaches and 3 administrators, all of whom will teach classes. For year two we will promote the ninth grade students to tenth grade and again admit 16 new ninth grade students, and so on until we reach year four with 64 students in 4 classes, 9th through 12th grade. We will also fill out our faculty and administration year by year until we have a full contingent of 17 employees, including teachers, administrators, and staff.

We will start with our core academic subjects and we will build in the rest of our program as we are able to develop our space and our faculty.

I wish I could say for sure. We are getting there, but our ability to open admissions and to begin to enroll students is entirely dependent on the interest and support we get from the community, including philanthropic giving and active engagement on the founding team. In order to deliver on the promise of Tetons West as a place where students can learn and thrive, we need to know that our seed funding is well in hand to guarantee our launch and growth.

Nonetheless, if you are interested in applying for admission, I’d love to talk to you. Those with a serious intend to apply are asked to indicate as much here: Serious Intent to Apply.

The following documents are complete and available:

• Business Plan and Executive Summary – For those interested in making a strong gift to the school –– and for those interested in scrutinizing our overall plan for success.

• The Prospectus – An eminently readable and reasonably detailed description of our vision, our opportunity, and our program.

• The One-Pager – A rapidly scan-able front-and-back document that roughly outlines just the main points.

The Prospectus and The One-Pager are available here. For the Executive Summary or the Business Plan, contact Peter Poutiatine directly - peterp@tetonswest.org.

We will begin accepting donations as soon as our tax-exempt application has been accepted by the IRS. We are assuming that tax-exempt status is a foregone conclusion, so if you are interested in talking about a donation now, please reach out to Peter Poutiatine directly at peterp@tetonswest.org or at 208/313-1661. As soon as our tax-exempt status is secured, we will begin accepting donations through the website.

Yes. Our needs for community involvement are broad and various. We have not yet begun to hire, but I’d love to talk to you if you are interested in teaching or staffing the school. We have not yet begun our admissions process, but I’d love to talk to you if you have an interest in that work.

Marketing Committee – We have a strong need at the moment to convene an active group of hopefuls and believers who can come together as a team and engage with Peter and the Trustees to 1) plan promotional events, 2) market the school, and 3) work to meet our fundraising targets.

Board of Trustees – We are looking to expand the Founding Board of Trustees. It is a special job for a committed group of people, and, to be plain, it carries no special privileges. Also, there is a process to it. That said, there is probably no better way to become more deeply involved in the launch and development of what promises to be a real and tangible benefit to the Teton Valley community.

Education Collaborators – Peter is actively looking for compatriots in this work. It takes time, vision, and a good bit of risk tolerance. You’ll know if this is you.

If any of these opportunities appeal, contact Peter Poutiatine at peterp@tetonswest.org.