Primavera Facts*

Right now, our school is threatened due to an administrative error that we’ve since corrected. Unfortunately, that error has sparked a formal process that threatens our Charter. On March 4, the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools voted to recommend revoking the charter for American Virtual Academy, the entity that operates Primavera Online School. 

While this is not the outcome we expected, nor one with any precedent against similar problems at other charter schools, it is only the beginning of a long process as we clear the record. In the meantime, nothing changes in our service to students, our team, and our school.

Many of our students, our stakeholders, families, and policy makers have questions about this event, as well as the truth behind recent attacks they may have seen in the media. 

Below you’ll find the truth about what is happening and why, as well as some additional information about our school, which impacts lives across Arizona. 

Here are the facts:

Primavera is not losing its charter: 

• Primavera is here to stay. For nearly 25 years Primavera has changed lives through education – that will not stop because of this process.
• A “notice to revoke” is NOT a revocation of our charter.
  • Primavera has not lost its charter.
• Our leadership team welcomes this oversight process with the Charter Board. We believe it allows us to share our statewide impact and demonstrate the unwavering strength of our school community.
  • We look forward to working with the charter board and the Arizona Department of Education and will meet and exceed the state’s performance requirements in 2025.
• We did maintain our alternative school status for 2025 – and will do so in the years to come – as we continue serving our students and their families as part of our critical role in Arizona’s education ecosystem.
• This is the first time since our founding in 2000 that Primavera has been called in front of the Charter Board for any reason.

Primavera is an Alternative School (and has been since 2012):

• Primavera is an Alternative Status School, meaning that most of our students, more than 70%, are at risk of not graduating. Our programs are life-changing for students who need opportunities to get back on track.
• Primavera maintains Alternative School Status for 2025. 
• The “D” rating for the 22, 23, and 24 school year is not entirely accurate. 
  • As we clarified with the Board, we were incorrectly graded for these years because of an administrative error, which we take responsibility for. That we failed to reapply for alternative school status, which we’ve had every year since it was available in 2012, meant that we were graded as a traditional school. Had we been graded in line with our student body, more than 70% of which are considered at-risk, we would be considered a performing school and none of this would be happening. 
  • We have addressed this error, owned our mistakes, and have the systems and leadership team in place so that it will not happen again.

Primavera serves the State in so many more ways than anyone talks about: 

• By helping students recover credits, Primavera reduces dropout rates and increases graduation rates across Arizona. 
  • Over the past three years alone, we’ve graduated 4,500 students. Many of these young people would not have earned their diplomas without Primavera.
  • Moreover, our online curriculum benefits our traditional and charter school partners, as it helps keep their students on track to graduate on time and with their peers.
• Primavera is an educational lifeline to tens of thousands of Arizonans every year. Primavera empowers every kid with access to an effective education online. 
  • We help kids in very remote access stay on track and graduate on time. Arizona’s educational system isn’t prepared to serve these kids without us.

Our Students Need Our School 

• We currently serve 8,300 students, many do not have any other options for their education. 
• Many of our students would not have earned their diplomas without Primavera.
• Most of our students are among the most vulnerable in the state.
• On average, our students have attended six different schools before coming to us.
• Primavera serves over 20,000 students a year – many would have no other options like what Primavera provides. 
• Many of our students attend Primavera to escape bullying and other unique, challenging realities that exist within traditional, brick and mortar schools.
• The overwhelming majority come to us severely behind in credits; many have dropped out are now returning to try to get their diploma.
• Primavera serves parenting teens, students working full-time to support their families, as well as adjudicated youth and students in the foster care system.
• Primavera is a safety net to make sure these students don’t fall through the cracks and get left behind.

We have always operated with complete financial transparency 

• StrongMind’s revenues are being misrepresented and misinterpreted in the media. We have always been completely transparent with the Charter Board, Arizona Dept of Education and State Board of Education. 
  • Just like every other charter school, Primavera is audited annually, and every one of those audits has come back clean.  We have always been and remain transparent and will remain so going forward.
• Channel 12 News’ reporting conflates StrongMind’s finances and the compensation of its shareholders with that of our charter school. StrongMind is a separate company, one of the most used and successful online educational platforms in the country.  We provide our platform to hundreds of schools all around the country. To suggest otherwise is not truthful or willfully ignorant of the facts. 
  • The media reports to date do not seem to understand that StrongMind is an educational software company that develops online curriculum to schools across the country, including Primavera. 

StrongMind is a national software company 

• Primavera uses StrongMind for its educational platform
• StrongMind has won dozens of awards for its platform and technology, including 5 Emmys. 
• Neither StrongMind, Primavera, our founder, Damian Creamer, nor any staff have every been accused of wrongdoing nor charged with any crimes. Ever.  
• Of course we spend money on marketing. That’s the only way students and families learn about us. We are an entirely digital school; without marketing, students and families who need this option wouldn’t know it even exists. 
  • Our marketing allows us to reach all Arizonans, especially in rural areas, where students can access classes they simply do not have locally such as world languages, AP course, and so many others.

Primavera is led by our values 

• We have over 750 employees who are dedicated to serving our students and families, and building the best online education platform in the country. 
• Our team of educators, developers, and engineers develop the best online learning platform because our mission, from the very beginning, is not just to create an effective online learning experience, but to foster a thriving, deeply supportive community with our students and families. 
• The community we’ve built is one where parents, students and teachers connect and learn from each other. 
• Attend a Primavera graduation ceremony and you will see: ask the kids what they love most about Primavera and it’s not the technology, or the flexibility, or even the curriculum. It’s always the teachers and the friends they made, just like at every other school.  We’re deeply proud of that.
• We’ve served over 250,000 students over the last 24 years and have no plans to stop. 

*Data and information from 2025