Downtown charter campus growing into college-prep high school

A charter school that started enrolling transitional kindergartners through eighth-graders upon its opening about 18 months ago in downtown Bakersfield is looking more and more like a college-prep academy.

The Central Academy of Arts and Technology plans to begin accepting 10th-graders this fall, having added ninth-graders at the start of this school year — and in the meantime is looking for a second campus nearby.