The mission of each Springs Charter School is to empower students by fostering their innate curiosity, engaging their parents, and promoting optimum learning by collaboratively developing a personalized learning program for each student.
Vista Student Center students and their families proudly represented their school by walking in the Vista Christmas Parade. Principal Kim Bagby shared her excitement about the event, saying, 'We loved sharing sweet Mexican candy with the parade-goers and being cheered on by Vista families along the route."
The Virtual Village staff gathered for a personal development day, reported Lisa Fahrenkamp, program facilitator. Components included Canvas and Cocoa, in which staff created paintings based on a Winter Wonderland theme.
Enrollment at Connections Academy at Springs continues to “flourish,” reported Principal Laurie Campbell, with a total of 615 students (up from 530 in October). The staff celebrated the school’s growth at their first annual holiday party.
Springs’ Bear River Student Center held a Balloons Over Bear River parade (based on Melissa Sweet’s story about creating giant balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade entitled “Balloons Over Broadway”) in which students design and build balloons using the engineering design process. The parade included a visit from Mrs. Santa Claus.
Twenty-seven students participated in the Magnolia Spelling Bee, reported Susie Carpenter, program facilitator. The top three winners were Josue Garcia, 8th grade, Nathan Abatca, 8th grade, and Ella Jacklin, 7th grade, placing first, second, and third. The three will go on to compete in Springs’ All School Bee Championship in January.
As part of its STEAM education, Springs’ Santa Ana Student Center 5th and 6th grade students learned about the human eye by studying its anatomy and function, reported Principal PriscillaDoorbar. They created their own models of the eye to understand how light is processed, she said, and using hands-on activities and technology, they explored how vision works. The center is currently serving 89 students grades TK-8.
Charter schools are independent public schools with rigorous curriculum programs and unique educational approaches. In exchange for operational freedom and flexibility, charter schools are subject to higher levels of accountability than traditional public schools. Charter schools, which are tuition-free and open to all students, offer quality and choice in the public education system.
The charter establishing each such school is a contract detailing the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. In California, charters are granted for five years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school’s contract. Charter schools are accountable to their authorizer, and to the students and families they serve, to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract.
Like traditional public schools, charters receive state funding based on a formula for each child enrolled in the school. Many charters also do additional fundraising to obtain grants and donations to pay for programs that are not fully funded by state or school district formulas. When lawmakers passed the Charter Schools Act of 1992, California became the second state in the country (after Minnesota) to enact charter school legislation. The intent was to allow groups of educators, community members, parents, or others to create an alternative type of public school.