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.
Eight Springs students participated in the Riverside County Science and Engineering Fair at the Riverside Convention Center, reported Nikkole McAdoo, events and community engagement coordinator.
The Del Rio Student Center Leadership Club took a volunteer field trip to the Animal Savior Sanctuary in Perris, reported teacher Claudia McGinty. The students had the opportunity to interact with animals that had been rescued from difficult situations, including dogs, pigs, geese, goats, miniature horses, and donkeys.
Layton Camile is a Springs Venture Online student who is an accomplished figure skater. She began skating at age 11 and serves as a “skate hero” at the Rady Children’s Ice Rink in Liberty Station.
The students at Pathfinder explored color theory, contrast, and creative expression by designing a glow-in-the-dark underwater sea scene, reported EmoryAranda, site coordinator. Through the use of fluorescent and neon materials on dark backgrounds, students demonstrated an understanding of how light and color interact to create visual impact.
Springs Otay Ranch Academy for the Arts (ORAA) held its first Garden Build Day, reported Tami Foster, site facilitator. Parents, students and staff worked together to transform part of ORAA's outdoor space into a garden with eight larger planter boxes which were built and donated by the Sebreros Family.
Program facilitator Nicole Oliveri has been overseeing the garden project and hopes to "help our students explore plant life cycles as well as learn how to care for them". Students will have opportunities to water and tend to the garden boxes, which include strawberries, tomatoes, squash, herbs, and milkweed for butterflies.
CIF Spring Sports at Springs’ Magnolia Student Center is off to a strong start, shared coach Tori Cantu. New additions to the program include a girls’ varsity softball with students from Springs’ Venture, Journey, and Pathfinder participating. There is also a varsity boys & girls track & field team, and a varsity swim team coached by an alumnus of Magnolia.
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.