Three Nevada organizations seek license as charter schools

Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999 | 11:29 a.m.

Three Clark County organizations hope to become the next charter schools licensed in Nevada, where only one such institution has been approved since a charter-school law was passed in 1997.

The three have either applied, or have letters-of-intent on file indicating their intention to file, for a charter-school license.

One applicant, Odyssey, wants to be the state's first computer-based instruction school for grades kindergarten through eighth.

Another, the Las Vegas Charter School for the Deaf, wants to become the first school for deaf students in the state.

The third, Keystone Academy, wants to establish a high school in Sandy Valley so students won't have to make a nearly 100-mile round trip into Las Vegas for classes.

While Nevada has only one charter school, a high school for at-risk students in Washoe County called the I Can Do Anything school, neighboring Arizona has 271.

An Arizona state official says 24 percent of the approximately 1,100 charter schools operating in 26 states are in Arizona.

California has 156.

Cassandra Larsen, executive director of the Arizona State Board of Charter Schools, speaking at the annual conference of the College Board this week, says 35 states have charter-school laws on their books.

She attributes Arizona's success to the flexibility of its law, which allows three entities to charter schools -- the Charter School Board, which is a state agency; the State Board of Education and the individual school districts.

"Our laws are flexible and we have a hands-off policy," Larsen told the group of college administrators attending the conference. "They are free to operate ... (but) the curriculum must follow state standards."

Holly Walton-Buchanon, charter school adviser for the Nevada State Department of Education, attributes Nevada's failure to generate charter schools to a very rigid state law and to a lack of funds.

One national organization called Nevada's law one of the most restrictive in the county.

"(Nevada's) is not the perfect charter school bill," Walton-Buchanon said. "It's pretty restrictive."

She said most charter-school laws give the schools a lot of leeway.

"The only thing (Nevada charter schools) are free from doing is using text books off the (state) text books list," she said.

Nevada charter schools, she said, must follow the same guidelines of public schools, including how much they pay teachers.

"It's hard to get money together to get a school going, then there's no money left over for texts and buildings," she said.

Until recently, applicants had to have funding in place for a facility, but that regulation has been changed so that an organization my be given an interim charter pending receiving funds for construction of a school building.

There is some federal help for state charter schools, said Walton-Buchanon.

The Department of Education has about $110 million available for charter school start-up grants, money that cannot be used for facilities.

"The grants are very competitive," Walton-Buchanon said.

The I Can Do Anything school, located in Reno, received $115,000 to help it get started last year, she said.

Walton-Buchanon said there are two bills being introduced in the Legislature this year aimed at making the state charter-school law more flexible.

Any group that wants to charter a school must file an application with the Nevada State Department of Education, which determines if all the necessary information has been included in the application and then sends it to the school district in the county where the proposed school will be located.

The Odyssey Charter School turned in its application three weeks ago. The state reviewed it for completeness and forwarded it to the Clark County School Board Tuesday.

School boards are the ones that approve the applications.

The other two hopefuls, including the Sandy Valley Keystone Academy high school and the Las Vegas Charter School for the Deaf, have sent letters of intent to the state, which must be followed by a full application by the April 1 deadline.

Sandy Valley filed its letter of intent a year ago and is finishing up the application.

Walton-Buchanon said she expects to receive the application within the next day or two.

The latest applicants would do well to look at the state's only charter school for tips on how to succeed.

The school has 180 students, with 100 on a waiting list, and 13 instructors.

"Next year we plan to have a capacity of 250 to 275 students," Principal Margaret Williamson said.

About 20 percent of the students now enrolled were home-schooled.

An application for the charter was filed Feb. 8, 1998, and by the end of May the school had found a facility to renovate, which was completed in time for the school to open in September.

The first class of 40 students will graduate June 25.

Williamson attributed the success and speed of the application process to her experience with charter schools in Arizona.

"I was familiar with the process," she said. Students at the school come from "nontraditional" families, such as single or economically deprived.

They have block scheduling, meaning they can attend a block of classes in the morning, afternoon or night.

At least 12 students take three blocks, attending school from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In addition to the core subjects, programs in computer repair and culinary arts are emphasized.

Sandy Valley also wants a high school, but not because their students are disadvantaged or need an alternative education but because the bus ride from the community to Durango High School in Las Vegas takes about two hours -- that means more than four hours of every school day is spent on the bus.

Since the Clark County School District isn't going to build a high school in the community on the California-Nevada state line, a group of parents intend to start their own.

Parents of a number of deaf students in Las Vegas want to start a school for their children because they don't like the way the program in the public school is administered.

"We have some very, very good teachers (in the school system)," said attorney Kenneth Frizzell, father of a deaf student as well as one of several people putting together the charter school. "We object to the administration (of the public school program), the way its being run. We hope that some of the teachers currently in the school district will at least consider coming over and talking to us."

Frizzell said a letter of intent has been filed with the state, but there is no way the school could be finished before the year 2000.

"We won't be open in September, '99," Frizzell said.

He said when the school opens, it will be the only school for the deaf in the state.

Another unique school would be Odyssey, an idea that Vee Wilson, principal of Wilhelm Elementary School, and David Price, principal of Rundle Elementary School, have worked on for five years.

Their goal is to create a school where most of the learning is via computer at the student's home.

Wilson emphasized that the charter school they are proposing is not home schooling.

Students will have teachers, facilitators, with whom they will meet with as needed. There will be a main office and resource center, where students can study on computers.

Curriculum will be taught using software.

"The purpose of the school will be to encourage innovation and creativity," Wilson said. "We're getting away from brick and mortar."

An emphasis will be placed on independent

Organizers have met weekly since October and filed their application with the state about three weeks ago.

Wilson said he has no idea how many students will want to enroll in a school without walls, "we could handle a couple of hundred."

He described the concept as a "partnership between home and school."

He said today's computer technology can be more effectively used in education.

"The ability to use it to motivate is untapped in our state," Wilson said.

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