Academy gets 10-year extension

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- Lack of discipline in public schools, a common complaint among parents, is not a problem at Academy Charter School in Palmer.

On Sept. 8, the second day of school, Brenda Turner's eighth-graders sat in perfect silence reading a short story for language arts class.

"On the first day of school they asked to have 30 minutes of silent reading per day," Turner said. "They said 20 minutes wasn't enough. I was amazed."

With that kind of zeal among the student body, it was no surprise when the Mat-Su Borough School Board unanimously voted to grant Academy a 10-year extension of its charter at the Sept. 8 school board meeting.

"We definitely anticipated a renewal, we just didn't know how many years we'd get," Academy Principal Barbara Gerard said. "But we're very pleased. We've excelled in all the categories that were considered; our test scores show that our program works."

Now that the school's charter has been extended, Gerard said Academy will work on improving facilities. The charter extension also opens the door for more grants and federal funding, Gerard said, because it shows the district stands behind the school and supports what it's doing.

Turner, who has just begun her first year as eighth-grade language arts teacher at Academy, has stood behind the school for quite some time; her three children have been attending for years.

She said one of the reasons discipline is not a problem at Academy is that teachers see the same children every day and have more time to work with them.

The Academy continued to grow with its student body this year by adding an eighth-grade class; last year, the school added seventh grade. A new building for eighth-graders, which includes a science lab, was purchased over the summer and renovated by a community effort.

Now in its eighth year, the charter school has grown up with its students. Many Academy eighth-graders began attending the school when it first opened and have seen it mature to its full capacity, kindergarten through eighth grade.

"It was like a family reunion when everyone came back this fall," Gerard said. "This is a community. We've never lost any staff since we started; they love what they do and they're extraordinary people."

With a full-time staff of 27 and two night custodians, Academy gets by on a shoestring budget, with students and teachers taking on daytime janitorial duties and parents committing to 36 hours of participation per year.

One of the conditions of enrollment at Academy is that parents or other family members agree to help out in various ways, whether cleaning or doing office work or taking on construction projects and other improvements at the school.

"There is ownership here," Gerard said. "When you help build a place, it's yours. Our students are very empowered and we're confident they will affect positive change in the public high schools when they go."

And it looks as if they will. According to third- and sixth-grade districtwide benchmark scores for reading, writing and mathematics in 2003-04, nearly every third- and sixth-grader at Academy is advanced or proficient in reading, writing and math.

One of the only categories in which Academy students didn't have the highest percent proficiency was sixth-grade math; they were second to Midnight Sun Charter School.

In districtwide Terra Nova testing last year, Academy seventh-graders ranked highest in reading, language, social studies and spelling. Academy fourth- and fifth-graders were also at or near the top in every category.

Even a cursory glance at districtwide test scores compiled by Academy officials and submitted to school board members last week reveals that Academy students are excelling and Academy Charter School is doing something right.

But support for the school isn't just coming from the school board and parents.

Eleven-year-old Kris Sindorf says going to school at Academy is fun for him, something he looks forward to every day.

"I like it here," Kris said. "I know all the kids in my class, except the six new kids this year, but they all seem pretty cool. And I like my teachers, they're fun."

Kris estimated he has about an hour and a half to two hours of homework every night, but says he doesn't mind the work.

"It's pretty hard, but it's worth it," Kris said. "I just hope my high school is this good."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.

com.