Charter school moving forward

MAT-SU -- The Mat-Su Borough School Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to approve an application for the proposed Twindly-Bridge Charter School. The board's approval allows proponents of the K-12 school to take the next step and apply for a planning grant from the state.

Longtime home-school educator Anna Roys designed the school's educational philosophy, which encourages students to employ multiple aspects of their intelligence. By using visual, verbal and physical skills students brainstorm solutions to open-ended problems.

The school is also designed to support a combination of both home-school and school-based learning.

If Twindly-Bridge receives a state planning grant, the state Board of Education & Early Development would then need to approve the educational structure before the school could be implemented.

The application approved Wednesday is for a five-year contract for a term that would begin at the start of the 2005-2006 school year.

Roys conferred with the Mat-Su Borough School Board members, educators and school administrators, to prepare what she says is an innovative approach to education.

Mat-Su Borough School District Assistant Superintendent George Troxel worked closely with Roys throughout the entire process and said the district supports her idea.

"It's a good program and it lends a real personal approach for kids to get an education that is grounded in state standards and district curriculum," Troxel said. "This kind of unique personalized education is very appealing and it's a growing movement."

As a member of the academic policy committee for the school, Roys said the educational program is a hybrid, mixing classroom experience with labs, home-school projects and classes taught by local artists, musicians, scientists and other specialists.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the school is designing individual education programs to fit the interests and needs of each student so that education is more connected to subjects that inspire them.

"We believe that when you build individual programs to fit individual kids, they will be more motivated," Roys said in an phone interview last month.

The project-based program encourages parents and students to come up with interesting problems and then work toward creative solutions.

"Oftentimes these projects lead to further studies and this ends up developing critical thinking in ways that memorization doesn't," Roys said. "It works much better to integrate various studies and disciplines."

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.