Charter schools give students alternatives

The performance of Jennifer Jones' son in school often was a cause of headaches for her last year.

Not because Tristan, who was then 9, was doing poorly. But because he was routinely outshining his classmates.

"Tristan was bringing home stuff he had done in the second grade," Jones said. "But he was in the fourth grade."

Jones said she refused to accept what Tristan's teachers were telling her: that Tristan's lessons at North Las Vegas' Tartan Elementary School sometimes catered to the lower performing students in his classes because of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

So, instead of dealing with another year of what Jones called a "struggling" education system, she enrolled Tristan at a new charter school, the Nevada Connections Academy.

The academy is one of five charter schools opening this fall with students from Clark County.

The new charter schools will push the state total to 23.

The Nevada Connections Academy, similar to another new charter school, Nevada Virtual Academy, allows students to work from home through online classes.

The other three new charter schools include one with an emphasis on math and science, Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas; one with an emphasis on multicultural heritage and the teaching of Spanish, Rainbow Dreams Academy; and a school that will focus on students who struggle in a traditional school setting, WestCare Charter School.

The charter schools will offer parents an option from Clark County School District campuses without the high price tags of private schools.

Charter schools receive state funding and operate as independent public schools.

The schools are sponsored by a local district or the state, which monitors them for compliance with state laws.

The alternative programs sometimes have benefits not available at traditional schools, such as smaller class sizes and longer school days.

Charter schools in Clark County have had mixed results academically.

In the 2006-07 school year, three of the seven charter schools reached all federal No Child Left Behind Act standards. The other schools didn't meet federal standards in at least one of the age levels of students they serve.

Federal standards are assessed based on how elementary, middle and high school students fare.

But local charter schools have had a difficult time with financial and student record keeping.

During the 2004-05 school year, all charter schools sponsored by the Clark County School District had at least one instance where they failed to meet state laws and were threatened with closure.

In November 2004, the School Board shut down Clark County Team Academy for failure to establish an accurate master student registry. The academy was a virtual charter school that allowed high school students to complete their graduation requirements through online courses.

Another charter school that was shut down was Keystone Academy in Sandy Valley.

This past school year, Superintendent Walt Rulffes decided high school students in Sandy Valley will attend school at the existing Sandy Valley School, instead of at Keystone Academy, which will no longer operate as a charter school.

In eight school years of existence, Keystone scrambled to comply with state and federal laws that guide charter schools and failed to do so completely.

Tom McCormack, charter school consultant with the Nevada Department of Education, said some charter schools have stumbled because the schools sometimes employ personnel without the proper experience.

"Running any public school requires a lot of varied expertise," McCormack said. "In addition to educational goals, it's a business."

Diane Pollard, president of the Rainbow Dreams Academy's governing board, said she's aware of the failures of past charter schools.

To avoid those missteps, her school will start with a low enrollment of 60 students.

"We're going to take baby steps instead of big steps," Pollard said. "Sometimes bigger is not better."

Feyzi Tandogan, executive director of the Coral Academy of Science of Las Vegas, said his school will emphasize the importance of math and science by incorporating computers in all of the core subject classes.

Coral Academy staff also will encourage students to learn math and science by emphasizing extracurricular programs such as math league and robotics club.

Tandogan said the school will have maximum class sizes of 18 students per teacher in elementary school and 24 students per class in middle and high school.

"Public schools do not place enough emphasis on math and science," Tandogan said. "We want 100 percent of our students to go to college."