OCR Text |
Show L BlnlsdJ.y- OctoberA208 Vernal Express Advisory Council on Historic Preservation asks BLM to reconsider consultation process Liber Academy students gather outside their school on a beautiful fall day. Students at Vernal's alternative school are on the road becoming leaders. By Patrick Timothy Mulukwi Express Editor , It's going to be a close election this year. The late Walt Disney and the fictional Embry Jade Warren are neck to neck, but come Oct. 16, only one emerges victor following Liber Academy's mock election. Julie May, who teaches Passport Pass-port to the World at the school, came up with the idea for the election. She's also the brains behind the two-and-a-half-year-old alternative al-ternative school that meets once a week in space rented at World Vision Assembly of God Church at 444W 400 N in Vernal. The school has no affiliation with World Vision Assembly of God Church, and the student body is 99 percent LDS, says May who adds, "We don't discriminate. That's just kind of been how it is.") Liber Academy, which stresses leadership, takes its name from the liber, the educated class in ancient Greece, says May. "The people who were educated educat-ed enough could vote in elections, and they were free people. Liber and free almost meant the same thing. If you didn't have your education, you were pretty much FWE MEMBERS INVOLVED Members resign from By 6f off Lesik Uintah Basin News Service Five members of the Emerson Alcott Academy Governing Board tendered their resignations late Friday. The final member is expected ex-pected to resign this week. Friday's move by board president James Costello, vice president Candi Child, and members mem-bers Rebekah Kirkaldie, Mindy Bird, and Amber McMullin was announced in a short press release re-lease sent to the Uintah Basin New to the Uintah Basin area Home Realty Network Is finally here! Whether you are looking to buy or sale, I will save you money and time. Adam Ashworth (435) 513-9520 adamashworthhomerealty.com Attention Parents, Older Siblings, Grandparents! Do you want a fantastic and nutritious lunch for less than $5.00 per meal? National School Lunch Week is October 13-15, 2008. Come and eat lunch with your student. The cost for Preschool and elementary through fifth grade is $1.75. Sixth, seventh grade students is $1.95. Eighth through twelfth grade is $2.10. Adults' cost is $2.85. Contact your school for lunch times. a slave in those times. I liked that having enough education so you're free from bondage." And that is the basis of Liber Academy. May, who was dissatisfied with the public school system and growing tired of her own home schooling efforts, opted to create a school that embraced the liber concept and stressed leadership. One of the school's goals, she says, is for students to be able to stand on their own two feet. "I want them to become the kind of kids that grow up, are involved in the election processes and become leaders." There are no idle hands or idle students at Liber Academy. , Classes such as her Passport to the World, which explores a different area of the world each semester geographically, historically and politically - are designed to draw students into the discussion. "I want them to be able to stand on their own, and not just say, 'Mom and dad think I should vote for McCain, so I better vote for McCain. I say, 'Don't come into my class and tell me that before you have researched each of the people.' You can say you don't like that guy, but you better have Standard. "We appreciate the support and interest that many have had in a public charter school," the press release said. "Many of the Emerson Alcott Academy board have worked on their own time and at their own expense over the past three years to investigate the success of other charter schools and to develop a plan for a local charter school. Due to personal reasons of board members and outside circumstances, we are relinquishing our positions." The departures left Deb 9 something to back that up.'" A recipe for disaster at the family dinner table? May doesn't seem to think so. Parents understand the school's approach to learning. They also know that the school is not accredited. There's no high school diploma waiting for the school's 17- and 18-year-old students. Students "graduating" from Liber Academy can test for their GED, or they can apply to colleges using their ACT scores, in the same way home schoolers apply for college. "You have to make that choice. You have to say is it not important impor-tant for me to be accredited for college. We found that it's riot really necessary. We've had some go through our school, and they get into college. It has not been an issue." Because it's not accredited, Liber Academy receives no funding fund-ing or grants,although, May says, the school has applied for 501 (c) nonprofit status. For now, tuition fees cover all operating expenses. It helps, too, that the teaching staff is all volunteer. "We don't make money here," says May. "All our teachers are volunteers. To them it's just been charter school's board Richards as the sole member of the Emerson Alcott Governing Board. Richards said Monday morning that she will also resign. re-sign. "I was always planning on doing that anyway after we met with the state," she said. "My family's had enough, they just can't take anymore. We want the school, but we need to see more help." The resignations come after Emerson Alcott's charter was revoked by the state on Sept. 18. The State Charter School Board had agreed to extend Emerson Alcott's charter for one year, pending a review of the school's plan for opening at the start of the 2009-10 academic year. The state board received and reviewed the plan, then decided to revoke the charter. "They said they didn't feel like our plan of action conveyed that we were making progress," Richards said. Child said the majority of the governing board's members had decided not to appeal the revocation revoca-tion unless they had an investor under contract and plans for the school in place. But parents who signed their children up to attend Emerson Alcott demanded that the board seek reinstatement of its charter regardless of its readiness to demonstrate to the state Board of Education that it would be ready to open for the 2009-10 school year. "It's really too sad for us and too sad for the community," Child said of the resignations, which it appears could be the end of Emerson Alcott for now. Marlies Burns, director of charter schools for the Utah State Office of Education, confirmed in an e-mail Monday morning that Emerson Alcott had recently filed 'an appeal of the State Charter School Board's recommendation v to terminate its charter agreement. agree-ment. Burns added that because Emerson Alcott does not now Learn Basic Drawing & Tine Art - FREE Aii'soluiuy no c.i iaix',1 :. I no Nt )i A( :ct;i r anyti iing in ti w i: oi ? nir. Am :i n u; oni y 8 ;i i ii i n v. Ai )i n iri oni y f Q A'.', i r, rm n N( ai :mi ii :i i Vn I. cWll I lou noi?t: ini oumioN cai i . Hi:n Iayiow ap 789-9668 kind of a labor of love." Stephanie Hardin is one of these volunteers. She teaches math and science and also doubles as the school's bookkeeper. "I would be doing this for my children anyway. We are home schoolers. When you're doing so much work for one child, it's more effective to have other kids work with them. You might as well have some others join," Hardin says. Liber Academy also takes an unorthodox approach to its classes, which are arranged by student maturity levels rather than age. "We go developmen-tally developmen-tally rather than by age," says May. The school's 75 or so students stu-dents range from 5 to 18. Since the school meets only once a week, students are assigned plenty of homework. Several students stu-dents are also home schooled. As for the future? May says she hopes to receive funding once the school's nonprofit status is approved later this month. But for now, she and the teachers teach-ers are content knowing that students at Liber Academy are excited about learning. "I know almost all the kids feel that way. They are excited to be here." meet Utah's minimum requirement require-ment of a three-member board for not-for-profit organizations she is unsure whether the State Board of Education will allow the appeal to continue. She said the earliest that Emerson Alcott could reapply for a charter if the current ruling stands would be 2011. Arbetta White, a former member of Emerson Alcott's founding and governing boards, and a parent of a child registered to attend the school, said she and other parents plan to approach the state about reinstatement of the charter. "We're doing everything we can to make sure the school does go through," White said. "I think the board probably resigned because they felt some pressure from us as parents." Forty-eight Emerson Alcott parents signed a petition demanding de-manding that the governing board appeal the state's decision, according to White, who said she was unable to contact all of the parents with students still enrolled in the school Citing burnout as her own reason for leaving the board earlier this year, White said she also tried to get the governing board to add new members - on the advice of the State Office of Education - with experience in areas like education, finance, and construction to help share the workload. "I don't know, but it sounds like the knee-jerk reaction of the existingboard was to be offended by that, and that's why they resigned," re-signed," White said, adding that the suggestion was "not a move to get them to resign. There was no desire for the current board to resign, but just to see if we could add two or three more members to the board." White said she plans to attend the next state schools meeting meet-ing with other Emerson Alcott parents to make a plea on the school's behalf. Express Writer Just days after the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced a possible solution to the Bill Barrett Corporation West Tavaputs Project's access through Nine Mile Canyon, the process has stalled. The Washington-based Advisory Advi-sory Council on Historic Preservation Pres-ervation (ACHP) notified the Bureau of Land Management that it has concerns over the adequacy of the draft Environment Environ-ment Impact Statement (EIS) in protection of Nine Mile Canyon's ancient sites. In a letter to James Caswell, BLM director, and Selma Sierra, Si-erra, Utah's director, the council wrote: "It has decided to participate par-ticipate in consultation on this undertaking." The ACHP is an independent federal agency responsible for the protection of the nation's resources whenever federally funded projects affect historic properties. "At least four specific concerns con-cerns were raised in the letter," explains Bruce Milhans, ACHP communications coordinator. "They relate to potential impacts to historic sites, questions of policy and interpretation, potential po-tential for procedural problems and issues of concern to Indian tribes." Milhans said the BLM's decision deci-sion not to talk with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Hopi Tribe as consulting parties "was problematic arid warranted our involvement." The council is asking the BLM to reconsider consultation actions, ac-tions, which will slow the project for the time being. While Bill Barrett Corporations' Corpora-tions' West Tavaputs Plateau project plans to develop natural gas wells on the high ground over the canyon, the preferred access to the drilling locations on the plateau is through Nine Mile Canyon, adding considerable truck traffic in the canyon. Preservationists have taken issue with the BLM's Draft EIS , for its failure to consider meat sures to protect ancient rock sites that line the canyon road. Si crypto cases I SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -A pesky parasite that sickened more than 1,900 Utah swimmers last year has barely made a splash in 2008. State and county health officials report nine cases of cryptosporidiosis this year that were related to recreational swimming, including six in Salt Lake County. Cryptosporidium can cause severe diarrhea and is commonly passed through feces. The outbreak out-break last summer was linked j (!H0(UBE liliminare areas of unwanted tat and tone your entire body with Smardipo laser-assisted lipolysis. Dr. Russell Smith 823-5554 When "Good Job" needs to be said... r "The DEIS did not consider alternative routes to the project proj-ect area," says National Trust Regional Mountain and Plains Manager Barbara Pahl. "We undertook a study to offer the BLM alternatives not considered previously." : According to a press release issued by National Trust for Historic Preservation, "a new engineering study conducted by KPFF Consulting Engineers and released today (Sept, 19) by the National Trust for Historic Preservation offers a win-win solution for dealing with the damage an oil and gas company's heavy truck traffic is having on an estimated 10,000 ancient rock art images and cultural artifacts in Utah's Nine Mile Canyon." Pahls says that there are alternate access routes available avail-able that could reduce impacts substantially to the cultural resource-rich Nine Mile Canyon road. Until now, the National Trust has been denied consulting party status by the BLM, who has also withheld similar status from the Hopi Tribe. The Hopi Tribe asked to be considered a consulting party in the evaluation process as they consider the canyon a Traditional Cultural Property, or sacred place. ACHP asserts that the exclusion exclu-sion of parties under environmental environ-mental protection legislation as opposed to historic preservation law is unsatisfactory. "We want to make sure that everyone who has a stake in the process has a chance to be heard, " Milhans says of the ACHP agency's direct involvement. Additional consultation will be set up by the ACHP, advisors in the preservation process. Fortheirnart. National Trust President Richard Moe, sayfe, --"This --"This new information fundamentally funda-mentally alters the stalemate at Nine Mile Canyon by giving both sides what they want....I urge the BLM to take this new information into consideration as it weighs the future of Nine Mile Canyon." The complete study is available avail-able at: http:press.national-trust.org. rom 2007 to public pools. I Before this year's swimming season, local and state health officials launched a public awareness aware-ness campaign that included television spots, pamphlets and signs at swimming areas. New rules also were imple-mentedrequiringchildren imple-mentedrequiringchildren under 3 or anyone with incontinence to wear swim diapers or waterproof swim pants. ; State officials reported 22 other cases of cryptosporidiosis this year that were unrelated to swimming pools. X Say it on : the Vernal Express : Opinion Page! : yu fecial iitt&it 1 1 " ?! |