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Show AN EDITION OF THE r K 4. r k i r i if n " -'-rry. , 100 1 V II f V YOUR TOWN, YOUR NEIGHBORS, YOUR NEWSPAPER THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2005 50 CENTS VOL. 117 NO. 31 pringvul sen Christi C. Babbitt staff writer A new 50,000-square-foot building being constructed in Springville's west fields will Springville's first Charter School, the Regan Academy, is currently under heavy construction in preperation for the start of the school year. Classes are scheduled to start August 30 in the new building located at 1 143 W. Center in Springville. Utah charter school facts: Charter schools are public schools and subject to the same laws and regulations regarding religion in the schools, school fees and tuition, civil rights, annual reports re-ports and other matters. A charter school may not charge tuition or require students or parents to make donations. do-nations. Charter schools are funded on the principle that state funds follow the student. Therefore, money provided to traditional public schools in the form of the WPU, or weighted pupil unit, transfers with a student to the charter char-ter school. Charter schools may not assess taxes like local school districts; the state legislature appropriates funds each year to replace some of the local property tax revenues rev-enues that are not available to charter schools. Charter schools may also apply for state and federal start-up funds and other specialized funds. State law requires each charter school to have a cap on its enrollment. Charter schools can apply to the State Charter School Board to raise the cap. . 'Charter schools may only employ educators who hold valid teaching certificates or meet state board requirements require-ments for alternative certification or authorization. Charter schools must make the same annual reports as other public schools, including an annual financial audit au-dit and monthly budget report. Charter schools must participate in statewide testing programs. Charter schools are subject to No Child Left Behind legislation. Source: Utah State Office of Education "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" opens at Springville Playhouse August 8 , Willy Wonk's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is coming to Springville, and boy are you in for at treat! If you haven't attended a production pro-duction at the Springville Playhouse (the best kept secret se-cret in Utah County), now is your opportunity. This is a production for the entire family; the kids will love it. ; The Springville Playhouse invites you to join 40 excited and talented children from around Utah County as they perform the loved play "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Get your tickets now! There will only be five performances per-formances of this widely popular play. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" will run Monday, Thursday, Friday, Fri-day, Aug. 8, 11 and 12, and 6 IH,61055 "000501 eduled soon become the city's first charter school. More than 600 students rom as f ar north as Draper and as far south as Nephi two performances on Saturday, Satur-day, Aug. 13. Evening performances will start at 6 p.m. and the Saturday Satur-day matinee will begin at 3 p.m. in the Springville Playhouse Play-house located at 50 S. Main, Springville (under the Springville Public Library). Tickets may be purchased, in advance, at the Springville Public Library or at the door. Tickets cost is $5 for general adult admission, $4 for seniors, $3 for children 12 and under, and $30 for a family pass up to eight family fami-ly members. Group rates, for 20 or more people, are also available avail-able by calling Kathy Llewellyn at 830-1551. For discount coupons, please see our website at www.springvilleplayouse.or g and our coupon add in the Springville Herald. The show is co-directed by Arlene McGregor and Kathy Llewellyn and a big thanks e's first charter scfaoo to ooen have enrolled to attend Rea- gan Academy, located at 1143 W. Center in Springville. The school, which will instruct students Charter Christi C. Babbitt STAFF WRITER Several hundred students will leave Nebo School District Dis-trict to attend newly opening charter schools this fall, but a district official said he anticipates antici-pates being able to adjust district dis-trict staffing for the upcoming upcom-ing school year to match the changes. Reagan Academy, a new charter school scheduled to open on Aug. 30 in Springville, has been approved ap-proved to have up to 675 students stu-dents enrolled in kindergarten kinder-garten through eighth grade. As of July 26, Reagan Academy Acade-my had 624 students enrolled; en-rolled; the charter school is currently contacting each of these students to confirm that they are still planning to goes to Al Ricci and Debbie Smith for all their hard work and help. This fun play is based on the book by Roald Dahl and dramatized by Richard R. George. Children in the cast are: Casey Ashcraft, Kamille Bird, Jordan Boyack, Spencer Boyack, Jesika Ce-browaki, Ce-browaki, Jessica Champney, Sadie Conover, Jordan Davis, Austin Houtz, Ben Knowlton, Kayden Nelson, Lauren Ostler, Samuel Ricci Anthony Ricci, Audrey Simmons, Sim-mons, Deven Skags and Jaden Young. Come be delighted once again by the fun characters of Charlie, Willy Wonka, Grandpa George, Augustus, Violet, Veruca, Mike, the Oompa-Loompas and more. We look forward to seeing you under the library at the SPRINGVILLE PLAYHOUSE PLAY-HOUSE for this famous chocolate-candy fantasy. VWVW.HARKTHEHERALD.COM hundred students from Nebo mstrici in kindergarten ' through eighth grade, is scheduled to have its first day of class on Aug. 30 in its new building. "By the time school starts, schools will take several attend Reagan this fall. Warren Shenk, principal of Reagan Academy, said he provided a list to Nebo last week of the names of 363 students who have been confirmed con-firmed as attending Reagan Academy this year. The list also included the grades the students are entering this fall and- the school they have been attending so district officials of-ficials could have an idea of which schools would be losing los-ing students. The list included about 250 students from Nebo; the others oth-ers are coming from other schools and school districts, Shenk said. The charter school is working to confirm that the remaining 261 students still intend to be Reagan stu i V ft The much loved "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" opens Monday, Aug. 8, at the Springville Playhouse under the Library. This fun play is being staged by 40 talented children and will be something the whole family will enjoy. Tickets are available at the door or in advance at the Springville Library. CALL 375-5103 TO SUBSCRIBE mont we estimate that we're going to be completely full," said Matt Throckmorton, a member mem-ber of the charter school's board of advisors. The school can accept up to 675 students; stu-dents; most of the students enrolled are from the SpringvilleMapleton area. Throckmorton said the charter school was formed by a group of local parents, including himself, shortly after af-ter the death of U.S. President Presi-dent Ronald Reagan and the school was named in honor of the former president. According to Utah state law, "a proposal to establish a charter school may be made by an individual or groups of individuals, including includ-ing teachers and parents or guardians of students who will attend the school, or a not-for-profit legal entity organized or-ganized under the laws of this state." The Utah State Office of Education's Web site states, "A charter is a contract between be-tween a charter school and the State Board, setting forth the conditions under which the school will operate." The founders of Reagan Academy didn't have concerns con-cerns with the existing public schools, Throckmorton said; dents, Shenk said. As they are confirmed, those names will also be provided to Nebo and other affected school districts. dis-tricts. Rick Nielsen, Nebo director direc-tor of elementary education, said he will have to examine the overall effect of charter school enrollment on the district dis-trict and possibly rearrange the distribution of staffing between schools, but believes the district will be able to accommodate ac-commodate the changes. "I don't think there's any school too significantly impacted, im-pacted, so that shouldn't be too big of a problem," Nielsen said. Losing students to a new charter school can create organizational or-ganizational difficulties for school districts. When a stu ' f h they just saw an opportunity to do things differently. Issues Is-sues they discussed included school uniforms and a traditional tradi-tional curriculum, he said. The new school will focus on the basics of education, using educational methods such as Saxon Math, defined as a "research-based math program that uses an 'incremental 'incre-mental method'" in a Reagan Academy brochure. The school will also use "core knowledge sequence" through which "students are exposed to a broad range of historical, scientific and cultural cul-tural topics that will build on one another to prepare them for educational success," according ac-cording to the brochure. Throckmorton said the board would like to see students stu-dents explore certain areas in a more in-depth fashion so they get a real understanding understand-ing of the subject rather than just exposure to it. "There's a lot of little things that we just think would be incredibly neat," he said, such as creating creat-ing speech, debate, government govern-ment and other clubs and having regular guest speakers speak-ers visit the school. Students attending Reagan Academy will be required to See REGAN ACADEMY on page 3 dent decides to attend a charter char-ter school, state funding provided pro-vided for that student's education edu-cation also transfers to the charter school. While the cumulative cu-mulative district enrollment loss may number in the hundreds, hun-dreds, the enrollment loss to a specific school may only be one or two students per classroom. The loss to a specific grade or classroom may not be enough to warrant eliminating eliminat-ing a teacher at that school, meaning a district has to maintain the same staffing level while losing students -and funding. Nielsen said any final decisions deci-sions on staffing distribution would wait until after Nebo's school registration on Aug. See CHARTER SCHOOLS on page 3 XXX J ! |