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Show Thursday, February 1 5, 20C7 SPRINGVILLE HERALD Co MMENTS Some facts about Editor. Reagan Academyin Springville is currently in its Open Enrollment period for next year. I would like to correct several misconceptions miscon-ceptions we commonly hear in the community about charter schools and Reagan Academy specifically. specifi-cally. , 1. Charter schools are FREE and PUBLIC schools. Although much of what we offer at Reagan Academy Acad-emy is similar to a private school (uniforms, rigorous rigor-ous curriculum, parental involvement), we are a public school and there is no tuition required. We report re-port to the state, meet state requirements, and our students take the normal state-mandated tests. Most charter schools do not belong be-long to a school district and students may enroll regardless of where they live. Reagan Academy students stu-dents come mostly from Springville and Mapleton, but we also have students coming from as far away as Santaquin and Orem. Again, we charge no tuition. tu-ition. 2. Charter school teachers teach-ers are CERTIFIED and meet the same state requirements re-quirements as district public pub-lic schools. The difference is that charter schools have more flexibility to hire and fire based on performance. perfor-mance. At Reagan Academy Acad-emy we pay our faculty based on merit, not just tenure. We are proud to offer teachers higher pay than local school "scale" and additionally offer performance-based bonuses in recognition of great teaching. Why do we do this? Because we believe it The Springville Herald Customer Service 375-5103 489-5651 Fax 489-7021 239 L 400 S. Springville, Utah 84663 NMer Craig Dennis cdennisherQldextra.com Manager CraigConover EJtor PcdCortover cfftdtyavpro.com Page designad layout Maroo Harris , Sherri Harris Office Manager JanealDufnn Send Newshems to us at Springville Herald 269 E. 400 South Springville, UT 84663 An edition of The Daily Herald a Lee Enterprises, Inc. Newspaper Subscriptions 4 Delivery Service ...375-5103 News & Advertising ... . .489-5651 Fax .489-7021 E-mail .artdtyigavpraxcm Springville Herald, Daily Herald edition (USPS 513-060) a weekly newspaper published at 269 E. 400 S. Springville, Utah 84663. Periodicals Postage Paid at Springville, Utah 84663 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to the Springville Herald, 269 E. 400 S. Spring, Utah 84663 Member: Audit Bureau of Ovulations News We welcome new tips. Call 489-5651 to repor t a news tip or if you have a comment or a questions. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must include the authort name ( printed and signed) and a telephone number. We reserve the right to edit letters for darity, punctuation, taste and length. Letters are welcome on any topic means a better school for our students. How can we do it? It is how we choose to spend our allotment of state funds. 3. One of Reagan Academy's Acade-my's missions is to "Ensure that all students are challenged chal-lenged and progressing." This means that even if a student is advanced, they should still expect to be challenged and if a student struggles to meet expectations expecta-tions they should expect to ' receive the tools that they need to succeed. For instance, in-stance, our math program allows students to study math according to their abilities and we have some studying math several levels lev-els above their grade level. We have been surprised to hear in the community both that, "That school is for smart kids" as well as "That school is for struggling strug-gling kids." We are not sure how such rumors get started. Reagan Academy is a school for all kids. 4. Charter schools are for anyone, not "just the rich and elite." At Reagan Academy, in fact, over 30 of our students qualify qual-ify for and receive free and reduced lunch and breakfast. Admittedly, some people may find attendance at-tendance difficult because Educational choices will help children in Utah Editor: "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves disbe-lieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." (Thomas Jefferson, to James Madison, Madi-son, August 28, 1789) . Our legislators have proposed a private school voucher system that attempts at-tempts to remedy the lack of freedom inherent in the public school system. A spokesperson for the Utah State Board of Education Educa-tion has based opposition to these efforts on the following fol-lowing issues. Do educational choices distract from a quality, uniform public school system sys-tem available to all? The implication is that given a choice, significant numbers of people would choose to depart from the state-mandated system. Compulsory "unity" is not unity at alL It is tyranny. Unity does not come from coercion and neither iLJULJLJOLJi MOVIE RATING Ghost Rider pg-13 1130 Bridge to Terabithia pg 11:00 Music & Lyrics pg-13 . .iwo-Night .iwo-Night at the Museum pg 10:45. Because I Said So PG-13 11:20 NOTbit PG-13 11:40 The Messengers pg-13 11:50 Hannibal Rising r h:30 Digital Stereo Surround Sound in all Auditoriums! Monday is Family Day - All Seats $4.50 Bargain Matinee - This Thurs, Fri & Sat! All Seats Before 6pm Dailv $4.50 Charter most charter schools don't offer transportation to and from the school. At Reagan Academy we would like to have a bus, but charter schools are given a lower per-student allotment from the state and we have chosen cho-sen to focus our funds for now on academics, faculty and facilities. Many families fami-lies organize neighborhood neighbor-hood carpools to help with transportatioa . 5. Charter schools are not "run by a bunch of parents." At Reagan Academy Acad-emy our school is run by a dedicated and talented principal, staff and faculty. It is overseen by a parent Board of Trustees who are responsible to the state and who are motivated by the need for an excellent school for their children. One advantage of a charter school is that the board is responsible for one school (rather than a whole district) dis-trict) and is able to focus , on creating the most successful suc-cessful school possible. 6. Reagan Academy's supplies and facilities are top rate. Many visitors, parents and students have mentioned that they have "a good feeling" coming into our building which was built less than two years ago. One example of does quality. I am certain that many citizens of Utah would be glad to have far less of their income taken by the state in the name of education. Then the state would not have to deal with the sticky problem of "public funds" for religious instruction. However, since the state is taking money for education edu-cation that is supposed to benefit us all, we have rights to demand a real ; benefit according to our judgment. v The beliefs and judgments judg-ments of public school officials of-ficials do not take precedence prece-dence over those of any one else. There is concern that educational ed-ucational choices will "proliferate "pro-liferate extreme views" that "conflict with our public pub-lic values." We do not need self-appointed guardians of public values who decide which views are marginal or extreme. The U. S. Constitution mm SHOWTIMES 2:20 4:50 7:30 10:00 2:00 4:30 7:00 9:20 1:40 4:15 6:50 9:30 1:30 4:00 6:30 9:00 2:10 4:40 7:10 9:40 2:50 5:10 7:40 9:55 2:40 5:00 7:20 9:50 3:15 6:40 9:10 Schools our top-rate facilities is our large and inviting library that has well over 7,000 books and is staffed by a full-time certified librarian. Our library is one example of how Reagan Academy's success can be directly attributed at-tributed to a partnership between parents and staff to make sure that our school is excellent. I understand that not everyone recognizes the need for charter schools. Many of us, though, have been very happy with this alternative for our students. stu-dents. We currently have over 600 students. I hope that as Reagan Academy continues to succeed and reach, out to the community commu-nity that people will better understand the truth about charter schools. Anyone interested in Reagan Academy is invited in-vited to our Open House on March It. Everyone is welcome to call at 489-7828, 489-7828, drop by the school (1143 W. Center, Springville) Spring-ville) or visit our website at reaganacademy.org. Our random lottery for enrollment enroll-ment will be held on March 30th for the 2007-08 school year. Michelle Laraway Board of Trustees Reagan Academy protects individual rights, not "public values." Furthermore, Fur-thermore, in circumstances circumstanc-es where many options are available and vying for attendance, at-tendance, it is unlikely that extreme or marginal insti-. tutions will attract enough families to stay in operation. opera-tion. There is a concern about ' the management and accountability ac-countability of people attending at-tending independent educational edu-cational institutions. There must be some confusion. con-fusion. In a . democratic Republic, government officials of-ficials are accountable to and to be managed by the citizens, not the other way around. Finally, is there a detriment det-riment to the poor? The school choice measures make affordable options available to all. Why would the "poor" stay in substandard public pub-lic institutions when they can choose to attend better bet-ter schools? Why would a substandard school continue con-tinue to exist when no one is compelled to financially support or attend it? Marjohna Kathryn Madsen American Heritage School a Spanish Fork v Mapleton . Feb 1 1 :00 4:00 1:15 4:25 1:05 , 4:15 1:10 3.55 6:45 9:35 I 1:Q5 4:00 6:55 9:35 1:25 4:10 6:50 9:30 COME EXPERIENCE THX SOUND IN EVERY THEATER! Order and print tickets online at . No discount passes. All auditoriums are THX certified! ' Cinemas open all day every day except lor 9:00 Sunday showings Early Matinee on Saturday & Sunday Only! Celebrating the office of president Next week we will celebrate President's Day, It is a day to honor all of the presidents of this country, especially two of the greatest, Washington and Lincoln. What the holiday was meant to do is honor the office of President of the United States. Everyone of our presidents have made significant contributions con-tributions to this country. Each one faced issues unique to the period of time they were serving. Each had decisions deci-sions to make that none of us would want to face. We can learn a great deal from each of the men who have led this country. We may not agree with their political po-litical party or the decisions they made, but we can learn from them. History repeats itself when we don't learn from it. Personally some of the things we can learn from President Presi-dent George Washington are: "Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem es-teem your own reputation, for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company." "Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo un-dergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellatioa" "It's wonderful what we can do if we're always doing." do-ing." "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience." In Washington's Farewell Address (issued as a public letter in 1796) was one of the most influential statements of American political values. Drafted primarily by Washington Wash-ington himself, with help from Hamilton, it gives advice on the necessity and importance of national union, the value of the Constitution and the rule of law, the evils of political parties, and the proper virtues of a republican people. In the address, he called morality "a necessary spring of popular government." He suggests that "reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality moral-ity can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." Washington Wash-ington makes the point that the value of religion is for the benefit of society as a whole. And we can never forget the final words in Abraham Lincoln's famous speech: "That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of f reedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not per ish from the earth." We should honor the office of President of the United States on Monday and be ever greatful that we are celebrating cel-ebrating in a free nation. Springville Springville Police had 196 calls last week with 42 for animal problems. Austin Reid Burrows, .707 S. 100 East, Springville, Spring-ville, and Alejandro Martinez Marti-nez Coronado, 2021 E. 725 South, Springville, both 23 years old, were cited at the Skateboard Park for criminal crimi-nal trespass. William Justin Clark, 934 , S. Main, Springville, was cited for no registration, possession of drug parap-ernalia parap-ernalia ancTopen container of alcohol. Richard Alan Glatzer, 315 N. 400 East, Springville, was arrested for an outstanding warrant war-rant and possession of heroin her-oin and possession of drug paraphernalia in a correctional correc-tional institution. A 17-year-old male was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia. Two 16-year-olds, a male and a female, were cited for shoplifting drinks and '"The place to watch a movie!" Stadium seating THX sound Exit 248 in Payson, 633 So. 950 West 6 - 22 7:05 9:35 7:1 0 9:25 1 6:55 9:30 mm r Police report cough syrup at Reams. Collin Jud Law, 29 C. Street, Springville, was arrested ar-rested for three warrants. Rick Martinez, no address, was charged with criminal trespass. Justin Craig Mendelkow, 348 S. Main, Nephi, was arrested for a warrant. Michelle Alisa Peterson, 1579 W. Renaissance Way, Springville, was charged with Class A bad check writing. Arthur Cole Searle, 785 E. Center, Springville, was charged with theft in a January Jan-uary case. A 12-year-old male was accosted in the area of 300 East by a group . of kids who made him give them his longboard. After an alcohol compliance com-pliance check, four sales clerks were cited for selling sell-ing alcohol to a minor. They are: LaDawn Miller, 211 E. 400 North, Springville, Spring-ville, clerk at Charlies; Danielle Dan-ielle Beech, 160 S. 200 East, Springville, clerk at Aliens; Riley Sedgley, 445 Buckley, Buck-ley, Springville, clerk at Jakes; and Christina Howe, 55 E. 500 South, Springville, Spring-ville, clerk at Walkers. Computers were taken in a burglary at I-Link. There were two fraud calls, one idntity fraud call and three for runnaways. Several vehicles were broken into. Taken were a CD player, four CD cases and tools; Stanley toolbox and CD's; 20 quarters; CD player, MP3 player $5 and medications; face plate from a stereo; two golf clubs from a car parked at the Best Western; and suitcase, suit-case, clothes and backpack from a car parked at Days Inn. A female juvenile took money from a purse at SHS, and an I Pod was taken tak-en from SHS. Charges are pending on a sex abuse of a child case. i |