Eeek no EKA!

The next school you may be considering is EKA, Explore Knowledge Academy. There are two addresses. A Lower School campus that is located on some church property (I have it on good authority that the church would like it's building back at some point in the future so look for this campus to be changing locations at some point), and an Upper School campus located just off of Mountain Vista near Sunset. Admittedly, this author has mostly dated information regarding the Lower school. What I do know is that the current director of the Lower School is much preferred over the past principal (who is involved in the formation of a new Charter School in Henderson which opens for the 09-10' school year but more about that one in a later post). It seems that when the last principal was there things ran amuck. Originally there was only one campus and the principal was over the entire school. Parents were definitely not happy with the way the school was being run and there was even some drama with a walk out by the teachers which was captured by local news stations. A big shake up ensued and there was a split of the campuses. A new director was named for the Upper School. I met him personally and was quite impressed.
The principal resigned or retired but left the school. A new director was named for the Lower School. I've met this gentleman personally as well and I was also impressed. Parents were happy with the new choices and happy that the principal was leaving. Unfortunately, the school has had trouble gaining momentum from the exodus of teachers and good families. The school, especially the Upper school was generally thought of in the community as some sort of variation of Op School (Opportunity School) where children who were not welcome at their zoned school could attend and still get a public education. Whether the perception was correct or not it has lingered and has hampered the ability of the Upper School to attract many who solidly believe in the ideals of a Charter school education. The new director seemed to be changing that and seemed also to be well liked by the students and the parents that I know who have children attending the school. Alas, he too, left the school and the school is more than tight lipped about his departure. According to the Board meeting where this was all decided, it was not wrong doing on his part but was a snafu nonetheless. His successor, in this authors opinion, lacks his personality and passion for Charter education.

The nuts and bolts of it is this. The curriculum is "Project Based" this means, and this is an oversimplification, that the students have the ability to dive into subjects a little more deeply. A project is decided on and agreed to by the student and teacher. There is a contracted time for the project and checkpoints along the way. The students attend school Tuesday through Friday and are off every Monday to work on their projects. If you have a child who is self directed, this type of curriculum is not a problem. The work environment is chaotic and noisy to the observer. I toured the school with my child. It was my child who noted that it would be a difficult environment to work in. There are no individual classrooms. Instead the students and teachers are grouped into pods and work in areas that are sectioned off with office cubicle dividers. My child referred to it as un-school. There is more than adequate playground and play equiment for students in the Lower School. At the Upper School there is only one basketball hoop in the parking lot of the office building where the school is located. It was explained to me on a tour of the school that the children for P.E. sometimes bowl at the local bowling alley a few blocks away or jog or walk a selected route around the block near the school. It made me nervous but the students that I asked (all three of them) liked the P.E. teacher and the activities that they do. Probably the best option that the Upper School has to offer is two different start times for students. There are students who start at the more traditional 8 ish and there are students who do not start their day until around 3 and go into the evening. There is no going back and forth between start times, they are different programs that the students are enrolled for. The later start time certainly has it's appeal and the students that I spoke with who attended the late session were very happy to have that option.

I can not tell you whether lunch is offered by the Lower School. I do know that the Upper School prior to the exit of the director was contracting with a caterer to be able to have some sort of school lunch. There is a First Aid and Safety Assistant (FASA) on duty at the Upper and Lower School (along with a school nurse who may actually do double duty at both campuses). EKA is the only Charter school in town to be affiliated with CCSD but the affiliation is loose at best.

Finding a public Charter school in Henderson, NV

Finding a decent public Charter school shouldn't be this difficult should it? For all the progress that Henderson and Las Vegas have made in other areas, the Charter front is challenging at best. Let's look at the players shall we?

There is Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas which is the sister school to a school also called Coral Academy of Science located in Reno, Nevada. It would be great if the Las Vegas school was running half as well as it's sister. One gets the feeling after attending a few of the Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas Executive Board meetings that Reno actually considers it the ugly stepsister. The location at the corner of Windmill and 215 is great. The building is actually the old Imprints Day School for those of you who have been around for a while. The building was originally a pre school and kinder operation that never quite successfully got off the ground as a full blown Day School. The classrooms are cramped and small. The orignal classrooms were walled in half. The classrooms are so small that the students are not allowed to carry backpacks into them and are required to keep belongings in metal lockers located outside the building. Ever tried explaining the concept of a locker to a 3rd grader? The lockers become a huge problem in the 100 degree plus heat that we regularly experience around here. Make sure you pack a burn kit with your student for the summer. There is no playground to speak of. A drive by will allow you to see all there is to see. One sport court and a few covered concrete picnic tables. I am not sure what the plan will be this year since they are adding grades K, 1, and 2 and are planning on keeping these grades at the above mentioned campus in addition to grades 3 and 4. 5th grade through 11th will be located in an as yet unapproved location. An article in the newspaper stated that they have not been given approval yet for possession of the Cox Communication building at Valle Verde and Sunset. This move has been opposed by the existing school in that cul-de-sac, Green Valley Christian because it would bring too much traffic into an already very tight turn around situation. Coral Academy did not complete a traffic study in a timely manner so it was rescheduled to the following month (July 09'). It will be interesting to see if they are able to pull this off. This author has spoken to another Charter school that actually considered the same location but the finish out would be prohibitive to convert commercial office space to acceptable public school space. Their study showed that the stairwells were too narrow for the State specifications so they scrapped the idea. Probably the most interesting and distressing thing of all about this school is the ties that it maintains to an individual named Fattulah Gullen. This individual is a religious extremist from Turkey living in the United States. He still has over 1 million followers in that country. This individual "sponsors" Turkish festivals at and through something he owns called Pacifica Institue (not institute) according to his own website and both Coral Academy schools are regular attendees. Although the school claims no affiliation with this individual, it is interesting to note that both of the Coral Schools are primarily run and taught by Turkish teachers and administrators and there is serious question about the Chartering organization called Accord which both of these schools list as their chartering organization and the affiliation between Accord and Mr. Gullen. I will address in more complete detail the information that can be gleaned from the Internet regarding that subject in another posting.