Charter school to expand
Text 
No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Lynze Wardle
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lwardle@standard.net
<
b>Students could move right into junior high
LAYTON -- North Davis Preparatory Academy, a local charter school that specializes in teaching Spanish, is planning to expand its program beyond elementary school.
The Layton school currently enrolls students in kindergarten through sixth grade. It plans to open a junior high site for the 2008-09 school year, Principal Deborah Gomberg said.
"Many parents have been pleased with the emphasis of the school and feel very strongly that they would like their children to continue on here."
North Davis Preparatory Academy's administrators are looking for a site for seventh- through ninth-graders that is near the existing elementary school building, Gomberg said.
The school has 502 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. On Jan. 18, the Utah Charter School Board approved a student enrollment increase of nearly 500. The elementary school will be opened to 175 additional students, and the junior high will accept a total of 300 students.
The State Charter School Board also approved transferring oversight of North Davis Preparatory Academy from the Davis School District to the State Charter School Board.
The transfer means the state, rather than the district, will be charged with oversight measures like checking the school's attendance and record-keeping, said Marlies Burns, Utah charter school's education specialist.
Only six of Utah's 52 charter schools are chartered through a school district. The Davis School District is now responsible for the oversight of just one charter school, NUAMES in Kaysville.
Gomberg said the Davis School District could not manage the growing number of students at North Davis Preparatory Academy while dealing with its own growth issues.
Both she and Burns said the decision to place North Davis Preparatory Academy under state control was amicable.
"It was a friendly parting," Burns said.
Davis School District spokesman Chris Williams said North Davis Preparatory Academy requested the change after the district was reluctant to approve the student population increase.
He said supervising three more grades at a separate site would have required too much work from district administrators.
Add Your Comment
