Loss of ninth grade frustrates some parents
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Amy K. Stewart
Standard-Examiner staff
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orthern Utah Academy for Math, Engineering and Science is cutting its ninth grade, which could affect other local charter schools as well as mainstream public schools this fall.
The decision comes with NUAMES' plans to consolidate its two campuses, in Kaysville and Roy, at the Weber State University Davis campus in Layton.
NUAMES currently has 137 ninth-graders, which makes up 32 percent of the school's enrollment.
Eliminating NUAMES freshmen will result in a more mature student body as the school adjusts to its new home on a college campus, officials say. It also will allow the charter school to increase its class choices.
NUAMES officials say they want to mesh with the mainstream comprehensive public school schedule of having ninth-graders in junior high. Davis and Weber school districts are on a K-6/7-9/10-12 schedule. Ogden will transition to that grade schedule by fall 2008.
Students who were planning to attend NUAMES for ninth grade have other choices this fall, including DaVinci Academy of Science and the Arts, in Ogden, or mainstream public schools. There are also private schools and home schooling.
"Ogden district would be thrilled to have these ninth-graders," said district spokeswoman Donna Corby.
Ogden Preparatory Academy, a K-8 charter school with a Spanish bilingual emphasis, plans to allow 27 of its current 75 eighth-graders to stay at the school through ninth grade.
Some parents aren't happy that NUAMES is cutting ninth grade.
"A lot of parents were planning on their children going to NUAMES," said Crystine Riches, who has five children attending OPA.
"We want the emphasis on the math and science," Riches said. "We liked having a choice."
DaVinci has about 300 students, but its building has a capacity for 350 students. The Utah State Charter School Board has granted approval for up to 500 students.
DaVinci Interim Principal Jessie Kidd says the school has a creative project-based philosophy of art and science, along with the whole high school curriculum.
"The students who come to DaVinci aren't the type who go to NUAMES," Kidd said.
Charter schools are nonmainstream public schools. Parents can choose to send their children there.
Charter schools can't charge tuition nor discriminate in admissions and are supported by tax dollars.
They operate according to a charter approved by either the local school district or the State Charter School Board.
Charter schools participate in all state testing and use standard core curriculum that is taught in Utah public schools.
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