It’s always exciting for me to see our Springs students volunteering their time and energy to help make our community a better place. One such student I’d like to highlight this month is Cecilia Clark, a 15-year-old 9^th grader with our KEYS program, who has launched two programs to help foster children in the Kamali’I Foster Family Agency in Lake Elsinore. Cecilia herself entered the foster system at age 5, and was part of it until age 10, when her parents, Wendell and Jeanne Clark of Menifee, adopted her.

I hope all of our Springs families have gotten off to a good start for the new school year. Please remember our Springs staff is here to serve you, so if you have any needs or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the appropriate staff member.

I am pleased to report that our 15th annual Ignite! Conferences for our staff and parents were a huge success! We had 850 Springs staff members participate in our staff event at Pechanga Resort in Temecula, and 350 parents and 500 children come to our parent conferences at locations in Murrieta and Riverside. We’re grateful to all who helped organize these events as well as those who attended; planning is already underway for our 2019 Ignite! Conferences with the theme: “There’s no place like Springs!” For our parents who were unable to attend, Tammy Jackson, our senior Homeschool director, shares some highlights below from the parent conferences.

I hope you’re enjoying your summer! I’d like to take a moment to share with you some exciting news from Springs’ Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy (FAPA). Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, FAPA will be implementing the new Aircraft Owners and Pilots Associations (AOPA) high school aviation science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curriculum. It will offer students aviation study options aligned with math and science standards used in many states nationwide, providing students the skills they need to learn about aviation-related career and educational opportunities.

I’m pleased to report that on May 9th, the Riverside County Board of Education voted unanimously to renew River Springs Charter School (RSCS) for another 5 years! Every five years charter schools are required to be renewed by their sponsors; the process takes several months in which data is reviewed and evidence presented. My thanks to all those who were involved in the process, including the Riverside County Board of Education, as well as all the talented staff of RSCS who make the school an ongoing success.

Springs’ leadership began the process over a year ago to get two “new” charter schools approved after changes to the legal interpretation of California charter regulations required us to seek local authorization for two of our existing centers.

This month is a time to celebrate the achievements of Springs’ amazing students and staff!

First, I am pleased to congratulate the winners of our annual Springs-wide Science and Engineering Fair. We had some wonderful projects submitted by our Homeschool and Academy students, some of whom went on to compete in the Riverside County Science Fair. Our winners included:

Our goal at Springs is to help our students take charge of their own education and empower their bright future.  The annual California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) test is a measure of how well our students are mastering their “I Can!s” in the rigorous new online adaptive test.  We were delighted to recognize 21 students who earned perfect scores on the CAASPP test!

It was my great pleasure to take part in grand opening ceremonies for Springs’ Magnolia Student Center, 4020 Jefferson Street, Riverside on January 22. The Center is located at the site of a former YMCA facility which has been completely remodeled for our use. It now has 28 state-of-the-art classrooms with 21st-century design elements, offices, conference rooms for parent and student meetings, a gymnasium and a pool complex which can serve as many as 750 students. It will greatly enhance the two programs Magnolia offers, Magnolia Academy for TK-8 and Renaissance Real World Academy for grades 9-12.

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you’re enjoying winter break and we look forward to your return to school soon.