The mission of each Springs Charter School is to empower students by fostering their innate curiosity, engaging their parents, and promoting optimum learning by collaboratively developing a personalized learning program for each student.
Journey Homeschool High School senior AnaisPark is a leader on her CyberPatriot and Mayors Cup Teams, reported ErinRiley, vice principal, and is “setting the stage for an impressive future in computer science, cyber security, or engineering.” Anais is also a varsity athlete in cross country (a team of which she is a co-captain), basketball, and track and field.
MonicaLopez, principal of the Rancho Cucamonga Personalized Learning Center, reported that the school participated in a Family Fun Night at an Ontario Reign hockey game, enjoying “action-packed” hockey and sharing their “school spirit.” The evening began with her students holding the Reign’s flag center ice to kick off the game.
Springs’ Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy (FAPA) celebrated World Kindness Day playing Kindness Bingo and by planning to donate 100 socks to a local shelter. Additionally, BryanMerida, a student diagnosed with autism, wants to launch a Kindness Club at the school, reported aide ArianaMendoza.
The Magnolia Student Center held a Door Dash event based on the theme “Once Upon a Time” in which classroom doors were decorated and candy was distributed to the 700 who visited, reported SusieCarpenter, program facilitator. All enjoyed the event, she said, as families “were hanging out in our living room areas visiting and eating candy.”
Springs Homeschool Classical Humanities students went on a field trip to the Egyptian Building in Chino Hills, reported teacher JessMcIntyre. The building is an Egyptian restaurant built in 2019 which was designed to recreate the Egyptian temples at Abu Simbel, she said, but never opened. Students made rubbings and tried to read the hieroglyphs while having a picnic of “parent-packed ancient-style” lunches.
Cade B. is the December 2024 Student Artist of the Month. He is a 2nd-grade student with Harbor Homeschool. Cade likes to draw people, garbage trucks, cars, and cats using paint, pencils, markers, things for collage, and mixed media.
Charter schools are independent public schools with rigorous curriculum programs and unique educational approaches. In exchange for operational freedom and flexibility, charter schools are subject to higher levels of accountability than traditional public schools. Charter schools, which are tuition-free and open to all students, offer quality and choice in the public education system.
The charter establishing each such school is a contract detailing the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success. In California, charters are granted for five years. At the end of the term, the entity granting the charter may renew the school’s contract. Charter schools are accountable to their authorizer, and to the students and families they serve, to produce positive academic results and adhere to the charter contract.
Like traditional public schools, charters receive state funding based on a formula for each child enrolled in the school. Many charters also do additional fundraising to obtain grants and donations to pay for programs that are not fully funded by state or school district formulas. When lawmakers passed the Charter Schools Act of 1992, California became the second state in the country (after Minnesota) to enact charter school legislation. The intent was to allow groups of educators, community members, parents, or others to create an alternative type of public school.