It was my great pleasure to participate in groundbreaking ceremonies for our new facilities for Springs’ Flabob Airport Preparatory Academy on March 18. Once complete, the school will have an office and 10 classrooms surrounding a hangar. We had a wonderful turnout of Springs families and staff, local elected officials and other friends of the school.

At Springs, we’re committed to keeping our students safe. We provide our staff with training on how to respond to a variety of emergencies, including health emergencies which can arise among our 8,812 students.

(See The Press-Enterprise article from February 11, 2019, added below)

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

Season’s Greetings!

It’s been a busy few months! As you are no doubt aware, on November 6 California had the midterm election, which included the election of a new governor, Gavin Newsom. Our outgoing governor, Jerry Brown, has been a stalwart supporter of charter schools, vetoing legislation that would be harmful or unduly restrict our operation. Unfortunately, based on his stated positions, we have concerns that Governor-elect Newsom may seek to restrict or reduce charter school options.

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.