Whole new class

Forget about studying during the school week.

A grueling school bus ride totaling four hours a day left Sandy Valley freshman Michael Benevides with hardly enough time to eat, sleep and attend classes.

Last year Benevides started getting ready for his commute to Durango High School in Las Vegas around 4 a.m. and didn't get back home in Sandy Valley until about 6 p.m.

Picking up or dropping off students during the bus run turned the over 50-mile trip into a two-hour ordeal, each way.

"I would sleep on the bus and sometimes in between classes," he said. Despite long days and hard work, Benevides failed to earn enough credits to advance to 10th grade. But he remains determined to graduate.

And Benevides begins working on that goal today, the opening day for Keystone Academy Charter High School in Sandy Valley. Utility hook-ups and finishing touches were being completed on the 4,200-square-foot modular building just prior to Friday's ribbon-cutting ceremony and orientation.

Clark County's other charter school, Odyssey, opened Aug. 23. The computer-based kindergarten through eighth grade school allows students to complete virtually all of their work at home.

According to the state Department of Education, there are now five charter schools in Nevada.

"Charter" refers to the agreement drawn up between the charter school and the agencies that oversee it. Charter schools here are reviewed by the state and approved by the Clark County School District.

Opponents of charter schools argue that a lack of proper regulations can lead to disaster. Advocates, however, say they can improve student performance and meet needs of specific groups of students.

In Benevides' case, that means his life just became a lot easier.

"It was pretty rough on him," his mother, Annie Benevides, said. "Michael's a perfect example of what has happened here."

She was referring to the long commute, which is credited with creating an 80 percent dropout rate in Sandy Valley since the mid-1980s.

"We're hoping this helps with the huge dropout rate," Keystone Principal James Driscoll said of the school.

Chris Meier, one of Keystone's three full-time teachers, believes the charter school will address another issue.

"One of the biggest problems is there are just too many kids in classrooms," she said, adding that Keystone's class sizes will be about 15.

To start, Keystone will cater to ninth and 10th grade students, offering regular classes during the day as well as independent or home study. Eleventh and 12th grade students will have the option of being in the independent study program this year.

"We're also going to allow home-school parents the opportunity to sit in on our classes and to have those students take tests," Driscoll said. "We're just trying to offer things to meet a lot of different needs."

Some 50 students have signed up already, said Driscoll, who expects that number to increase.

The ultimate goal is to have a full-fledged charter high school, he said.

"Next year, we're going to add 11th grade," Driscoll said.

Getting a traditional public high school in Sandy Valley isn't very likely.

Sandy Valley's population (about 3,500) does not justify building a high school there, Clark County Schools Superintendent Brian Cram said. But the school district has helped Keystone get established.

In fact, Cram said he isn't worried about charter schools taking pupils away from traditional schools.

"Our curriculum is still much broader," he said. "Charter schools are not any great devil. If they can find a way to do something better, then we would be crazy if we don't do it."

Cram added that even if 1,000 students enrolled in charter schools, it would not be a significant hit in the amount of state and federal money the district receives based on the number of pupils it has.

Aside from meeting all local and state regulations, other obstacles to charter school startups are securing a building and funding.

"Getting a building was our biggest obstacle," said Dawn Haviland, chairwoman of the Sandy-Mesquite Valley Educational Foundation.

Funding is another issue.

Keystone receives public school allotment of about $4,300 in aid per student, which just about pays for salaries. Other expenses are being funded through donations or grants.

The first year's lease payment on the building is being paid by the Lied Foundation. The Mandalay Resort Group also has donated to the project, Haviland said. Other groups have made donations, as well.

"This year, we need about another $200,000," Haviland said, adding that financing for next year is already being worked on.

State officials believe Nevada's charter school regulations will avoid problems that have cropped up in other states.

"For example, we require certified personnel," Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association, said. "We don't want unqualified people teaching children, which I have seen in other states."

Getting the best teachers to work for Odyssey, which requires teachers to visit students' homes once a week, has been difficult, the school's Director of Technology Vjalene Gorsky, said. About 300 students are enrolled in Odyssey.

"We've had a difficult time in getting good teachers to work in this type of environment," Gorsky said.

Like Keystone, funding is tight at Odyssey.

Gorsky said the school is still working to secure donated computers for students who want to enroll but don't have their own computer.

Odyssey, although it stresses technology, was born out of parents' desires to be more involved in their children's education, according to Gorsky.

"All of our curriculum is technology-based, but we do provide other activities and educational opportunities that are not on the computer," she said. "They are required to write out reports, read books and go to the library."

Odyssey's expansion potential is good, since most of the work is done in the home and students can enroll from anywhere in the state, Gorsky said.

"That's the beauty of charter schools," she said. "They allow you to meet the needs of the group of students you are trying to reach."

The National Education Association in Washington isn't quite as optimistic about charter schools in general.

NEA President Bob Chase said accountability is the key issue. Without it, charter schools can open the door to "gross abuses that hurt students," he said.

For charter schools, the NEA advocates certified teachers, open school admission to all students, strict accounting practices and sharing knowledge to help make improvements in public schools.

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