Charter chooses Flagstaff

May 30, 2010 — The Arizona Daily Sun

Hillary Davis

May 26, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Another charter school for motivated students has committed to a Flagstaff campus by 2011.

BASIS Charter School directors visited Flagstaff Monday to gauge local interest in their high-rigor college preparatory curriculum -- and they found it. A screening of a documentary about the BASIS success story in Tucson and Scottsdale drew enough people to fill the lower level of the Orpheum Theater, and school co-founder Olga Block was met with applause when she said the school is coming in 2011 with a grades 5-9 program, then growing into a full high school.

The BASIS brand started in Tucson in 1997, then branched out to Scottsdale, Oro Valley and Peoria. Student success on Advanced Placement exams has consistently earned the Tucson campus a top 10 ranking by U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek among public high schools in the country.

Charter schools in Flagstaff enroll about 1,200 students and draw primarily from academically motivated families. There is a long waiting list at the grades 7-12 Northland Preparatory Academy, where the vast majority of 10th-graders pass all three AIMS high school graduation tests on their first try.

According to state statistics, far fewer students in local charters come from economically disadvantaged families than at FUSD schools, and that also is the case with BASIS -- the U.S. News story about the Tucson campus said 0 percent of its students were economically disadvantaged.

Block explained how accelerated the BASIS curriculum is -- middle school work resembles typical high school work. By the end of freshman year, students are already collecting college credits through Advanced Placement exams.

Middle schoolers get courses in economics and philosophy. AP tests are a graduation requirement, and most are taken well before senior year so that the final year can be spent on capstone classes and projects or internships. By the end of 11th grade, most students can graduate and head to a state university if they choose.

The point isn't to rush students, and the school is not limited to exceptionally gifted prodigies, Block said. When students struggle, it's because they're bright but had become accustomed to coasting in schools where they didn't need to work hard, she said.

"There is no bored child in our school," she said. "Everybody is challenged."

That would be important to a parent like Debra McCormick, who has a son in fourth grade at DeMiguel Elementary. She said she's satisfied with Flagstaff Unified School District and volunteers regularly, and she likes her son's teacher. But her son, who just missed the cutoff for gifted student services, seems bored. He already has aspirations of attending the University of Arizona.

"I'm interested in the best educational fit for my son," she said.

Brandon Lurie's oldest child isn't even 2 years old, but already the young father wants his children to have the best educational options. He found BASIS and wrote to the Blocks saying that Flagstaff needed their program.

Lurie said he enjoyed the public education he received in New York and wanted other children to enjoy the same opportunities. When he visited BASIS' Scottsdale campus, he said he wanted to be a student again.

"The BASIS kids really enjoy learning," he said. "The classrooms are exciting."

The schools have enrollments ranging from 550 to 650, and about 25 percent on the Tucson campus are members of an ethnic minority.

"We don't choose the students," Block said. "Students choose us."

Admission follows Arizona laws on charter school enrollment -- if applications exceed the number of places, admission is by lottery. There are no entrance exams to determine student eligibility.

As a public charter school, the core program is tuition-free and state-funded, although parents are expected to finance extracurriculars and be active in social programming.

"I don't believe there us a student who cannot succeed at BASIS, and I make sure the teachers share the same attitude," Block said.

The average class size is 25 in the middle school (grades 5-7) and 20 in the upper school (grades 8-12). Teacher jobs are posted nationwide and about a third of faculty have doctorates in the subject they teach. The school boasts a 100 percent college acceptance rate, and students begin working on their college applications in ninth grade.

Block said administrators would apply for a charter from the state for a Flagstaff branch but don't expect to be denied. She and school co-founder and husband, Michael Block, planned to scope the Flagstaff area on Tuesday for sites -- leasing space in an existing building or building a new campus form the ground up are both options, and she said officials would go with whatever is quickest and most affordable.

"The short answer is, we are coming in the fall" of 2011, she said.

Michael Block said he was surprised with how many people came out on a Monday evening to hear their sell. The documentary screening and Q&A session was meant to be a key measure of interest in a Flagstaff campus.

"This looks like sufficient interest," he said.

ON THE WEB

Visit www.basiseducation.net for an interest form and links to other campuses.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0065-45567493