Almond Acres Charter Academy starts its third year
By Samer Mohamed
Almond Acres Charter Academy, a K – 8th grade tuition free public charter school in San Miguel, started its third year of operation this week with nearly double the enrollment from its first year of operation. The school was founded by a group of parents and educators from the North County seeking an alternative to the traditional education programs. They believe that children and their families should have a choice when it comes to tuition free public education, and therefore started the school.
Co-existing on the campus of Lillian Larsen Elementary School in San Miguel, CA, the new school is dedicated to providing all kindergarten through eighth grade students with an academically challenging and cooperative educational environment rich in authentic experiences emphasizing core curriculum, the arts, character development, and 21st century knowledge and skills that will ensure happy and successful lives.
At the core of the Almond Acres Charter Academy is the belief that all children have the innate ability to learn and succeed in the classroom. The educators believe a love of learning comes naturally in an environment that centers on empowering students to be active participants in their own education. This is achieved by providing students with the skills necessary to identify their strengths and struggles as learners, their individual learning styles, and the settings in which they are most capable of excelling.
Almond Acres Charter Academy creates cooperative and strong partnerships between teachers, students, parents, and the community that best allows students to realize their own unique interests, talents, and abilities. The school considers successful members of the 21st Century to be those individuals who are intrinsically motivated to learn, have diverse yet well-developed interests, and act effectively and constructively in all that they do.
To support the mission and vision of Almond Acres Charter Academy, the administration with the support of the school board have invested heavily in technology, resources, and talented and experienced teachers from all over the country. Here are some recent achievements over the last few months:
- The school installed a state of the art internet infrastructure graciously donated by a regional business that provides the teachers and students with the bandwith and abilities to support their individualized learning and leveraging of technologies.
- It secured over 130 iPads and over 75 Samsung Google Chromebooks. This complements 75 Apple Macbooks and iMacs already in use.
- All classrooms have been fitted with Apple TVs to enable seamless connectivity between the teachers’ lessons plans and available technologies in the classrooms.
- The school is reaching its goal of 1:1 technology
- Hired new teachers from California and as far away as Florida to support the school’s organic growth and continue to build on the Charter philosophy
- Hired new assistant executive director who will ensure the character traits that the school teach are implemented.
- Hired a support services director who comes with decades of experience in integrating children with special learning needs into the mainstream classrooms.
The administration and teachers are supported by a dynamic School Board that is comprised of the school founder, parents, and community business members. The leadership of the School Boards ensures that the Administration has the resources to develop 21st Century citizens.
Almond Acres Charter Academy welcomes visits to its campus and is excited about the start of its third school year. The school and children are poised to go from “Good to Great”.
Almond Acres is turning itself into a world class school, leaving the stagnant education methods developed in the early 20th century which are currently used behind. The way they are addressing the whole student is extremely effective, and in line with all the current research on education, unlike traditional, U.S. public schools. Their "Heart, Mind, Body, Soul" approach allows teachers to look at each student in a way that will facilitate education that truly addresses each child's type of intelligence, for maximum results. Not every child learns the same way, and Almond Acres is addressing it. The majority of their staff hold Masters degrees (which are required in the top education systems in the world, though not in the U.S.) and are extremely dedicated and up-to-date on the most effective ways of teaching students from all backgrounds. Highly experienced teachers have literally come from as far away as Australia (known for it's excellence in public education) to be involved in this alternative approach to public schooling. Parents are highly involved and it's through their support and involvement that makes this small school truly an up and coming place of world class, 21st century education! It's Almond Acres approach and concern for EVERY child that WILL change the face of the dismal education system in the U.S! Way to go Almond Acres and all the courageous staff, parents, students and community for doing something positive about educating our future leaders.
Almond Acres is turning itself into a world class school, leaving the stagnant education methods developed in the early 20th century which are currently used behind. The way they are addressing the whole student is extremely effective, and in line with all the current research on education, unlike traditional, U.S. public schools. Their "Heart, Mind, Body, Soul" approach allows teachers to look at each student in a way that will facilitate education that truly addresses each child's type of intelligence, for maximum results. Not every child learns the same way, and Almond Acres is addressing it. The majority of their staff hold Masters degrees (which are required in the top education systems in the world, though not in the U.S.) and are extremely dedicated and up-to-date on the most effective ways of teaching students from all backgrounds. Highly experienced teachers have literally come from as far away as Australia (known for it's excellence in public education) to be involved in this alternative approach to public schooling. Parents are highly involved and it's through their support and involvement that makes this small school truly an up and coming place of world class, 21st century education! It's Almond Acres approach and concern for EVERY child that WILL change the face of the dismal education system in the U.S! Way to go Almond Acres and all the courageous staff, parents, students and community for doing something positive about educating our future leaders.