Academy Finds Its Stride

In the fall of 1999, the idea of a charter school was new to Coeur d’Alene School District No. 271.

But after nearly three semesters of the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy’s existence, the district has become more acceptant of the idea.

“After a year and a half has gone by, the two entities feel more comfortable,” said David Rawls, superintendent of the district. However, he said he did have concerns that deal with the lack of clarity of the charter law.

“There is still some difficulty in interpreting the charter law, and how much supervision and oversight the school district has over the Charter Academy,” he said.

Rawls said he is glad that the district has a charter school available for those students who want to approach education from a different angle. “Giving students a choice over which school they would rather attend plays a major role in their education,” he said.

Academy Principal John Sarchio agreed with Rawls that the relationship between the district and the Academy has improved.

“When the Charter Academy first started, it was set up on a competitive basis, where students from the Academy would be competing against students from regular Coeur d’Alene schools,” Sarchio said. “But this sense of competition led to a lack of agreement on how we were going to operate. The academy is not meant to compete with Coeur d’Alene’s public schools but to cooperate with them. Both systems are here to serve our students the best we can and to support each other.”

The academy functions within the Coeur d’Alene district, but it is not a part of it.

“The academy is another public school in the Coeur d’Alene area, but it operates independently,” Sarchio explained. “For instance, we have our own board of directors.”

Sarchio said that the academy is not able to use certain services that regular Coeur d’Alene public schools can use.

“An example of these services,” Sarchio said, “is that the academy is not allowed to use the Coeur d’Alene School District’s buses for the transportation of its students.”

Rawls said that though the district and academy are separate entities, they are supportive of each other.

“The district provides the same programs as the charter school, but the entities present these programs in different ways. And both entities are striving for the same goal,” he said. Rawls said that common goal is “to make sure that our children are well-served in their education.”

However, Rawls said he does have concerns about the charter school philosophy. He worries that a disproportionate amount of public funds will be sent to the academy.

“Charter schools are generally much smaller than regular schools. And because it is a smaller school, there is a tendency to provide more resources to the charter school. Children ought to have the same opportunities, and the charter movement has the potential problem of taking funding away from regular public schools,” Rawls said.

Sarchio disagrees that that potential exists.

Despite his concerns, Rawls said he hopes the academy and the district will work more closely in the future. And to show that the district is supportive of the academy, Rawls said the district donated four portable classrooms to the academy at the beginning of this school year. The classrooms will be operating near the beginning of the second semester if the academy is successful in raising funds needed to make the classrooms meet building codes.

Sarchio said that the academy may someday reciprocate the good deed.

“For example, if an academy student is a talented athlete, we can send him or her to Lake City or Coeur d’Alene High, because athletes get more recognition in larger schools. And the academy might offer some courses that other Coeur d’Alene schools do not, so those schools can send their students to the academy for those programs.”

Rawls said the relationship between the district and academy is good. However, he is concerned about people’s assumptions that the district has more oversight over the academy than it actually does.

“The hardest part is figuring out our role of supervising the staff, etc.,” he said. “The school district has to ensure that all federal and state laws are being complied with at the charter school.”