This Type Of School For The Hard-Working

The Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy started its first year in September with an enrollment of 204 students, but as of March 1, the number had dropped to 172.

The 15 new students who enrolled in the academy at the beginning of the second semester did not make up for the 47 students who left.

Academy Principal Bill Proser said he’s not concerned about the enrollment drop. “This school isn’t for everyone - only for those who want to work hard,” Proser said.

Government teacher Brian Childs agreed regarding the students who left. “It just wasn’t the right place for them. They may have missed their friends, thought there was too much homework, or they did not like the uniform policy.”

The academy was designed to give students an academic challenge, and to provide a disciplined environment.

“Some students are leaving the Charter Academy because they got A’s at their old schools, and they expected to get A’s here, too,” said Katrina McCamment, a seventh-grader. “Instead, though, many of them failed.”

McCamment said she’s pleased with the education she’s receiving at the academy, and plans on staying until she graduates.

Ninth-grader Jeff Cantamessa, who now attends Lake City High School, said he regrets leaving the Charter Academy. “The kids there were smarter and more mature,” he said. “My parents took me out of the Charter Academy because I was not doing well on my grades.”

Childs said he wishes students who left had waited until the end of the year to decide to leave. “It takes a lot of time to adjust to this school,” he said. “It may take a full semester for some students to adjust.”

Some students who left said the average of three to four hours of homework every night was one of the main problems.

Seventh-grader Ashley Brummett left the academy to enroll in the Lakeland School District a few weeks after the second semester began. “The Charter Academy was stressful,” she said. “There was too much homework.”

Brummett’s mother, Holly Bruner, said, “It seemed like my daughter had a report due in every class every week, and it was hard to make it to the library every other day.”

Eighth-grader Natalie Hudson said she feels the same way. “Even though I was trying really hard at the academy, I was not getting the grades I wanted,” she said.

Hudson now attends Woodland Middle School. She said she does not regret leaving the academy. “The homework here at Woodland is more at my grade level,” she said. “It is more to my ability.”

Tenth-grader Katrina Horton left the academy and enrolled at Lake City High School. “The Charter Academy was difficult,” she said. “Lake City is easier - more laid back.”

Horton said she went to Lake City because students have two days to complete homework because of the block schedule.

Ninth-grader Max Faller’s reasons for leaving the academy in favor of Lake City were different: “Lake City is a better facility, and I didn’t like the uniforms at the academy,” he said.

Eighth-grader Holly Deevers’ last day at the academy was Feb. 22. She now attends Lakes Middle School. “The Charter Academy had an educational basis,” she said. “Lakes is more of a social basis.”

Some of the 15 new students at the academy said they were drawn to the same academic setting that drove others away.

“The new students seem to be getting along nicely,” said Childs. “They knew what to expect when they came here.”

“My mom wanted me to come here because I would be getting a good education,” said eighth-grader Mary Sachwitz, who previously attended Mount St. Michael in Spokane.

New eighth-grader Jason Kohl said, “My sister was already going here. She really liked it, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

Kohl was home-schooled at the beginning of the school year, and he said that he was optimistic about trying something new. “The Charter Academy is a good school,” he said. “It is focused on academics, and there is a great faculty.”

Julie Wade left St. Dominique at the semester to attend eighth grade at the Charter Academy. “This school is good because it is academic based,” she said, “and I really like the teachers.”

Wade took French and Latin last semester at St. Dominique and she said the homework there was more difficult. “The homework here is easier, but the subject matter is more difficult,” she said.

Cantamessa agreed with Wade. He said the subject matter was more difficult at the academy, “but I liked it.”

Proser said the lower numbers at the second semester were not unexpected, and that he does not think it was a mistake for students to try the academy, even if they left.

“Students are exercising their ability to choose,” Proser said, “and that is a good thing.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: Enrollment stats

The state of Idaho distributes money to public school districts based on enrollment. The more students in the Coeur d’Alene School District, the more money it receives from the state. Of the students who attend the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy:

37 percent previously were in home schools.

21 percent previously were in private schools.

27 percent were in other schools within the Coeur d’Alene School District.

15 percent came from other public school districts.

These percentages were provided by Charter Academy Principal Bill Proser.

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