LAVA HOT SPRINGS — A new charter school is coming to Lava Hot Springs and will serve as a replacement for the city’s struggling elementary school thanks in part to the dedicated efforts of local community members.
Earlier this year Lava Hot Springs resident Megan Reno started a Facebook page called SOS: Save Our School to stir discussion surrounding the opening of a charter school after the Marsh Valley school board considered closing Lava Elementary School.
The discussions resulted in the plan that’s now coming to fruition to transform Lava Elementary into the Lava Hot Springs Academy charter school.
“I really enjoyed Lava Elementary,” Reno said. “I felt like my children were getting a great education there. I think that it’s a pillar for the Lava community. I think that it’s the heart of our community. Everybody wanted to help save our school. I think it’s our community support that’s really helping drive this charter.”
Lava Elementary School has faced serious challenges with low enrollment and lack of financial support along with concerns surrounding how much work would be required to renovate the school to keep it up to date with modern safety standards.
Not wanting to see their only school abandoned, Lava community members came together during a meeting in February of this year to establish a charter school in a restorative effort to retain the elementary school and make it better than ever. The community worked in tandem with Bluum, a non-profit agency charged with overseeing the establishment of charter schools in Idaho, and also elected Kolleen DeGraff as the charter school’s fellow.
DeGraff previously served as the founder and administrator of Utah’s Liahona Preparatory Academy for 24 years and has extensive expertise regarding charter schools.
In a general sense, a fellow serves in a similar capacity as a principal or charter school superintendent who designs and lays out curriculum and fully develops the charter school’s focus, along with helping develop all the other aspects required for a fully functioning school.
DeGraff currently serves on the Lava charter school’s founder’s board along with Reno, but once the school opens sometime in the fall of 2025 DeGraff will become the charter school’s director and will work alongside the board concerning all aspects of the school.
An official petition to transform Lava Elementary School into Lava Hot Springs Academy charter school was submitted to the Marsh Valley School District and approved on Sept. 9.
“We are on our way,” DeGraff said. “We now have a couple of documents that need to go into the state charter commission, but we are beginning the grant process, which is the next big thing to do (along with) becoming a 501©(3) and getting grants from the federal government. They have a very large grant called the CFP grant that the charter schools can get. There’s also Bluum, which is funded by the Albertsons Foundation, and they have grants that they get to charter schools to help them get up and running, since we’re converting from a public school into a charter school.”
DeGraff continued, “I think it’s important for people to understand that charter schools are still free public education, just like their public school was. The lovely thing about charters is that you have more self-determination in the programs. You pick the teachers and you pick the kind of programs that you’re going to offer.”
In submitting the petition to the Marsh Valley School District, DeGraff and the charter school founders board had to identify two things — the type of curriculum they are going to use and what is known as a focus.
Other charter schools have focuses such as STEM or STEAM, preparing for college or even outdoor and recreational focuses. DeGraff and the board mulled over the choices and ended up agreeing on a discovery-based learning focus which encourages students to learn through exploration, problem-solving and projects, rather than just memorization.
DeGraff said, “We said we’re going to offer a classical education, one that is grounded in absolutely the basics, things like using the Science of Reading from Utah State University, which is just a phenomenal reading program, to help kids place higher on the ISAT and IRI scores. Lava has been hanging in there with the district scores, but there’s definite room for improvement and we really believe the charter will be able to provide that additional learning experience where they couldn’t as a public school.”
Other aspects of the discovery focus are student driven, hands-on activities that may be based on the students’ interests. Discovery learning is also known as inquiry based or problem-based learning.
“The thing I love about discovery base is that not only can you decide to do projects on robotics, but you can also do projects on fishing and you can do projects that deal with a science subject,” DeGraff said. “Maybe it’s volcanoes and the volcanic history here in the area, or you can do gardening, or you can do canning, everything that kids would love to be able to explore. It gives kids a reason to get through all of the academics, because they’re going to get to something that is really a life skill. It’s something that they’re going to learn, that they can take with them into their adult life. But it’s also other skills. Not every bit of learning comes out of a book and so we’re trying to give them those experiences that will just get them excited about learning.”
Over the coming months and into next year, DeGraff and the charter school founders board will further develop their plan for Lava Hot Springs Academy. By spring of 2025 grants should be in place and the school will begin hiring teachers along with opening enrollment. If all goes according to plan, renovations and improvements will be made to the school in the summer of next year before it holds its first day of classes in the fall of 2025.