Charter school offered new home at Ocean Knoll Elementary
San Diego Union Tribune – San Diego,CA,USA
ENCINITAS – A charter school designed for gifted students has been
offered classrooms at Ocean Knoll Elementary School in Encinitas for the
coming school …

ENCINITAS – A charter school designed for gifted students has been offered classrooms at Ocean Knoll Elementary School in Encinitas for the coming school year.

The principal of Theory Into Practice Academy said yesterday that trustees of the charter school will review the proposal from the Encinitas Union School District and hope to settle on an agreement by April 1.

“I think it’s a good place to start,” said TIP Academy Principal Deborah Hazelton. “We just have to figure out how to house these kids who (live outside the) district.”

State law requires that public school districts provide classroom space to charter schools that enroll students who reside within district boundaries. But the districts are not required to pay for classroom space for charter-school students who live beyond those boundaries.

The TIP Academy, which opened in September at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 552 S. El Camino Real, has projected that it will enroll 272 students next fall. About 18 percent of them will be students who do not live within the district, Hazelton said.

The school, which provides a Gifted and Talented Education curriculum for all its students, has increased enrollment from 126 in December to 162 today, she said. The number includes six students in independent study.

In its initial offer, Encinitas Union has proposed providing nine portable classrooms and one additional portable building for office space – all at Ocean Knoll Elementary, 910 Melba Road.

The portable classrooms would accommodate 210 TIP Academy students who live within the boundaries of Encinitas Union, but not students attending the charter school from outside the district.

The academy will need 12 rooms to accommodate 272 students, so the school will have to find three more classrooms.

The TIP Academy wants the district to provide space for five more Encinitas students who are home-schooled but plan to attend the school next year, Hazelton said.

“This is just an estimate based on the best information we had from them,” said Abdollah Saadat, assistant superintendent for business services at the district.

“This is a preliminary offer,” he added. “The five students will not be an issue, spacewise.”

Last fall, administrators and trustees at Encinitas Union expressed concerns over the charter school’s finances, saying that TIP administrators overstated the school’s projected enrollment.

The academy estimated that it would require $951,934 to pay for a projected 150 students. But until Jan. 8, the academy enrolled only 126 students.

Hazelton said the academy’s enrollment is up and that TIP is growing in popularity. The school has received 380 applications for 80 open spots next year, she said.

For the 2007-08 school year, the TIP Academy plans to enroll 160 students in kindergarten through third grade, 28 students in fourth grade, 56 students in fifth grade and 28 students in sixth grade.