School officially began for the Spartans on Aug. 22, as Orcutt Academy opened the doors to its two new campuses.
Orcutt Academy, operated through the Orcutt Union School District, is a public charter school geared toward providing alternative education methods to local students.
The Casmalia campus—formerly Winifred Wollam Elementary School—caters to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Orcutt Academy high school students attend classes at Orcutt Junior High School in Santa Maria, which has been transformed into Orcutt School, a shared campus between the junior high school and Orcutt Academy.
“We’re off to a great start,” said Ken Parker, associate superintendent for Orcutt Union School District. “I am just so excited about the classes and the way our students are receiving instruction.”
At both of the campuses, students are immersed in a thematic curriculum determined by the school’s teachers and administrators. The four themes at the Casmalia site are agriculture, alternative energy, environmental science and education, and visual and performing arts.
At the high school site, students learn under similar themes: agriculture, arts media, technology, and human health and services. The students also participate in independent study, which encourages them to become involved in community service.
“The overall theme at both schools, but especially the high school, is ‘Change Over Time,’” Parker said. “Change is a big thing that all the students are having to deal with right now.”
Positive change is important to Parker, who said a major goal of Orcutt Academy is to provide the community with alternative education methods.
“[Orcutt Academy] is a tremendous example of what a community can do if it wants to,” Parker said.
And the school is in demand. Currently, the elementary school is maxed out at approximately 80 students. Approximately 125 ninth-grade students are currently enrolled in the high school. The school plans to add about 120 students each year until all four grades are established by 2012.
Still, in many ways, Orcutt Academy strives to offer traditional aspects of student life.
Brandi Dias, the high school’s activities director and Advancement Via Individual Determination coordinator, said that members of the Associated Student Body are “already planning Friday activities and trying to get clubs organized.”
Students are also participating in a 20-day Smile Challenge, during which they compete to get caught smiling around campus.
“It’s a way to make the positivity contagious,” Dias said.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2008.