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NEW CHARTER PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL, LIFE SKILLS CENTER OF ARIZONA, Inc. BEGINS ENROLLING STUDENTS IN PHOENIX
Alternative, community-based charter school enables students to complete high school and earn a full high school diploma while fulfilling their family and work obligations
PHOENIX, Arizona — September 9, 2002 — Life Skills Center of Arizona, Inc. today announced the opening of a new alternative charter high school in Phoenix.
The new tuition-free school is now enrolling students, and classes are scheduled to start October 1. The Life Skills Center is located at 8123 North 35th Avenue in Phoenix. The phone number is 602-242-6400.
The Life Skills Center of Arizona, Inc. was created under a new 15-year contract awarded by the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools. The non-profit Life Skills Center Board has selected White Hat Management, LLC, one of the nationOs premier education management organizations, to operate the school. White Hat has extensive experience managing schools that offer communities, parents and students a high-quality, tuition-free alternative to traditional public schools.
“We are very excited about the opening of the Life Skills Center in Arizona because the people of this state clearly recognize the value of public school choice,” said Mark Thimmig, CEO and president of White Hat Ventures LLC, parent company of the privately operated White Hat Management, LLC. “Life Skills is a unique, proven program reaching hundreds of at-risk students each year. Upon graduation, Life Skills Center graduates possess not only a state-recognized high school diploma, but also valuable work experience, life skills and the motivation to pursue their dreams.”
The Life Skills Center is a public community school specifically designed to accommodate students ages to 16 to 22 who have had difficulty with the rigid routine of traditional public high schools. The school is intended to assist students who have dropped out, or are at risk of dropping out, from a traditional high school program.
Life Skills Center students have many of the same state graduation requirements as other Arizona public high school students; however, at a Life Skills Center students are given the flexibility of selecting one of several different schedules to achieve the requisite educational credits and testing accomplishments so that a student may also fulfill his or her family and work obligations at the same time... Graduates earn actual high school diplomas (not GEDs) that are fully recognized by colleges, universities, employers, and the U.S. military.
As mentioned herein, students select one of three possible classes, which are computer-based and teacher-supported, Monday through Friday, 46 weeks per year. The class options are 8 a.m. to noon; 10:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.; and 1:30 to 5:30. As demand warrants, a fourth session in the evening may be added.
“Under the direction of our local administrator, Janice Augente, our staff will deliver a mix of academics, life skills and career preparation,” Thimmig said. “Students are treated as individuals, who work at their own pace and level to accomplish their goals.
“One of the hallmarks of the Life Skills program is that it is carefully aligned with the needs of students and the local community. Our board members are committed to assisting young people who need to complete their high school diploma. We carefully select our staff from the community to attract people who share our vision for operating first-rate community-based charter schools of choice. Life Skills Centers are located along major lines of public transportation, and offer flexible start times to enable students to pursue their education while fulfilling their work and family responsibilities.”
From June 2000 to June 2002, nearly 1,500 students received their high school diplomas from Life Skills Centers currently operated by White Hat Management. Many graduates go on to college, trade school, military service or into a career where their earning potential is significantly greater than before.
The new Life Skills Center of Arizona is the first White Hat managed charter school in Arizona. Under the BoardOs Charter contract, additional schools may be added in Arizona with approval from the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools. White Hat currently operates Life Skills Centers in 10 Ohio cities, with additional schools scheduled to open over the next several months providing accommodations for more than 9,000 students annually.
“We have the expertise to replicate our proven model nationwide to fit local communitiesO needs and demographics,” Thimmig said. “We also have the experience and financial strength to ensure that Life Skills Center students will have access to the best teachers, administration, technology and curriculum.”
About Life Skills Centers and Charter Schools
Life Skills Centers feature a proprietary curriculum that combines academics,
life skills preparation and workplace training. Much of the instruction
is computer-based, with state-certified teachers acting as facilitators
to help guide the students’ learning. Each class has a student-to-teacher
ratio of about 11:1, with additional educational assistants on hand to
provide individual attention. Life Skills Centers have full-time vocational
specialists and a family advocate, offering a full complement of counseling
and community-based referrals.
Through the computer-based instruction, students work at their own pace, with ample opportunity to review and practice what they learn, and never missing an important topic even when they are absent. Life Skills Centers do not assign grade levels to students. Upon enrollment, each student receives an Individualized Academic and Career Plan, which guide him or her through the curriculum and toward the diploma.
Life Skills Centers emphasize a safe, secure, positive learning environment. They use a systematic approach to classroom management that includes student compliance with a written code of conduct. Students are required to wear casual uniforms that consist of a school-issued polo shirt and student-provided khaki pants.
Arizona charter schools such as the new Life Skills Center of Arizona are independent public schools made possible by a 1994 Arizona law. Like all other schools in Arizona, charter schools are required to participate in the state’s nationally standardized achievement test and the AIMS test. Each charter school must complete an annual report card for the Arizona Department of Education and an annual report for its sponsoring board.
Charter schools are becoming increasingly popular nationwide because education professionals, parents, students and community or business leaders have flexibility in shaping the school, its curriculum, instruction, staffing, budget and internal organization. A defining aspect of charter schools is that they are attended by students by choice and staffed by educators who choose to work in them. They are separate and distinct from the local city boards of education.
About White Hat Management
The privately operated White Hat Management, founded in 1998 by Akron,
Ohio industrialist and education activist David Brennan, is among the
premier full-service education management organizations in the United
States dedicated to educating K-12 students. The Company is the largest
charter school operator in Ohio. White Hat operates three types of schools:
Life Skills Centers; HOPE Academies, which are community-based charter
public schools for kindergarten through eighth grade; and OHDELA Academy,
which provides distance education to students in their home. White Hat
currently employs more than 700 people, including more than 600 teachers,
staff and administrators in the schools it operates. For more information,
visit www.whitehatmgmt.com.