About Us
Our Mission
SLVUSD Charter School provides personalization, community and choice through challenging and creative educational opportunities designed for a diversity of learners.
School Wide Outcomes
Character
- Through the process of self-reflection and daily interactions, students will develop in body, mind and spirit.
- Demonstrate on a daily basis the lifelong guidelines of Truthfulness, Trustworthiness, Active Listening, Nurturing Environment and Personal Best efforts.
- Personal Best efforts include... (link)
Communication
- Practices active and reflective listening skills
- Clearly articulates thoughts and feelings in written and spoken forms
- Demonstrates sensitivity to nuance and body language
- Uses communication media appropriately and effectively
- Exhibits willingness to suspend judgments and expectations
Citizenship
- Develop personal identity within family, school, community, and the greater world.
- Understand, practice, and serve as an engaged citizen in relation to all spheres of influence.
- Practice appreciation and respect of basic human rights and diverse cultures, beliefs and ideas.
- Do no harm; recognize that individual rights have social and environmental responsibilities and consequences.
Critical and Creative Thinking
- Identify, understand, and utilize one's own and others' learning styles.
- Exhibit competency in identifying, finding and using appropriate resources.
- Demonstrate and apply higher order thinking skills such as creating, synthesis, and reflection.
- Demonstrate curiosity through questioning and investigating.
Core Competency in Academics
About our School
SLVUSD Charter School is one of the most experienced charter schools in Santa Cruz County. We hold the 25th charter granted in the State of California (currently there are more than 800 charter schools in California). Although our program was first chartered in 1993, two of our charter programs have existed for over 20 years. We are happy that four of the original eight drafters of the charter are still working with students and families in our schools.
We serve students of all ages (K-12). Our students join us with specific needs and educational backgrounds, from highly motivated/high achieving to those who are unsuccessful or unmotivated in traditional schools. Our school employs a variety of instructional models including traditional classroom delivery and independent studies. Our learning community is divided into eight unique programs (or Titles) working together to provide the widest range of educational opportunities available anywhere in Santa Cruz County.
Our school is one of the five schools in the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District (SLVUSD) www.slv.k12.ca.us/. As a district charter school, our students enjoy participating in sports, music and activities with the traditional schools in our district. With some restrictions, they are also invited to take classes concurrently at SLVHS www.slvhs.slv.k12.ca.us/ and at Cabrillo College www.cabrillo.edu/.
Our faculty and staff are employed by the SLVUSD and participate in the San Lorenzo Valley Teacher’s Association (SLVTA), the California Teacher’s Association CTA www.cta.org/home.aspx and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) www.seiu.org.
Our Programs
SLV Charter 25 Homeschool Program (Title 1)
Our community based K-12 homeschool program:
- Celebrates Diversity
- Designs inherent win-win situations
- Promotes education as an “out of classroom” experience
- Creates alternative “in classroom” experience
- Supports collaborative education
- Builds healthy communities
- Provides publicly supported opportunities for all children.
Boulder Creek Homeschool (Title 3)
Our alternative classroom-based visual and performing arts elementary homeschool program believe:
- Children want to do their best; they have an innate love of learning.
- Cultured events and the use of visual and performing arts is the best way to encourage children’s interests.
- Teachers can be positive mentors and provide inspiration for homeschool families.
We are:
- Teachers who collaboratively teach and support homeschool families with children grades K-5 who want the consistent support of a 2-day week, multi-age classroom experience.
- Families who have chosen diverse methods of homeschooling in the way we learn at home. In the classroom we help to build a nurturing community environment.
Fall Creek Homeschool: Trillium Learning Collective (Title 4)
As an alternative classroom-based elementary homeschool program, our foremost intentions are:
- To guide and nurture the natural unfolding of the whole child in a developmentally based learning environment
- To promote experiences which allow every child to learn successfully
- To recognize and respect each child as an individual with a unique learning style, disposition and intelligence
- To guide each child in becoming a self-motivated lifelong learner.
Coast Redwood Middle School (Title 6)
Our alternative classroom-based middle school homeschool:
- We are students who are on the path to become independent learners, and want to help support a dynamic group of friends as co-learners.
- We are families who want to maintain a strong, homeschool relationship with their pre-adolescent children, and who are also willing to help support a fun and active class group by participating in camping, field trips, parent-taught courses and special activities.
Coast Redwood High School (Title 7)
A hybrid classroom, high school, homeschool program, Coast Redwood HS serves students and families in grades 9-12 who want to become independent learners.
Nature Academy
A science based, culturally linked, hands-on course of study. Based on the assumption that the natural world dictates our cultural world, we will use the San Lorenzo Valley watershed as our starting point of focus. Students will look at what is happening locally from an environmental, civic and cultural point of view and begin to make more meaningful connections about how things work, depend on each other and affect all of our lives on a day to day basis.
Mountain Independent Studies
A creative, home teaching approach to education for kindergarten through sixth grade students. This program provides a personalized learning plan to meet the needs of each individual student. There are opportunities for regular student interaction with a two day a week group experience, networking with other home school families, resources and instructional materials for families, educational study trips, and parent meetings and workshops for continuing parent education.