There is little clue from outside that a San Andreas warehouse is full of diligently working students.
The inside of one classroom looks like a storage unit, complete with a rolling vertical door, cement floors, and boxes of office supplies and paperwork.
That's because it was once part of a commercial building that has since been taken over by Mountain Oaks Charter School.
At the far end are tables topped with pottery supplies and shelves full of completed ceramics.
During a recent pottery class, moms sat near their children, participating in painting already fired pottery or shaping slabs of clay into wall planters.
Mountain Oaks is among a growing breed of public schools with different approaches to education.
The schools move in quietly, wherever they can find the space. Despite their low profile, enrollments at charter schools in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties are growing, while many traditional public schools struggle to keep their numbers up.
One area charter school has seen increases as much as 40 percent in one year.
Charter schools are run under the auspices of the state, but they aren't held to many of the regulations that regular public schools are.
Many have their own areas of emphasis, such as arts or particular vocations. Others incorporate home schooling, when parents or guardians teach their children at home.
They are free — like other public schools — and open to students in any district.
Charter schools have increasingly gained the praise and blessing of state government officials.
In fact, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed $1 billion in charter school funding over the next three years as part of an education bond measure. It has passed the Assembly and is awaiting action in the Senate.
At a meeting of the California Charter Schools Association earlier this month, Schwarzenegger and other key education officials reiterated their support for the movement.
Backers of charter schools laud them as a way to capture students who have fallen through the cracks at public schools — both kids who struggle and those who excel.
"Not all people learn best by being thrown in the river," said Linda Mariani, a co-administrator at Mountain Oaks. "Some have to stand in the shallow water a little longer."
Critics fear charter schools are siphoning away students — and with them state funding — from public schools with already declining enrollments. They also question the level of education provided by some charter schools.
Others have mixed feelings.
A charter school might better serve struggling students, Sonora High School Principal Terry Clark said. But he pointed out that the more students who leave regular schools, the less money is available for those who remain.
"As educators, we want the best for our kids," he said. "There's this dichotomy of feeling."
Movement's beginnings
The charter school movement began in 1992, when the California Legislature passed the Charter Schools Act.
This year, the state has 575 charter schools with about 190,000 students. That is up from 23,170 students at 60 schools in 1995.
There are four in Tuolumne County: California Virtual Academy of Jamestown, Mountain Oaks, Gold Rush Homestudy Charter School and Connections Visual and Performing Arts Academy.
Mountain Oaks is the only charter school on record in Calaveras County.
The latter is a hybrid of home school and regular classroom instruction that kids can voluntarily attend. It has sites in San Andreas, Sonora and Pine Grove, serving about 400 students.
Jeanette Lay, of Valley Springs, has watched her 7-year-old son, Bryan, blossom at Mountain Oaks since pulling him from a traditional public school during first grade.
Lay had never taught before, but found the support to home school Bryan at Mountain Oaks.
"At first, you get to thinking: ‘Oh my God, can I do this?' But now, I wouldn't give it up," she said.
As parents and students find success at charter schools, the state can use them as laboratories to study various educational methods, Mariani said.
"I think the state will look at all these charters and say, ‘Which are working and which aren't, and what can we learn?' without having to spend a lot of research and development funds," she said.
Internet classes
Another charter school uses the Internet as a tool for student instruction.
California Virtual Academy, with its main office in Simi Valley, near Los Angeles, started a virtual school in Jamestown in September of 2002 under the sponsorship of the Jamestown School District.
It has grown to 140 students in that time, 40 of whom are new to the K-9 school this year, said Jim Konantz, head of the state's six Virtual Academies.
The parent or guardian is the primary instructor, and the school has no buildings or campus. For every 25 students, there is a teacher who monitors students' progress online.
"The family really develops a close relationship with that teacher," said Lisa Gillis, who oversees the local academy from Sonoma.
Students complete online lessons and tests, and meet with their teacher once a month for a field trip. There are also supplementary books and materials parents receive.
The structure allows students to get extra assistance when they fall behind or lets them advance if they are ahead, Konantz said.
"It also gives parents an opportunity to fully participate in the child's education," he said. "It's a lot different from dropping the child off at school in the morning and picking them up in the afternoon."
Parent workshops are offered six times a year to improve their own reading writing and math skills.
Academy teacher Julie Walsh, of Modesto, monitors students in the Twain Harte, Sonora and Modesto areas.
She was a teacher for two years in Modesto at a traditional school, but switching to the academy gave her the flexibility to stay home with her son.
Once he was of school age, she began teaching him through the virtual school. He can work at his own pace while having the challenge of the in-depth curriculum the school offers, she said.
"I think it serves his needs a lot more than a traditional school environment," she said.
Meanwhile, he has more freedom to participate in piano lessons, rock climbing and Boy Scouts, she said.
"Obviously, it's not right for everybody, but if you're looking for an alternative to a brick and mortar school, this is a great solution," Walsh said.
Connections
For some students, charter schools offer a head start on a future career interest.
Connections Visual and Performing Arts Academy in Tuolumne trains seventh through 12th graders in art, music, drama and other performing arts fields.
"They get to do their passion, because a lot of the schools around here have cut some of their (arts) programs," Principal Michael Gibson said.
The academy is sponsored through Summerville High School and is overseen by district trustees.
It has an enrollment of about 100 students, who come from Groveland, Jamestown, Tuolumne and Twain Harte — plus areas in between and beyond — to attend the school. Of the total, 25 to 30 are seventh- and eighth-graders.
Its classes are in a building on Summerville High's campus — which includes an auditorium, gym, regular classrooms and a dance studio. Students balance their performing arts classes with academic classes at the high school.
