John Adams Academy opens in Roseville

John Adams Academy has opened in Roseville, making it the first site-based charter school located within the city.Students at John Adams Academy begin class Tuesday. The free kindergarten through 12th school is located in a 51,000-square-foot facility on Sierragate Plaza and all children throughout the region are eligible to attend.About 600 students are currently enrolled. They are required to wear uniforms with shirts in red, white or blue.The John Adams Academy employs a philosophy called "leadership education," and strives to "restore America's heritage by developing servant-leaders who are keepers and defenders of the principles of freedom for which our Founding Fathers pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor," according to its mission statement.The school is part of the Loomis Union School District, whose board approved the charter school's petition in 2010."Charter schools provide choice and they empower parents," said John Adams school board member Norman Gonzales during a ribbon cutting Friday for the academy. Citrus Heights resident Kelly Hoskins is sending her daughter to the school for kindergarten."(We're sending her) here because of all the options not available in public schools that are available here," Hoskins said. "The fact that they will learn about the Constitution and this country and what makes it amazing — things that have been forgotten — that's really important to us."The other local charter school, Roseville Academy of Math, Science and Engineering, is part of the Horizon Charter School system. These public charter schools are authorized by the California State Board of Education.While the Horizon school has a "resource center," where kids come and go during the day or use classrooms for independent study, John Adams Academy is a site-based school, said Chairman Dean Forman. Students attend school Monday through Friday and have classes of up to 30 students.Charter schools receive public money and may collect private donations, but aren't subject to the same rules and regulations as other public schools. They are often considered as providing an alterative education to traditional public schools.The founders of John Adams Academy want to move from what they call an "industrial" or "conveyer-belt education" of traditional public schools to leadership education.Students will read from original sources and become familiar with the historical documents on which the United States was founded, Foreman said.Sena Christian can be reached at senac@goldcountrymedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at SenaC_RsvPT.