Something wonderful is in the works for the parents and students of our schools at River Islands: in an extraordinary act of cooperation and visionary planning for the good of ALL the students, the Banta Elementary School District (BESD) board of directors have voted unanimously to approve a new charter organization, “River Islands Academies”.
What this means is that BESD, one of the oldest school districts in California, will authorize public charter schools for the growing student population within its district boundaries at River Islands, while turning over the daily operations of the charter schools to an Executive Director. Brenda Scholl, currently the principal of the River Islands Technology Academy, will become the Executive Director of this program. The two charter schools already in operation at River Islands, its Technology Academy and the Next Generation STEAM Academy will merge, to become one high-performing academic program on two campuses. In addition, a third K-8 school currently being designed for River Islands and currently planned for completion in the 2022 academic year, will open as a charter within this group. And a high school at River Islands, whose timing is currently pending the future unification of Banta Elementary School District into Banta School District, would be operated as one of the River Islands Academies.
We are so fortunate for the support and drive of Dan Moore, BESD Superintendent, who has been at the table for every discussion about the proposed plan. What he wants is the best educational opportunities for our students. In his own words, Dan said recently, “Banta has a long history and tradition of representing its students well in a changing world. The opportunities of creating and executing a vision for all of the schools in a master planned community is a rare one, and Banta is firmly in favor of providing the best—and most comprehensive—programs for each school in the charter system.”
Just think about it: both River Islands Technology Academy and the Next Generation STEAM Academy have been providing the residents of River Islands with learning environments geared toward sending the students on to college. Now, with Banta’s unprecedented support of charter schools throughout River Islands, we can build new campuses with confidence, knowing that our authorizing district is 100% behind our plans. This is a unique example of cooperation between an established school district and new development within its boundaries—perhaps the only one in California.
As you might recall, River Islands Technology Academy has been under the authorizing authority of San Joaquin County. The move back to Banta is also a move back to local representation on the school board, and a much stronger voice for the parents. This clearly proves that when everyone puts the needs of the students first, great things can happen.
All the best,
Susan Dell’Osso
President, River Islands Development
Read more about River Islands Academies at RIAcademies.net.
