McKenna Charter school breaks ground on new $2.3M building

Founder Larry Slade was joined by faculty and the entire student body on site last Thursday for the official groundbreaking of the new building to house the Richard McKenna Charter High School.

The School will be moved from the current location at 1993 E. 8th North. The school shares the building with the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor office.

The project for the new building took three years to come into fruition. The three acres of land the school purchased for the project cost $186,500.

The 15,200-square-foot project will cost $2.3 million dollars. The projected date of completion is Jan. 21, 2009. C-2 (Cristobol Construction in Mountain Home), the general contractor for the project, has high expectations that it will be finished before Christmas.

The project was financed through U.S. Bank and the funding was acquired through the state general fund.

The new building will provide more storage space, more bathrooms, a new science lab, a video production studio, an enclosed courtyard, a library, four subject areas for the four main subjects the school teaches, Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies (plus an additional area for foundation skills) and an administrative office for the on-line program provided by the school.

The teachers as a whole enjoyed the fact that they had input into the setup of the classrooms and said they look forward to the enclosed courtyard, so they can have classes outside when weather permits.

The students all share the same expectations toward their new school.

"It will be nice to have the school in its own building, so we no longer have to share a location with someone else," said Ciara Waterman.

"I think this new building will be good because it will be set up the way we want it and it will provide us with the necessities we need to prepare ourselves for life in the future," said McKenna student Sarah Wakefield.

"I think it will instill a sense of pride that we have something of our own plus be more serviceable to the student body," said Mark Weed.

Richard McKenna Charter High School consists of two programs, an on-line program and an on-site program. The on-line program consists of 880 students, while the on-site program consists of a student body from Mountain Home and the surrounding areas.

The high school received its official charter from the State Charter School Commission in 2004.

Slade described the school as a "non-traditional school for non-traditional students."

At Richard McKenna Charter High School, the students enroll in three-week blocks (one class all day for three weeks), unlike a regular high school where students can take up to eight classes for 18 weeks. "This allows them to get onto real independent study," said Slade.

The students at Richard McKenna Charter High are expected to follow four rules: show up, show up early; work hard and be respectful.

When describing how the students act in school, Slade noted "they think of this as a job site. If they could develop a good strong work ethic, then the academics will follow."

A unique trait of the school, is the uniformity. The students are required to wear school T-shirts and pants. The shirts come in red, green and blue (school colors). What would be frowned upon by most students, the students at Richard McKenna all have taken a liking to the uniforms.

"It has built a strong sense of camaraderie among the students," said Slade.

Slade described why he came up with the idea for the new school building. "To give it a sense of permanence, a sense of identity and a positive look into the future," said Slade.