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Aurora Duval jumps rope while reciting the days of the week in French during Madrone Trail's French class and McLoughlin Middle School. From the left, Sonya Matteson, Lily Gauss, Ty Yonker and Faith Frazier wait their turn. Bob Pennell / Mail Tribune photo

October 11, 2009

By Paris Achen

Mail Tribune

Enrollment this fall has climbed at public charter schools and specialized magnet programs in Jackson County.

But cash-strapped general public schools continue to see enrollment declines countywide, driven in part by parents' desire for smaller class sizes.

Unlike general public schools, which are required to accept all students within their boundaries, charter and magnet schools are able to limit class sizes. In part because of fundraising efforts that augment public funding, they are also able to offer enrichment classes such as second languages or music, programs that have been cut or scaled back in the K-12 school system, educators and parents say.

Students in the third-grade class at Medford's Madrone Trail Public Charter School spent part of their 40-minute bi-weekly French class Thursday jumping rope while reciting a French children's song that helped them practice the days of the week in that language.

"A la salade je suis malade," they chanted. "Au celeri, je suis guere: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi and dimanche (At the salad, I am sick. At the celery, I am healed: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday)."

The Waldorf-style school on North Oakdale Avenue for the first time is offering fourth-grade classes. The expansion increased enrollment from 87 last year to 114 this year and forced the school to open two satellite classes for the third and fourth grades in classrooms at Medford's McLoughlin Middle School, said Corinne Brione, Madrone Trail school director who also serves as the French teacher.

The school is looking for a larger location for next year.

Despite that growth, the school's classes are small compared with those in its sponsoring school system, the Medford School District, and that has a big appeal to parents.

Madrone Trail's third grade has 24 pupils, while the fourth grade has about 19. In contrast, the Medford district has third- and fourth-grade classes that range from a low of 25 in a third-grade class at Wilson Elementary School to a high of 34 in a fourth-grade class at Jackson Elementary School.

Madrone Trail offers French two times a week and a daily dose of music. Pupils at other Medford elementary schools receive 40 minutes of general music instruction per week, while districts such as Phoenix-Talent and Eagle Point have eliminated music. Many districts are hit by a double-whammy, with reduced funding from the state and declining enrollment, which further reduces state funding based on enrollment.

"Music is part of the curriculum," Brione says. "They sing quite a bit through the day, and they play their recorder every day. As soon as we have more funding we will have a music teacher that will do other things with them as well, like violin."

A new pilot magnet program this year at Talent Elementary School in the Phoenix-Talent School District offers something nearly unheard of since statewide education budget cuts in December — regular field trips. Parents and teachers at the Outdoor Discovery Program work together to organize field trips every Friday focusing on environmental science, the theme of the magnet program. On Friday, the students will visit the Eagle Mill Farm Education Project in Ashland.

The grades K-5 program is capped at 50 pupils, so its two mixed-grade classes are no larger than 25.

The classes hold a community assembly each morning, which parents are invited and encouraged to attend, says Teresa Sayre, Phoenix-Talent instructional services director.

"I had one parent tell me that they had never felt the sense of community as at the first community assembly," Sayre says.

Despite its rural location an hour's drive from population centers near Medford, the new Prospect Public Charter School focusing on environmental science and natural resources instruction has grown. Reeling in students from other districts, it has increased enrollment from 171 last year when the school was a regular public school to 218 this year.

"I believe it's the smaller class sizes and activities like music, physical education for all grades and full-time kindergarten," said Don Alexander, superintendent of the Prospect School District.

The number of pupils is down in all county districts, except for the Ashland School District.

That district, which recently had to take out a loan to pay its staff's salaries, saw an uptick of 171 students, which includes charter and magnet school enrollment. The district's natural science-based magnet school, the John Muir School, and the Willow Wind Community Learning Center, an alternative program for mostly home-school students, both increased their enrollments. John Muir grew from 100 last year to 107, while Willow Wind went up from 104 last year to 130.

The county's largest school district, Medford, declined in total enrollment from 12,202 last year to 12,076 this year, including charter and magnet school enrollment.

Reach reporter Paris Achen at 776-4459 or e-mail pachen@mailtribune.com.

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