Marlene Karas/viewRainbow Dreams Academy Principal Carol Threats stands inside the space that will become the charter school?s library in its permanent building at 950 W. Lake Mead Blvd.
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Students of the Rainbow Dreams Academy sat in their new building for the first time on Jan. 28. The school actually opened Aug. 27, but students were learning in a satellite location at Nevada Partners until last month.
"We have lots of new stuff that we didn't have at Nevada Partners," said second-grader Jonathan Hillmer.
New stuff, like automatic sinks in the 13,000-square-foot charter school that also features 12 classrooms, a multipurpose room, a library, a science lab and a conference room.
"We felt it was another choice we could give to the parents," said Diane Pollard, founder of the academy. "We just thought this could be an alternative if the public school system didn't work for them."
Rainbow Dreams, 950 W. Lake Mead Blvd., is a charter school, which is free and open to the public, but provides no transportation for students. Class sizes are smaller than traditional public schools, with a capacity for about 22 children in each room.
The school's principal, Carol Threats, is a school district retiree who decided to come back to work for Rainbow Dreams because she saw value in what the school was trying to accomplish.
The academy opened with kindergarten through second grade, and offers one class for each level for this school year.
"I know them all," Threats said of the kids. "I know their names, I know their little personalities."
For the 2008-09 academic year, the charter school will offer two classes for each level and open third grade. Each year thereafter, Rainbow Dreams will open one grade level until kindergarten through fifth are open.
"One of our main goals is to have kindergartners reading by the time they're in first grade," Pollard said.
Because of the small class sizes, Threats and her teachers have been able to focus on each of the children and tailor their education accordingly. On a Thursday morning, kindergartners were working on printing.
In the first-grade class, students were learning about Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.
"Our library right there is going to have a big airplane hanging down," said first-grader Ilias Cole.
The school's administration is working on an endowment to obtain memorabilia from the Tuskegee Airmen, including the big airplane.
"All of the ethnic groups will be represented," Threats said. "I want my children to truly have a diverse education."
Threats said she is focusing very heavily on character and is centering the school's core values around the Kwanzaa symbols for unity, self determination, purpose, creativity, faith, collective work and responsibility and cooperative economics. The symbols will be placed around the school as a reminder to the children.
"I think it's important that we give them character and academics," Threats said.
As a charter school, Rainbow Dreams is open to anyone who wants to attend and meets the age requirements. For more information on the school, visit www.rainbowdreamsacademy.com or call 638-0222.
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