Workers at Oasis Academy proceed to put in fence post since the playground was extended to give students more room to play.
As the first day of school fast approaches, Oasis Academy is bustling to finish its expansion projects before Monday.
Principal Melissa Mackedon said with the significant increase of new students tis year, the academy had no other choice but to expand.
“We have 180 new students this year,” Mackedon said. “So we’ll have about 350 students total that attend kindergarten to eighth grade with us. We have a limit of 360 students and still have a few openings in some grades.”
Mackedon said the expansion started as soon as school dismissed for the summer and should be wrapping up in a couple of days.
“Since we had such a large increase in students, we had to almost double our space,” Mackedon said. “We added two kindergarten classrooms and one classroom for each grade … so now each grade has two classrooms and each classroom will hold no more than 20 students. We created a larger cafeteria, and we have expanded the playground for the students.”
Mackedon said the addition now runs the entire length behind Louie’s Dollar Plus and Bealls.
With the additional classroom, Mackedon said more staff must be added.
“We hired 10 new teachers,” Mackedon said. “The teachers have come from all over; some of the new hires are from Fallon and surrounding counties,, but we also hired some that are from out-of-state but all of the teachers have the proper certifications to teach.”
Mackedon said a part-time special education teacher has been hired, as well as two full-time teacher aides to assist students with individual education plans.
She said it’s a community effort.
“I am so thankful for the staff who have worked over the summer to help get this place in shape for the new school year,” Mackendon said. “The crew that was hired to complete the expansion has been fantastic and has worked really hard on the project to make sure it turns out great and is completed on time. The parents have also been wonderful in helping get this place ready for students on Monday.”
Mackedon said students from second to eighth grade will receive their own Google Chrome books that they will use at school, but the students will be able to access their accounts from any computer outside of school.
Oasis Academy begins its fourth year as a school.
“Oasis is a free public charter school,” Mackedon said. “There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what we are … we are a public school and we don’t require tuition. We do have a dress code that the students are required to follow, but all of the clothes come from Old Navy, which makes them extremely affordable.”
Mackedon said the school also follows Common Cores guidelines.
“We’ve been teaching Common Core ever since we opened our doors,” Mackedon said. “Our teachers have embraced the teaching methods provided by Common Core and have made it work for them and their students. Our students have responded well to Common Core and it shows in our high test scores.”
Oasis Academy operates Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Parents can find student supply list on their website under teacher blogs.
For information, contact the school, 775-423-5437, or visit www.oasisacademyfallon.us.