Charter students get spacious, newer school

BARSTOW • For middle-schoolers Wendy Chairez and Christian Contreras, the relocation of their charter school means getting extra space to study — and getting more comfortable while hitting the books — than they had before.

Previously, said Chairez, students of Excelsior Education Center’s Barstow campus sat shoulder to shoulder.

“We’d have to sit like this,” said the 14-year-old as she and Contreras scooted their chairs side-by-side. Now that Excelsior has moved from East Williams Street into the former Verizon Wireless building on 2151 West Main Street, it has expanded from 2,300-square-feet to 8,700-square-feet, according to Director Mike Hayhurst.

Excelsior’s new facility will have up to six classrooms, a computer lab, office space and a conference room. After settling in, the local branch of the Victorville-based independent study charter program will turn its large basement into a gymnasium and begin fitting adjacent rooms for elective classes like sound recording and production, Hayhurst said. The gym already has one piece of equipment — a treadmill donated by a teacher.

In addition to its facilities, Excelsior also recently hired its first special education certified teacher, Nathan Braden, said Hayhurst. “We’ve had an influx of special needs students,” Hayhurst noted. The charter school, which reported having 75 students in September, has steadily grown and now has 117 students.

While some supplies like white boards haven’t arrived and chalkboards have yet to be hung up in Excelsior’s new classrooms, students have already started coming to school. On Tuesday, 14 students took the California High School Exit Exam in a sparse classroom.

Fifteen-year-old Chauncy Hardrick enjoyed one of Excelsior’s newest amenities — a study area set up to feel like a home. The informal learning center, as Hayhurst describes it, allows for group study at an elevated dining room table in the center of the room with two couches lined against the walls.

“It makes you comfortable without feeling all anxious,” said Hardrick as he, Chairez and Contreras sprawled out at the table. Chairez added, “It makes me feel like I am at home — except you can’t sleep here.”

According to Chairez, the new building is missing one thing: “They just need more posters,” she said.

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(760) 256-4122 or elee@desertdispatch.com