Students, teachers, principal at charter school ready to start

With a rash of referendum-financed construction in Community Unit District 300, hundreds of students had butterflies last week as they met their teachers and entered new buildings for the first time.

But the 525 students at the new Cambridge Lakes Charter School were much less nervous Monday on their first day of school.

That's because the students already had met with their teachers during the summer, when they put together a personal learning plan teachers will use to meet each child's individual needs.

"We differentiate the instruction so it meets the needs of all the children," Principal Josh Emmett said.

Although there are many charter schools in Chicago, Cambridge Lakes, in the Pingree Grove subdivision that bears the same name, is the first in the Fox Valley.

"Out here in the suburbs, this is such a novel concept -- and it's so exciting," Emmett said.

The charter school is open to anyone living in District 300, though most of the students are from the surrounding subdivision.

The school uses a variety of teaching methods to offer students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade an educational experience that fits their particular strengths.

The school's charter with District 300 affords it significant liberty to set curriculum to meet state standards and students' specific needs.

The unique approach at Cambridge Lakes has attracted the attention of so many parents in the district that the three buildings on the campus are almost at capacity, Emmett said.

The school will able to accommodate more than 1,000 students -- double its current enrollment -- when three more buildings are built on the campus. They are slated to open next year.

Besides developing a personal learning plan, which Emmett calls the "centerpiece" of his school, students at Cambridge Lakes also take a computer-based assessment through the year to measure their starting point and progress in core subjects.

Other differences charter school parents may notice are the longer school day, which lasts from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the lack of busing to the school.

But for many parents, these sacrifices are worth the personal attention their children will get at the school.

"I see this as an incredible opportunity to do something really exciting," Emmett said.