FAQ

Our elementary schools provide everything your child needs to attend school. There may be things specific to each class that are suggested, but not mandatory.

Our JH/HS does require parents to provide literature books, as they are considered consumable. We consider literature books consumable because in order to accomplish an in-depth study of language, students are required to interact with the text. This means annotating, questioning, highlighting, underlining, etc. When students interact with a text rather than simply reading it, the knowledge becomes their own - the text becomes a part of their fabric, and the lessons learned become more meaningful. As a school that reveres the written word, it seems just plain wrong to ask students to read a book, not make any marks in it, and then give it back in a couple of weeks after we have finished. The question we must ask of this type of “education” is, “to what end?”  What do students really get out of this type interaction with a book?  The answer is, very little. The decision to make literature books a responsibility of students and parents is a pedagogical one.  Our hope is that these books become a part of our student and something they can take with them for the rest of their lives, looking back fondly upon them and the memories, virtues, and lessons these books created.
 

We do not accept teacher requests. This allows us to maintain balanced classrooms.

We are an accelerated school dedicated to helping each child learn and achieve their highest potential. Our program is very structured, which allows students to stay organized. A variety of student academic support programs are offered to qualified students at BFCS, including tutoring offered by every classroom teacher. Parents with concerns about their child's academic progress may reach out to the classroom teacher or the campus student support liaison listed below for more direction. 

Campus Student Support Liaisons

• Crismon - Kristin Dau: kdau@bfcsaz.com

• Gilbert - Sherry Stevens: sstevens@bfcsaz.com

• Power - Bianca DeAnda: bdeanda@bfcsaz.com

• BFHS - David Winkle: dwinkle@bfcsaz.com

We offer FREE, limited morning busing for junior high and high school students in the San Tan Valley area - students must be signed up before riding (routes begin the first day of school). We also offer free shuttle services both before and after school between all three elementary campuses and BFHS for our junior high and high school students. For more information or to sign up, visit our Transportation Page.

Absolutely! We feel these are critical components to the well-rounded education of a child. Yes, all students, Kindergarten through 6th grade, attend PE, Music, and Art for an hour each week. The students participate in 2 music concerts during the year, a Christmas concert and our Spring Sing. All students participate in the Turkey Trot and Field Day, both school-wide physical fitness events. Additionally, our students have three recess breaks per day (with the exception of our half-day kindergarten, which has one).

We love to have parents (and prospective parents) drop in at any time. No appointment is necessary. Our registrars are available to give classroom and campus tours, and there is a parent video that gives detailed information about our program. However, if you would like to set up a time to ensure someone is available, please schedule a tour here!

Yes! Our Before and After School Program, Beyond the Bell, is available to our elementary families. Click here to learn more about our program. 

Yes, our dress code stresses modesty in order to ensure that the learning environment is not interrupted. Our Dress Code Policy can be found in Parent Handbook, or you can visit the follow page for more information: Dress Code Policy.

The Gilbert Campus, Power Campus, and Crismon Campus school hours are from 8:15am - 3:00pm. 

The Jr. High/High School hours are from 7:55am - 2:25pm. (School begins at 7:00am if the student is taking a ‘zero hour’ class. School ends at 3:20pm if a student has a 7th hour class.) 

The front offices at our elementary campuses are open from 7:30am - 4:00pm.

The front office at our BFHS campus is open from 6:30am - 3:30pm.

Each Kindergarten classroom has a full-time aide, as well as Resource Aides in all Resource settings.

Class sizes may vary, however the maximum class size is 32 students.

As a publicly funded charter school, BFCS is mandated to participate in the various standardized tests that are given each year in the state of Arizona. At BFCS, we do not “teach to the test.” We use time-proven methods to educate students rather than focus on the narrow strand of knowledge that is tests. Our schools do very well on these tests, but our students do not spend months preparing for a test in order to artificially inflate our scores in order to improve public perception. Our validation comes from the truly “educated” students that fill our halls and graduate from our program.

The 7th – 12th grade model has proven to be the preferred model for college preparatory schools for many reasons. At the start of secondary school, students are asked to do many things that are not required of them at the elementary age. Because of this, it is important that secondary education be as integrated as possible rather than disjointed due to students attending two different schools for junior high and high school. This integration allows for seamless transitions between grades and a curriculum scope and sequence that builds upon prior learning in the previous grade. The various departments work together across the spectrum of grades in order to facilitate cohesion and cooperation which results in superior curriculum and instruction, and thus learning. Additionally, a 7th – 12th grade model allows for a great dynamic between younger and older students and teachers. Older students can have the experience of mentoring younger students, while younger students have great role models, helping them to mature, educationally, at a faster rate.

Summer assignments are for all students who will be taking HONORS or AP level English/History classes in 9th-12th grade. There will be no Junior High or traditional level summer assignments.

The purpose of the summer assignments are to ensure that students enrolled in these advanced level classes are ready to ‘hit the ground running’ upon their return to school this fall. Each assignment will require the student to read a specific text and annotate the reading following the guidelines listed within each assignment. By reading and annotating the summer book/reading, the teacher can immediately begin teaching and discussing the material, making classroom time more efficient and productive for these classes that move at a quicker pace than those on the traditional track.

Students who will be taking on-level English and History classes are more than welcome to complete the summer assignments for their grade level, but it will not be offered for any credit. Its purpose will be to help the student get a head start on the material that the teacher will begin introducing into their class during the first weeks of school.

To view this year's summer assignments, visit this webpage: BFHS Summer Assignments

No, we do not teach sex education to our K-12 students. In the state of Arizona, sex education is optional. Therefore, we are in compliance with state regulation. Click here to learn more.

There are SO many reasons to study Latin, so in the interests of brevity here are but a few:

1. Studying Latin serves as an in depth study of the English language. Over 50% of our language can be traced to Latin, and the precise nature of Latin lends to a deeper understanding of English grammar.
2. Latin is the scholarly language of the sciences, law, history, etc. To understand Latin is to have a very big head start in many academic areas.
3. Those with a foundation in Latin score significantly higher on the SAT and ACT test. As a college-prep school, this is a fact that cannot be ignored.
4. Even more than the improvement in vocabulary, which most students experience, the best reason for studying Latin and the Romans is that you will enter a new and different world which can tell you much about your own. Additionally, it will help to educate you, for understanding the past is a major part of being educated. As the famous Roman orator Cicero said, "Not to know what happened before you were born is to be forever a child." By observing Roman values, attitudes, and behavior and by comparing them to our own, you can come to know another way of seeing reality and can broaden your experience.

For more information on the importance of Latin, please see our Latin Page

Benjamin Franklin Charter School has been serving children in the East Valley sincce 1995. Our schools are top-rated and accredited. There are many contributing factors to our recurring success, but by far, the greatest is our dedication to our time-proven, effective, and reliable curriculum. Our curriculum is the most significant pillar of our school, and so we take pride in its continued proven success in shaping the hearts and minds of our students.

Evolving curricula theories and methodologies are not new to public education, as we have seen several come to prominence in our three decades of school operations. However, we have never wavered from or changed our core curriculum - something rather unique in the education industry. By staying true to our exceptional curriculum, we have provided generations of students with stability and reinforced our high-achieving academic deliverables year after year. We have research-based evidence to support the effectiveness of both what we teach and what we do not teach. Therefore, we have no plans to change what or how we teach at Benjamin Franklin Charter School.