Pub. 8 2018-2019 Issue 2

12 W hen Roberta Hardy sat down at her kitchen table to write one of Utah’s first charter school proposals, she had no idea what she was getting into. Professionally, Roberta was a social worker and a grant writer in Carbon County. Her path to charter schools started with tentative plans to open a private early elemen- tary with two popular educators whose catholic school was closing. A coworker mentioned that the state was accepting proposals for publicly-funded charter schools, and Roberta thought she should give it a shot. She wrote for K-7, including a tech- nology emphasis that the school still maintains today. If you ask about that application process, Roberta and many others from that founding generation have to chuckle: “Those original charter applications were a mess,” she remem- bers. “They were three pages – mine was seven ‘cause I was kind of eloquent.” With little convention or structure in place for the new schools, Roberta and others like her acted as guinea pigs. Charter schools at that time were only an experiment; one that many hoped would fail. Starting a school from scratch with no state history to look back on was not easy – even with a team of like-minded people. Roberta found herself funding much of the school’s early needs out of pocket, often offering personal loans to her school she had little hope of seeing repaid. One expense included hiring a company out of Logan to run the school’s enrollment lottery. No one was quite sure how to conduct a lottery, and Roberta wanted everything to be legitimate. When the time came to gather in a rented motel conference room for the event, Roberta was shocked at the outpouring of support and interest from the community. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before they ran into obstacles. Trying to find a building for the soon-to-open Pinnacle Academy proved nightmarish as multiple building owners turned them away or the fire marshal rejected location after location. Finally, the school opened in a wing of the same motel that had hosted their lottery. In this location there was no need to hire a janitor: the maids cleaned the classrooms. The school was full from day one, but opening a new public school in a small town caused conflict with the district. Roberta remembers that the debates about an additional form of public edu- cation were heated. That heat would often be directed at her personally as the founder of the new school. Her good name and work ethic kept the school going during the conflict, but her family began to feel the toll. On one particularly low day, her daughter won an award at the local science fair. When Pinnacle Canyon Academy was announced, there was booing from an audience that wasn’t convinced a charter school should be participating in district events. As a mother, it broke her heart to know her daughter felt at fault. In the midst of toxic misunderstand- ings and uphill funding battles on the home front, Roberta fully participated in the newly created charter school asso- ciation. The original founders banded together to provide answers and support as they sought more stable long-term solutions. Her stubborn advocacy during those fierce early days has helped smooth the way for charters throughout the state. Today, Pinnacle retains their advanced technical focus and a thriving sports program. The school also serves many of the area’s difficult populations. Still a social worker at heart, Roberta has put programs into place that help students and their families move past trauma, disability, and disadvantage. Roberta believes in her school’s ability to help students and lift the community. So long after the passing of the origi- nal legislation, Roberta hopes people won’t forget how far charter schools have come. “All the new people coming in,” Roberta reflected, “they don’t realize what we paid. There are a lot of new schools, and I wish them well. It’s a great endeavor, and it’s a lot of work.” Roberta Hardy We had our lottery drawing at a local motel, and we had more people show up and more kids on the list than we had openings. That was sor t of the beginning for me—knowing we were doing something very revolutionary. Charter Pioneer