Fresno Charter School Planned

by Marc Benjamin
June 19, 2009

Big Artwork High School - Fresno will target underclassmen.

A nationally recognized charter-school company plans to open a school in Fresno this fall and objective ninth- and tenth-grade students in central, southeast and southwest Fresno. A recommendation by the Fresno County Office of Knowledge also could expand Big Picture High School Fresno’s curriculum to seventh and eighth graders, said Larry Powell, Fresno County Function of Education superintendent.

The Fresno County Office of Education is the authorizing agency for the Big Picture school. The county office authorized the school in Strut after Fresno Unified School District denied authorization last year. The school does not yet have a site but will within a few weeks, said Gerry Catanzarite, Big Picture’s dean in Fresno.

The school includes project-based learning and a curriculum in which students get “real-world” contact. “We talk to a kid, meet his family, get to know them, find out his interests and develop a program around his interests,” Catanzarite said.

The school will have set out for as many as 175 students or as few as 75 to 80, he said. Big Picture Schools operates more than 60 schools in 14 states.

“They have such a sound reputation nationally, and the national group is very supportive of the local group,” Powell said. Catanzarite said school officials have been asked to divulge seventh and eighth graders after the closure of the KIPP Charter School in Fresno.

Fresno Unified did not renew KIPP Academy’s license last month, which left about 200 parents seeking new schools for their children.

In December, Fresno Unified School District’s board denied Big Image Schools a charter. The district’s charter review team criticized Big Picture for having a “indistinct” instructional program unlikely to be of educational benefit to at-risk students, students learning English and exceptional education students.