Geoffrey and Sydney Germane don't want their children to get lost in the shuffle of the public school system.
Large class sizes, lack of individual attention and bureaucracy turned the Germanes off to public school. So last year, three of the Germane's seven children attended Ivy Hall Academy, a private school in the Provo foothills."We just have really high aspirations for our children," Sydney Germane said. "We didn't want their choices limited by lack of background in certain subjects."
This year, four of the Germane children will attend Ivy Hall at a cost of $295 per month per child. Geoffrey Germane is a mechanical engineering professor at Brigham Young University. Sydney Germane, a music teacher, took on extra students to help with tuition costs.
"It's a very big commitment for us financially," she said. "But it came to the point where we couldn't afford not to."
It's coming to that point for more Utah Valley parents each year.
Ivy Hall opened with 12 seventh-graders in 1987. School founder Jim Lindahl expects enrollment to reach 235 this year spanning several grades. Meridian School, also in Provo, is expecting about 320 students this fall, double the enrollment it opened with three years ago. Tuition is $3,300 a year.
Meridian Headmaster Kevin E. Clyde said parents are looking for alternatives. A BYU professor who has worked with Meridian, Ivy Hall and the Waterford Institute agrees.
"Public school is not answering the needs out there," said Hal Miller, dean of honors and general education at BYU. "I'm absolutely convinced that the regeneration of American public education will have to take its lead from private education."
Provo School District Superintendent Kay Laursen said it's debatable whether private schools do a better job. Public schools provide some educational opportunities that their private counterparts don't.
Public and private schools shoot different arrows at the same target; they're both aiming for quality
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education that turns children into productive citizens.
"The whole (public education) system is kind of held in check," said Miller, currently a consultant for Ivy Hall. "I don't see (change) happening anytime soon because the system is riven with faction. The rate of change is glacial."
Laursen agrees that public systems contain bureaucracies. But that doesn't necessarily preclude change. Both Provo High School and Farrer Middle School are undergoing restructuring to carry them to the 21st century. At Provo High, administrators are finding that learning doesn't have to take place in segmented hours.
"I feel our district is very progressive with the funds that we have," Laursen said.
Freedom from government regulations gives private school more flexibility in educating children. School boards don't decide the direction of education; teachers, principals and parents do, Lindahl said. Private school officials say they don't get hung up in issues that do little to improve education.
"We spend most of our money on good faculty and children rather than spend it on buildings," said Clyde of Meridian. The emphasis is on learning, he said.
Ivy Hall, for instance, turns its teachers loose. Teachers select their own textbooks and instructional materials. Miller said no higher body, like a school board, dictates scope and content.
"Education is a risky business because you're never sure where it's going to go. It needs to be that way," he said.
Laursen said public school teachers in Provo "have all the room in the world for creativity" in presenting the curriculum. Still, "we think there's some advantage to keeping teachers on track."
Large class sizes in public schools take their toll on students and teachers alike. Miller said private schools don't face that problem.
"It is not a holding pen. We are not custodians," he said.
Laursen said public schools may appear custodial because the law mandates that all children attend school. Provo district accepts all children regardless of their socio-economic status or academic ability. Private schools, he said, are selective in their enrollment.
Miller said public schools foster homogeneity.
"We're after anything but a homogeneous experience," he said. "We want every student's experience to be different."
While private schools boast smaller classes, public schools offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Laursen said education research shows that participation in choral groups, athletics, debate team, etc., is the greatest predictor of children's success. Activities outside the classroom help students find their niche in school and build esprit de corps, he said.
Lindahl tries to bond students together through group activities such as ski class.
Provo's public schools are accredited by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. Lindahl is seeking the same accreditation for Ivy Hall.