Despite long years of searching for the right environment, Patti Adams couldn't find the kind of school she wanted for her three children. So she went out and bought one. Literally.
"We mortgaged our home to put this together," Adams says of Deseret Academy, the private school she and her husband, Michael, are starting in Murray. Based on principles taught by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Adams believes her school is the only such institution in the Salt Lake Valley, and possibly in the state.The school will serve students age preschool through 12th grade, with "a full academic program as well as music theory, history, choir, band and orchestra, art history, drawing, painting and watercolor, ballet and modern dance; foreign languages (including ancient Hebrew and Latin), advanced placement courses for college credit and LDS-sponsored seminary."
The campus, at 5430 S. Green Street off I-15, is located next to Thomasville Furnishings in the building that formerly housed Bradley Sleep etc. Renovations there are scheduled to be completed in August, with fall classes set to begin by Sept. 8. Some 60 students are enrolled, with room for another 40 to 50 students, Adams said.
What prompted Adams to take the risk inherent in such a venture - both financially and emotionally?
"We do feel very compelled, in a spiritual way, to do this. We've seen so many of our friends lose their children. They say everything was fine (in public school) until they hit junior high. They they lost them no matter how much they had family home evening and family prayer - the (negative) peer pressure was just too great.
"We're endeavoring to create a higher plateau of peer pressure so the students are being influenced with positive influences rather than the negative things they face at public school. Basically we want to help them live their standards - at school as well as at home."
Adams says she's creating an environment where clothing isn't a competitive issue, because students will wear uniforms. Because classes will be relatively small, she believes students will develop respect for and a personal relationship with their teachers. No overcrowded hallways, no social segregation, no gang clothing, no cursing.
Such challenges are inherent in public school, which focuses "on curriculum alone, without the values-based education I want for my children," Adams says, making learning is a difficult proposition there. "Our (LDS) philosophy if you have not the spirit, you shall not teach, and my philosophy is that if you don't have the spirit, you can't learn."
To set the tone for each day's class, students will participate in vocal prayer as well as a short devotional, before studying religion, math, physical education, science and language. After a lunch break, they'll take up U.S. history and geography before the concluding prayer.
Clyda Brattos likes the religious aspect of it all. Recently retired as a teacher in the Jordan School District, she says inviting God into the classroom is "not that difficult to incorporate. I believe God is in everything that we do. In creation of the world, animals, plants - everything in our daily lives."
Brattos will enroll her two children, ages 9 and 14, in Deseret Academy this fall. And she'll be there with them as well, as one of the school's new teachers.
She's excited about a new way of teaching. "If a child is struggling, you can suggest that they can discuss it with Heavenly Father. You can encourage them to pray," Brattos said. "There were times in public school when I had to bite my tongue not to say anything because it's so obvious," that children need the additional boost that religion gives them.
"Sometimes when kids were struggling with being nice to each other, it would have been so easy to say `this is not the way Heavenly Father would like you to act.' Other times when you're teaching, particularly at times like Christmas, you're definitely talking about what a Christian is. You can bring up things that you couldn't in other schools."
Adams says the entire curriculum will be infused with LDS principles, with creation taught alongside its "worldly" counterpart of evolution, so students can know what others believe and why. Math, reading, spelling, language and music will all have an LDS feel, she said.
Having made the ultimate financial commitment to the school before the doors even opened, Adams says she tried for years to come up with a home-school/public school mix for her children, but it never jelled. "This is something we both felt very strongly about, and we made that commitment. It was not without a lot of research. We had several people who were committed to the concept already before we started."
Even so, Adams says she doesn't have any type of contract with those who were supportive, tying them to the school financially. "It was a verbal agreement. We knew they were committed to what we were doing."
While serving on a regional board for a home education organization, Adams saw many families doing home school who wanted a private, religiously based education but could not find "an affordable school."
With tuition of about $1,700 per year, Adams believes the school will be viable for many parents who want to either supplement the home school experience, or who want the larger social environment home schooling lacks.
"Some (home school parents) are frustrated that they can't provide the types of broad experience they want for their children. That's what we hope to do - with teachers that are committed to the same beliefs that the students are."
While the focus of teaching will be around Mormon principles, Adams says students of all denominations will be welcome. Interest in the school, most of it word-of-mouth, has prompted Adams to initiate planning for a second campus in Utah County.
Brattos said it's time someone finally stepped forward to provide an LDS-based curriculum in a private school setting. "I think a lot of people have been looking for it for many years, but it has just not been there."
Why? Brattos doesn't hesitate.
"Satan doesn't want righteous principles taught. You can see that at work in the public school system. You can say `god' any time you want as a slang word, but if you want to thank God for the pizza because the kids had a pizza party, that's not allowed.
"If you can use him to swear by, it bothers me that you can't talk to or about him in a reverent way."
For information about the school, visit the Web site at (www.deseretacademy.com) or call 288-9955.