Some children don’t fit or do well in a traditional public or private school setting and this can present significant problems for both them and their families. Fusion Academy and Learning Center (FALC) has developed a program to address the needs of such children by emphasizing an individualized one-to-one education.
The center began in San Diego in 1989 and will be opening its first Los Angeles campus in Santa Monica in March of 2010. Santa Monica’s campus won’t contain the traditional classrooms, chalkboards, lockers, or cafeterias but instead will house private classrooms for one-to-one education, a recording studio, a lounge to display student artwork and photographs, and a homework café.
Grace Colman Losada, a former teacher at the San Diego center, will be director of the Fusion Academy and Learning Center Los Angeles school that will be located in Santa Monica. She told The Mirror that the new school would be able to serve 60 full-time students as well as part-time students. The school will follow a year-round calendar and have rolling admissions. Rolling admissions will help cater to students who are in crisis at their current school because they can be admitted any time of the year. Students would also be able to start and stop their education when needed which would make it suitable for students who are pursuing acting or athletic careers. She noted this would also be helpful for students who have parents that are actors or have careers where they need to take their children out of school to travel with them.
The school will cater to sixth through twelfth graders. Losada explained that the center was originally started as a tutoring and educational supplemental program and then developed into a school. During that time the majority of students that “showed up on our doorstep” were sixth through twelfth graders so the school focuses on those grades. However, they have worked with a handful of elementary students.
Another unusual feature about the school according to Losada is their homework policy. They usually “don’t send homework home with students because it can be a source of stress.” Instead, homework is done in the school’s homework café where there is a teacher always available to help if necessary. This makes it possible for students to go home and spend quality time with their family.
Tuition at the school can range from $10,000 to $20,000 depending on how many courses a student enrolls in and how often they attend. All students graduate with a California high school diploma and last year 70 percent of their graduates went on to a four-year college or university.
FALC will be opening a new school in Orange County sometime in 2010 and hopes to open additional locations in the next few years.
An informational parent meeting will be held on December 7 at the Olympic Hall and Banquet Center, at 11301 Olympic Boulevard in West Los Angeles. More information about the meeting is available at 866.702.1953.
