How to resolve AdBlock issue? MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Lake County International Charter School (LCICS) in Middletown has several exciting changes for the upcoming school year, including the reinstatement of the seventh grade, the rehiring of a beloved teacher and the continuation of the Free and Reduced Food Program in cooperation with the Middletown Unified School District (MUSD).
“Two years ago we made the decision to reduce from a K-8 to a K-6 to consolidate our classes on one site,” said LCICS Director Gwendolyn Maupin-Ahern stated. “We did this because of the state budget cuts and the need to keep our school fiscally strong, and it worked. But this spring many of our sixth grade students, several of whom started in Kindergarten in LCICS's very first year, expressed interest in remaining for an additional year. It was important to us to find a way to make that happen.”
LCICS has always had multi-age classrooms, much like St. Helena Unified’s excellent Multi-Age Program (MAP), so the solution was fairly simple.
“With the multi-age classrooms we can be flexible with our configurations. This coming year we will have a K/1, 2/3/4 and a 5/6/7,” Maupin-Ahern explained. “We will continue to have our small school environment with a maximum of 24 students per classroom, and in fact there is currently a waiting-list for the 5/6/7 class.”
With the shift, LCICS has also rehired Andrew Vance for the 5/6/7 position. Vance previously taught LCICS’s 7/8 class, and was universally loved and respected by the students, the families and the staff.
He moved to Sonoma County in 2009 to be closer to his family, but is returning to Lake County this summer. Vance brings a strong focus on emotional intelligence and peer mediation to his classroom and to the school as a whole.
“I am so excited to be a part of this vibrant learning community again,” said Vance. “LCICS incorporates a tremendous amount of positivity into their school environment. I kept hearing its beacon call all the way from Santa Rosa and just had to return.”
LCICS also will be continuing to provide a daily Free and Reduced Food Program, supplementing with vegetables from the student-grown garden whenever possible.
Based on family income, students are able to receive a hot lunch for free or a very small fee.
“We started the program this spring, and it was well received by the kids and their families,” Maupin-Ahern said. “We’re so pleased to be able to offer this to our students, and thank MUSD for helping us make it happen.”
For more information about the school or enrollment you can email
LCICS is a free, public charter school open to all K-7th students in Lake County providing students with an inquiry/project based, enriched education in a nurturing environment, and is the only site-based public charter school in Lake County. Often mistaken as private schools, charter schools are free and government-funded public options, held to the same educational standards to which all public schools are accountable, that allow parents to have a greater voice in school governance, operations and educational programs.
