Questions? Email our new PTA Presidents:
Stephanie Chin, Stephanie@YescaPTA.org
Raelynn Beintker, Raelynn@YescaPTA.org

Founding Members

The founding group of our nonprofit 501 (c) (3) entity is composed of community members with professional knowledge of and experience in leading, supporting, and managing public service entities, private businesses, and educational organizations. Some of the founding members serve on the 2008 Council of Directors.

Teachers and Community Participants

All teachers, presenters, community members who participate in educational activities, and volunteers who contribute to our farm planning, animal studies, gardening...may have personal blogs and web pages available through the link above.

Handbook

A PDF will be available for download as a backup for the printed handbook.

Council of Directors

From 2005 until the Environmental Science Charter was approved this past spring of 2008, a group of parents and residents of the Dobbins and Oregon House, California foothill communities met to find ways to take advantage of the California Department of Education’s Charter Division provisions.

As a result of the community's desire to provide an education and resource center for the environmental and agricultural sciences, the Charter Organization now plans to offer presentations and programs of high-quality, standards-based education which focus on environmental science, including sustainability studies, agriculture, and civic responsibility.

At YESCA (Yes! California...the Yuba Environmental Science Charter Academy) our community passion is the desire to use every available tool at our disposal to provide the educational resources for our children and families to learn about and understand the environmental and agricultural sciences.

As a new public, independent charter, YESCA will broaden the educational resources available to families in the Marysville Joint Unified School District (MJUSD), and to any other California resident who wishes to take advantage of the programs. It will enable students to learn from the distinctive facilities — both natural and manmade — within the Yuba Highlands of the Sierra Foothills. These include mixed conifer forests of the Las Plumas-Tahoe National Forest, local lakes and rivers, and a working organic farm with produce and animals, that will offer children and families a unique range of experiences.

Community service will be a fundamental component of the life of the organization, related to stewardship of the environment and responsibility to community members.

Today’s well-educated, socially aware, and personally responsible young people will become tomorrow’s contributing, caring citizens who have the potential to create a better society. YESCA places a high value on healthful living, community participation, environmental enhancement, and respect for diversity. The organization will emphasize the natural and human history and development of Yuba County specifically, and of Northern California in general, within a culture that values the scientific method and focuses on environmental studies.

One aim of YESCA is to provide the opportunity for research and experiment into environmental science teaching methods in a unique rural setting. YESCA's mission is to develop a self-motivating, individualized, and comprehensive curriculum with environmental and agricultural sciences as the basis.

YESCA intends to provide a laboratory of educational reform that delivers innovative, personalized instruction to meet the needs of our communities. YESCA will provide a nurturing and stimulating environment that maximizes individualized education and project-based learning with an overarching emphasis on developing responsible citizens and environmental stewards for the 21st century.

Taking advantage of our setting on ten rural acres, our programs will feature a special focus on agricultural and environmental sciences to encourage high levels of individual and community engagement and achievement. YESCA will make use of a farm, gardens, animals, and local nature reserves to observe and examine natural phenomena in developmentally appropriate lessons, excursions, and presentations.