NAMPA — The Nampa School Board will review a proposal for a new charter school — modeled after Liberty and Victory charters — this Tuesday.

The proposed school, called Legacy Charter School, would follow the same educational model as the two other Nampa charters, which use the Harbor School Method. Founders hope to open for the 2011 academic year.

The proposed location is the southeast corner of Locust Lane and Southside Road within the boundaries of the Nampa School District. That location is about 1 1/2 miles from Liberty and Victory, which are situated side by side on East Lewis Lane.

The proposed charter school would serve up to 290 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

"The goal of the founders of Legacy Charter School is to create a small K-8 school to meet the growing needs of families in the Nampa area who would like to enroll students in a charter school that implements the Harbor Method," Christine Ivie, a founding board member, wrote in a letter to Nampa School Board Chairman Dale Wheeler.

The Harbor School concept centers on setting high academic and behavioral expectations in a safe environment with a strong school-to-work emphasis. Under the proposed curriculum, students would begin to learn Spanish in third grade, and kindergartners through third-graders would receive a half-hour of piano instruction weekly, in addition to core components of social studies, technology, math, language arts, science and health.

"It is the founders' intent to replicate the educational culture and academic success exemplified at Liberty Charter School," the charter petition states.

According to Ivie's petition, the number of students on the waiting lists at Liberty and Victory exceeds the enrollment capacity of both schools, and the combined waiting list for both schools is 3,600 students.

Liberty Charter School opened in 1998 and Victory followed in fall of 2004.

"Many parents have had their children on a waiting list for Liberty or Victory for several years with little hope of having their child attend either school prior to eighth grade due to the large waiting lists," the petition states. "Therefore, to address the continued demand by Nampa families, it is in the best interest of the parents, students and general public in Nampa to open another public school dedicated to providing an education based upon the Harbor School Method."

Ivie is the former chief academic officer for the Idaho State Board of Education and former deputy superintendent for the state Department of Education. She taught at both Liberty and Victory charter schools as well as schools in the Nampa and Meridian school districts, and Northwest Children's Home.

Bart McKnight, a local business owner/operator, is named in the petition as a possible candidate to serve on the school's governing board.  McKnight is a founding board member of Legacy Charter School and currently serves on the board of Liberty Charter School.