The first bell will ring for five new charter schools serving 2,900 students in Utah County this fall, and school organizers are working to get everything from curriculum to uniforms in order.

"Everything's on schedule," said Ed Kruger, director of Liberty Academy, which will serve students in kindergarten through eighth grade in Salem. The school's building is going up on Elk Ridge Road, and some of the 18 or 19 full-time teachers have been hired. A lottery was held on Friday night to select students, and some spots are still open in seventh and eighth grades.

School organizers are keeping in touch by phone and e-mail until they have a building to serve as home base. The school will start with 450 students but plans to add a high school program next year and expand enrollment to 650.

School furnishings have been ordered, teacher training will begin by the end of July, and supplies and materials are being purchased. School will start late this year and stay in session until after Labor Day to accommodate construction and fulfill the state's required 180 days of instruction, Kruger said.

Mountainville Academy in Alpine won't be in its building by the start of the school year like the school's founders had hoped, thanks to controversy over where the school would be built.

"We spent a lot of time struggling with the building and the location, and that has taken a lot of the focus away from things we really need to be doing all along the way," said Rebecca Whitchurch, board chairwoman. "We're catching up on things we would have normally been doing a couple of months ago."

But construction is finally under way on Main Street in Alpine and is scheduled to be completed in November. Students will attend classes temporarily in portable buildings, Whitchurch said. She said she wasn't sure if the portable buildings will be on the permanent site. "We're looking into a few different options."

The school plans to hire 28 full-time teachers as well as music, art and PE teachers, Whitchurch said. The state charter allows for 675 students and right now between 625 and 650 have enrolled, Whitchurch said. Uniforms have been picked out and Core Knowledge training is scheduled to begin this month.

Noah Webster Academy will open its doors in Orem in the fall. Chief administrative officer Sharon Moss said teacher training is getting under way, and many of the 20 teachers needed to staff the school have been hired.

By Aug. 15, the school's location in the former Storehouse Market building at 400 South and State Street in Orem is scheduled to be completed.

The building has been retrofitted with reinforcements for earthquake safety, and an additional 10,000 square feet have been added for the gymnasium and kindergarten and first-grade classrooms. The school will enroll 525 children in kindergarten through sixth grade and has some openings in fourth, fifth and sixth grades. A public meeting for interested families is scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Orem Senior Center.

Arnie Adler, director of Lakeview Academy in Saratoga Springs, said 21 of 26 teachers have been hired for the school that will serve 650 children in its first year. Some spots are available in fifth, sixth and seventh grades at the K-8 school, and next year Adler said ninth grade will be added. Students from southern Salt Lake County and north Utah County are enrolling, he said.

The school's building is under construction about a mile south of S.R. 73. The facilities will include a kitchen to prepare lunches on site -- a rarity for charter schools in Utah County.

In American Fork, Renaissance Academy will serve 600 students in kindergarten through eighth grade beginning in the fall.

Although many hours of work have gone into planning the new charter schools, Moss said one challenge is overcoming misperceptions. Rumors are circulating that the teachers aren't certified and no special education programs are offered. Neither accusation is true. "We're meeting the needs of all of the students at our school, just like any other public school," Moss said. "We've been very selective in the teachers we've hired."

There is also speculation that charter schools won't be open for long.

"We're just excited about what we're going to get to create this school year and into the future," Moss said. "We don't go into this endeavor to not be in for long haul."

Anna Chang-Yen can be reached at 344-2549 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it