Neto's Tucson by Ernesto Portillo Jr. : Winning charter high school guided by brother-sister team

The Arizona Charter School Association named the academy as the 2008 Charter School of the Year.

"They value their role as a public charter school and are dedicated to an open enrollment, first-come, first-served, no screening model," said the state association's statement.

The Mendozas are a good Tucson story. They were born and raised here, and they attended public schools.

They have taken what they have learned from their parents and teachers and mentors and plowed their knowledge back into their school, which the pair helped create. However, they don't take all the praise for the school's success.

The Mendoza siblings credited the schools' staff, students and parents for the school's first major public recognition.

It was just a matter of time before the Mendozas would reach this point in their young professional lives.

Charlene, 36, is the bookworm idea person who graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.

Freddy, 34, is the personality-rich motivator who graduated from the University of Arizona.

"They're mirrors for each other," said their mother, Anita Mendoza, a longtime Tucson educator who is AmeriSchools assistant superintendent and a current member of the state's Board of Education.

The Mendoza bro and sis are a rare and rewarding combination.

Their working relationship goes back to when the two were students at University High School. Charlene and Freddy were on the swimming team. They went to Washington, D.C., separately, to serve as pages in the U.S. Senate.

Reginald Barr, one of University High's original faculty members, saw spark and ganas — enthusiasm — in the Mendozas when they attended the magnet high school.

"They're self-starters," said Barr, founder and superintendent of AmeriSchools, which includes three other charter schools in Tucson, Yuma and Phoenix.

Charlene and Freddy complement each other but challenge each other, too, said Barr.

"They're testing each other constantly," he said.

At school, Freddy teaches history and is the school's athletic director. Charlene, the principal, teaches English.

"Although they share a lot of interests, they are opposites in many ways," said their mother.

Charlene is serene. Freddy is animated.

But they share a common goal of excellence and pushing students to exceed expectations.

They're a team.

The strong sibling relationship is due in large measure, their mother says, to the fact that Freddy and Charlene are biracial children. Their mother is white, and their father, Alfred Mendoza, is Chicano.

Their mother graduated in 1969 from Palo Verde High School. Their father graduated in 1967 from Tucson High, where he played football.

Long before the cultural acceptance of famous biracial offspring like Tiger Woods and Barack Obama, biracial families faced considerable obstacles.

Their mother said her children's shared experience is the integral factor to their success. Either of them alone would not be as successful as they are together, she said.

The challenges the Mendozas faced helped gird Charlene and Freddy for the future. They've taken their life's lessons into the classrooms.

They believe the academy has been successful because of its diversity and the individual attention they and the other eight teachers give to the students.

"We focus on the whole person," said Freddy.

A key goal is to guide the high school students to find their individual voices and identity, said the Mendozas. It gives the students the confidence to do well and to strive for more.

"When they start to see that their voice is just as important, you begin to see the test scores change," Charlene said.

The school's test scores have fluctuated but remain solid. The state has labeled the 11-year-old school as excelling for the past several years.

Located on East Broadway, near South Kolb Road, the school has an enrollment of about 150 students from across Tucson and one from Marana. Most of the students get to school on Sun Tran buses.

There is no great secret to the school's and students' achievements, said the Mendozas. The sister-brother teaching tandem demand much from each other, the staff and the students.

"If a student wants to know why, the teacher needs to answer the question," said Freddy. "It's not a question to blow off."

Charlene added: "It's really just a no-excuse approach."

DID YOU KNOW

There are 478 charter schools in Arizona with an enrollment exceeding 100,000 students, according to the Arizona Charter School Association. One in every four public schools is a charter school.

Charter schools are public schools and follow major state education guidelines such as AIMs testing but are free from other regulations such as hiring certified teachers.

In Pima County, there are 90 charter schools, says the state Education Department's Web site.