Inside look at schooling for kids of carnival workers

Monday, August 15, 2016
Carnival school touring the country with students
Cammack Christian Academy allows traveling fair employees to bring children on the road by providing a tailored academic curriculum for students.

COSTA MESA, Calif. (KABC) -- Cammack Christian Academy (CCA) allows traveling fair employees to bring children on the road by providing a tailored academic curriculum for the students.

CCA is dedicated to providing a world-class education to their students without separating families.

"Our kids have a school that's tailor made for them and their particular needs, and they're going to be even more successful in life because of that," teacher Kate Bishop said.

The students are able to get the necessary education while staying close to their family. All 11 students at CCA have family members who work for a company called RSC. RSC is responsible for all of the rides, games and food at the OC Fair and other fairs across the country.

Before CCA, families would spend weeks apart.

"My mom would come out every now and then, but it was a lot harder than it is now," student Harley Pickett said.

Ride supervisor Ben Pickett and his wife founded the school one year ago. Now their five children are able to travel with them during the nine months that they're on the road.

"We get to spend time with them. We have input with our kids' education. We go in there and volunteer with them on a daily basis," Pickett said.

The students range from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. Bishop and her assistants teach art, pre-algebra and the periodic table. She says most of her students are ahead of their grade level.

"My responsibility is to make sure that they're prepared for life. I'm going to produce the best writers and the best mathematicians that I can, the best scientists, the best historians," Bishop said.

Students at CCA also go on exciting field trips in every new city that they visit. They visited NASA while in Houston.

"It's just awesome that we get to go and do this stuff and as a small little school group," student Pasyn Leavitt said.

In addition to receiving an education, students are also building their work experience by working at the fair after school.

CCA's school week runs on the days that the fair is open, from Monday to Thursday.