A morning last March had three things going against it: it was a Monday, the clocks had sprung forward the day before and the sky was gray with snow flurries.
But inside Provident Charter School in Troy Hill, the morning was bright and busy.
Deon L. Butler, a former receiver with the Seattle Seahawks who is now an advocate for raising awareness about dyslexia, was speaking to sixth-graders. A small group of second-graders were sitting around a table, tapping their index fingers and thumbs together as they said each letter’s sound in the word “job” before spelling it. A third-grade class was practicing listening and note-taking skills. And in the special education office, two small dogs were waiting for students who had earned a visit with them.
Upstairs in the school’s taekwondo dojo, Team Storm members were previewing a black-belt-level fan pattern they planned to debut at…
