COEUR d'ALENE - Students in Lynda LeBlanc's French class at Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy Friday faced some unexpected extra pressure.

Tom Luna, Idaho's highest elected official in kindergarten- through- 12th-grade public education, was sitting at a desk in the back of their classroom.

As student Liz Holbart described a Paris neighborhood's art museums, giving the first half of the report in English and the rest in French, she had LeBlanc's full attention.

"Oui!" LeBlanc said, when Holbart recited the correct French words.

When a smattering of whispering began at the back of the room, LeBlanc quickly silenced it.

"Shoosh!" she said curtly, without turning around.

LeBlanc had no idea it was Luna who had leaned over to ask a question of another Charter staff member seated at a nearby desk.

Luna smiled, and later said it has been about 30 years since he received that type of direction from a teacher. It's something he said he has obviously never forgotten.

"It's good to get back into the classroom and be reminded of the discipline," he said.

Luna visited several classrooms at the charter school Friday, and later met with staff members.

In Jean Robinson's science class, Luna watched as students worked on ExploraVision projects. The national science contest, sponsored by Toshiba Corp. and the National Science Teachers Association, challenges students to envision the future of a particular technology, and show what it would look like in 20 years.

Partners Emerson Bird, 14, and Wyatt Nieland, 13, are devising a "super car."

The eighth-graders told Luna they were working on the vehicle's aerodynamic ability while considering ways to add in some amphibious capability.

Nieland said the vehicle would also have "tires that stud themselves."

"The softness of the ground would activate the spikes," Nieland said.

Many of the students used netbooks - lightweight, inexpensive, small, laptop style computing devices - to research their ideas.

Nicklay explained that Charter doesn't have funding for a computer lab, so they have several carts with about 100 netbooks available for teachers to sign out for their classrooms. The method has worked well for several years, he said.

Many of the students in the science class were dressed in the garb of Ancient Rome, but that was for another class, Latin with teacher Lyn Muggleston.

Luna's visit fell on the school's annual Roman Clothing Day held each year near Halloween. The students each receive a persona and are part of a family, Muggleston explained. They research their roles as slaves, gladiators, soldiers and other types of Roman inhabitants and present their findings to the rest of the class.

Following the tour, Luna met with teachers and staff members in the school's new technology room, inside a recent addition to Charter's high school building. The room houses equipment used to connect to the Idaho Education Network.

Luna said he is visiting many Idaho schools right now. Fall is a good time to do it, he said, because once the Legislature is in session in January, it is difficult for Luna to leave Boise.

Charter schools are not as deeply affected by Idaho's new education reforms passed into law earlier this year, Luna said, since charter schools already have many of the measures in place.

Principal Dan Nicklay and several other teachers said they were concerned dual credit and online courses might be made available to their students and would not have the same level of rigor most Charter classes have.

Freshman classes at North Idaho College are not as rigorous as Charter classes, Nicklay told Luna.

He said he is concerned students are not only receiving options, which he thinks they should have, but the system could be handing students a way to take easier courses.

"I'm concerned that could undermine our efforts," Nicklay said.

In recent years, the public charter school has ranked high on lists of the best high schools in the nation. Charter Academy was ranked 59th in Newsweek Magazine's 2011 list of the best high schools in the nation. The Washington Post placed the charter school at 127th. The rankings are based on academic performance.

"As a college prep school, our mission is to prepare kids to succeed in college, not just get there," said Glenn Mabile, the school's business manager.

Luna said he would like to see more schools in Idaho that are like Charter, challenging students and demanding rigor.

The goal is to have students graduate from high school and go on to college or into the workforce without the need for any kind of remediation, Luna said, referring to the high percentage of Idaho high school graduates who require additional below college-level math and English training before they can take classes for college credit.

"That's when we'll know we're there," Luna said.