Charter School Minutes

Dec 1, 2009

Attending: Erica Stein, Arthur Radar, Jen Wilkin, Anna Demm, Kim Bradley, Christina, Melissa Williams, Jill Penwarden, Angelica Stone, SunMie Won, Alison Schwedner, Mike Kahlich, Elizabeth Bell

 

TTUSD/Union Update – Christina:

Waiting until after Union’s meeting on Dec 8, will not hear an update until after their meeting when they vote on the issue. Christina has been talking to John Halverston to get information about their

Union is looking into GreenDot – LA union formed for the inner-city charters. John’s question is how will the enrollment be available to a broad spectrum of kids in the community?

Concerned that the Union is going to vote on the issue without hearing our side of the story.

Timeline: present charter, then Board has 30 days to review and present to public. Then, 60 days for public review. Total time is 90 days – will affect school opening if too late in May 2010. Is the 10/11 budget being approved in Feb 2010?

Sequence: (?)

Present to Board

Form Steering Committee (board members. Charter members, Union)?

Present at Board meeting

60 days for review, then Board makes decision

 

We should be looking into backup options for sponsors.

 

Submit draft to TTUSD on Dec 15. Charter group will meet to make sure all charter doc elements are in place.

 

Kim will talk with Camille at Creekside about them being the backup sponsor (Newcastle School District).

 

Going to the County as a sponsor will require money to come through TTUSD (due to basic aid status) – very political and potentially rancorous. Independent study via another district’s sponsorship is more appealing.

 

SunMie will ask Stephanie about statistics about people interested in alternative education.

 

Three Year Projection – Erica

Charter gets renewed every 5 years. Erica’s budget has a 4 year projection – which shows a projection of 1 classroom every year. Budget surplus changes significantly when a school size increases.

 

Do we want to be K-8 or K-5?

 

Mike talked with Missy Molar, Scott Gill – shoot for the moon. Ask for what you want – you may not necessarily get the final goal.

 

K-5 growing through K-8. But how do we keep small class sizes? Can 6/7/8 be a combined multi-age class?

 

Growth scenario

 

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

K/1 – 20

K/1 – 20

K/1 – 20

K/1 – 20

2/3 – 20

2/3 – 20

2/3 – 20

2/3 – 20

4/5 – 23

4/5 – 23

4/5 – 23

4/5 – 23

 

6 – 23

6 – 23

6 – 23

 

 

7 – 23

7 – 23

 

 

 

8 – 23

63 students, 3 teachers

86 students, 4 teachers

109 students, 5 teachers

132 students, 6 teachers

 

 

4-year project of 132 students.

 

Arthur and Erica will take budget and plug in numbers for different scenarios.

 

Website – SunMie:

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Sign up here to get on our Newsletter – change that to Mailing List.

Did you know? Section that contains information about the Charter Schools, links to articles.

 

Update V/M with copy from Alison’s minutes from last meeting.

 

Charter Elements – Kim

Review of Educational Program document that Kim emailed out. Group members should email Kim if there are any portions that they disagree with or want revision with.

 

Element G – racial and ethnic balance. Concern from district is how to be inclusive across all parts of society. Alison will work on the inclusionary component for Charter.

 

Angelica knows of someone in Reno who started charters as a Principal who is bilingual who wants to move to Reno.

 

Assessment methods: Elizabeth

Merged between Rocky Point and Indigo. Q about communication cycle and progress reports – schools are now twice a year – maybe move to trimesters? Have more frequent progress reports. Report annually to governing board and TTUSD Board of Trustees on how the school is doing.

 

Assess per expedition, give feedback to parents?

Provide assessment 4x per year: 2 conferences (goal setting in fall), 2 assessments. Typically 15-20 minutes per conference.

 

What is EL’s recommendation?

 

EL assessments are student run – possibly less burden on teachers. Student-run assessments – 2-4 weeks before meeting, set aside sample of mediocre and growth.

 

Governing Board, Advisory Council:

Has the power of recommendation under dependent charter.

 

501(c)3 corporation needs a BOD – should to be decided this year to save on reg fee – shoot for 5 members? Should synch with Charter Advisory Council? Or are they separate? File with ‘draft’ bylaws.

 

Kerri will find out structure of Grass Valley Charter, foundation, and PTO – separate board, council members?

 

Ideally AC should have members from founding group and other outside people from the community. BOD is for foundation status. Director is accountable to AC.

 

AC is cheerleader, enthusiastic supporter of school.

 

Meet again on Dec 10th for final review of charter.