Posts made in May, 2013

Meetings

Posted by on May 3, 2013 in Blog

Rick has offered up his work office and conference room for our meetings. We are going to hold our May 3rd meeting there (Cummins NW, Coburg OR)

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Questions Answered

Posted by on May 3, 2013 in Blog

Kate Pattison has answered the questions we had from our last meeting:

  • What happens if the sponsoring district ceases to exist or merges with another district?
    • If a sponsoring district merges with another district, the board responsible for the newly formed district would be responsible for the charter school contract. I am waiting to hear about a district that completely dissolves. My best guess would be the charter school would also close. I will let you know if I find out otherwise.
  • Does the charter school get the state property tax funding if the entire district is chartered?
    • In districts where the only school is a charter school, there are still two separate entities: the district and charter school. The school would not receive any funds directly, everything goes through the district. The school is a component of the district. The district is not a charter school.
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May 3rd

Posted by on May 3, 2013 in Board Meetings

This meeting took place on May 3rd at Cummins NW in Coburg, OR. The following people attended: Jake Plahn, Dionne Plahn, Kelly Harris, Laurie Cardwell, Kirsten Cardwell, Jessica Cardwell, Tammy Garlitz, Rick Garlitz, Cheryl Neet, Rob Neet.

Agenda


Notes


  • We spent a lot of time reviewing everything from last meeting. I think the meetings will be more productive if they are work sessions where we accomplish tasks as a group rather than a review of everything that has happened since our last meeting.
  • The printouts didn’t work well. It was hard for everyone to follow along. The next meeting we will project everything on the flat screen, so everyone is looking at the same thing.
  • Dionne recommended that we add $3,000 to the substitutes cost for employment tax.
  • Everyone agrees with the budget process, but thinks we need to keep funds in reserve to buy ourselves out of a lease in case we find better educational services for our students.
  • We will submit our proposal to our chosen sponsoring district on September 1, 2013.
  • Kirsten talked about the benefit of offering full day kindergarten. We all agreed that this is something we will do.
  • We discussed who the founders listed in our proposal should be. Jake will get 3 charter school proposals, so we can see how many founders they list.
  • For the founders experience on our proposal we will use the information from our private alternative school partnership document.
  • We need to add character training to our curriculum.
  • Our school will be focused on “Academic Excellence” and we won’t cut corners to appease parents. You are either in and agree to our stringent requirements for parents and students or your child will not be admitted. We will have a signed contract from parents and students that binds them to our standards.
  • The rest of the meeting was a work session for Our Proposal. Here’s what we came up with:
    • Distinctive learning or teaching techniques
      • Reading Direct Instruction
      • Daily Math Drills
      • Focus on penmanship, cursive
      • Spelling and grammar
      • Grammar
      • Character development
      • Core Knowledge History and Geography
      • Delta Science Modules (hands on)
      • Back to basics mentality
    • Projected Enrollment and the ages or grades to be served
      • Kindergarten – 10
      • First through 8th – 12
    • Target Population
      • Involved families in our community interested in educational excellence whose children thrive in smaller environments.
    • Founders and their role:
      • Laurie Cardwell – Administrator
      • Jessica Cardwell – Teacher
      • Tammy Garlitz – Nurse
      • Jake Plahn – IT and technology
      • Rick Garlitz – Budgeting
      • Dionne Plahn – Finances
      • Kelly Harris – Office Administration
      • Cheryl Neet – Community Relations
      • Kirsten Cardwell – Teacher
      • Rob Neet – Conformance
  • Our next meeting will be May 17th 10:30 AM at Cummins NW.

Action Items


  • Jake
    • Bring cable to connect the laptop to the flat screen. – Completed
    • Add $3,000 to the budget for substitute employment tax. – Completed
    • Get 3 charter school proposals and see how many founders they listed. – In Progress, emailed the directors of Woodland Charter School, River’s Edge Academy, and Sauvie Island Academy.
    • Add lease buyout to the budget. – Completed
    • Add experience to the Our Proposal page from the private alternative school partnership document. – Completed
    • Add work session information to the Our Proposal page. – Completed
  • Rick
    • Email Jake relevant experience info.
  • Tammy
    • Email Jake relevant experience info.
  • Jessica
    • Email Jake the character training information for our curriculum.
    • Create Parent/School Contract
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