Posts made in November, 2013

Last Friday we met with Lowell’s attorney Andrea Hungerford. The meeting went very well. Here is the list of changes she would like us to make to the proposal:

1. The following changes to the State and Federal Mandates/Special Education Section
   1. Add to #6
      1. The charter will establish and publicize a nondiscrimination policy that will apply in all it’s admissions and hiring practices
   2. Add to #7
      1. Charter staff will cooperate in the districts child find procedures
   3. Add to #8
      1. Charter staff will cooperate in the districts eligibility procedures
      2. The charter will make general education staff available for IEP and placement meetings
   4. Add to #9
      1. Charter staff will be responsible for implementing the accommodations and modifications for IEP and 504 students, in conjunction with direction and assistance from the district.
   5. Add to #10
      1. The charter staff will work with the district to help inform parents of IDEA and 504 procedures and meetings
   6. Add to #11
      1. The charter will comply with all statutory notice requirements for out of district special education students.
2. Update the parent volunteer language to say “We recognize that the charter relies upon all parents to volunteer in order for the program to function as needed. We expect all parents to participate in our volunteer program in whatever capacity their schedule allows time for.”
3. Change the term to 3 years.

• Once we have issued a revised version to her we will get notification from the district that our proposal is complete.
• She recommended that we attend the school board meeting on 11/25 and give a printed copy of the updated proposal to the board.
• In the submitted proposal the special education sections are the only ones that are incomplete.
• The district is OK with providing sped services.
• The district is on the hook for providing sped services. If what they recommend for the charter students isn’t working or we can’t implement them it’s the district’s responsibility to find other options for the student.
• Sped students receive double ADM, the charter school would get the first ADM and the district would get the second.
• We agreed that the charter is interested in renting space from the district. She is going to communicate this to Walt.
• We can apply for a waiver to include a sibling policy during year 1 and to guarantee that founder’s children are automatically enrolled.
• Enrollment can be capped per class.
• She recommended that we don’t lock into 15 students per class, but instead say “class sizes are capped at an average of 15 students per class”
• She recommended that we run our budget numbers at 80%, 85%, and 90% funding per students to see what our breakeven point is.
• The public forum will probably be in January.
• Once Lowell approves the proposal we can enroll students. The enrollment dates and deadlines can be set by us. The state doesn’t have any rules for the enrollment process.
• We should make a lease proposal to the district based on comparable commercial real estate and local charter school lease rates.
• We might want to update the proposal to say we will take out of district kids.

I’ve continued reviewing the application and making any required changes. Along with the application we have to fill out Schedule B because we are a school. I’ve started filling it out.

Nonprofits schools are required to have a “Nondiscriminatory Policy as to Students”. I’ve added ours to the bylaws and will have them approved at our next board meeting.