We need a home!

Due to amazing work from Salinda and Melodie at the yard sale a few weeks ago, as well as donations, we have reached our fundraising goal.  The IRS paperwork has been sent off to the government for review.

Our next big hurdle is to find a building to house Albany Community Charter School.  We need at least 10,000 square feet of space. If you know of anyplace that would work, please email us at albanykidsfirst@gmail.com  We would love to share space with a large church in the area or a large building.  So far, we haven't been having much luck.  Non-profits can apply for property tax forgiveness for building owners if they lease to us.  So maybe that would be an incentive??

Here is the latest email update I sent out this morning:

Last week I dropped off the proposal so board members could go over it before the meeting.  I don't think they read it.  I made the presentation to the school board on Monday.  I just gave a short vision proposal since we were only given 10 minutes.  I didn't get into the technical pieces of rules, budgets, etc.  Basically just a dream for our school.  The school board asked no questions.  Maria Delapoer assigned Micah Smith to work with a committee from the district office to go over the proposal.  Micah is a good guy from what I know.  He is not afraid to ask questions and is our best bet on the board I think.  The next step is the board has to notify us of the "completeness" of our proposal.  Originally the deadline was September 6th, but was changed to the 12th since the original deadline was calendar days rather than work days.  Maria Delapoer complained of the original date, and i verified with ODE that it is actual work days, even though that stipulation is nowhere in the paperwork.  

steps remaining

1. district advises us of completeness of proposal by sept 12 

2. a public hearing is held within 60 days of the notification.  

3. board must approve or deny proposal within 30 days of public hearing 

4. We will negotiate the terms of the charter

If we are denied, they must provide reason for denial.then we have to resubmit.  If they deny us again we can take the proposal to the state for them to sponsor us.  

What can we do in the mean time?  Keep telling friends and neighbors and referring them to the email. email your school board member. Work any connections you have for a possible location.  I will be grant hunting and working on preschool plans for now.  

Here is a link to the core knowledge curriculum map that a few of you asked for.  It shows what students are taught each year in each subject with the core knowledge curriculum.  http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_uploads/documents/23/SequenceataGlance.pdf

Other news from the meeting. 

1.  Buses operate at about 60% capacity.  we can use this statistic, as the district can bus charter school kids and receive reimbursement from the state.  They aren't required to but it's an option. 

2.  66% of eight graders passed or exceeded their OAKS testing.  I don't find this impressive.  They said it was an improvement. The numbers from 2011 are  here: http://schools.oregonlive.com/district/Greater-Albany-Public/

3.  Micah Smith talked about how pushing a child through a grade rather than holding them back does nothing for the child.  Kids should be held back when they are behind. 

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**Next board meeting September 10th.  Not sure they will say anything about the charter school, but would be good to attend**

Help us make the next step!

DANGER!!! We will not open unless we can collect $850. PLEASE donate some money so that we can proceed. We have a bank account at Red Canoe under Educating Albany Responsibly (our non-profit name), anyone can walk in and make a donation. If you want a CHOICE in your child's education, please help out. We are in danger of not proceeding any further with the charter school proposal. A big part o

f the process is applying with the IRS for tax-exempt status. This has to be postmarked the day we turn over the proposal. I also have letters available if you would like to ask local businesses for donations.

We will have two lego robotics teams. We are still looking for players ages nine/fourth grade to 14. Time commitment is 90 minutes a week at the Albany library from September to the first week in December. We will meet on Mondays at 4:15. The cost will be $20 per child. Please let me know if you would like to join. There are a limited number of spots.

Don't forget the yard sale coming this weekend. Donations can be dropped off at 4041 Thoroughbred Ave in the Bridle Springs Subdivision off of Knox Butte. Baked goods are also welcome!

Still working on securing the location. If you have ANY connections with a local large church that would consider leasing to us, please let me know. I would be happy to meet with them.

For the proposal our plan is to narrow down the curricula choices, and emphasize that we would lik input from out teachers for our final decision. We think that it's important to involve our educators in the materials they will be teaching our kids.

Discipline policy. We reviewed the policy that was submitted, and decided to do some more research on GAPS policy. We would like it to be a little more positive, and put the power back in the teacher and principals hands. The one we have is very thorough

Other Fundraising: don't forget we have papa murphy's coupon cards for sale for $5 each. They will be available at the yard sale as well, Working with Red Robin to set up a fundraiser night.

Salaries: We talked a lot about what we can afford to pay our teachers and staff. We decided that it really depends on what we can afford after our lease. Charter Schools generally pay less than public schools. But working environment is different too. We decided to have different levels for teachers with a Bachelor's and with a master's. And also a dedication increase for those that say with us for a set amount of time. We also addressed assistants and how they would be paid. We decided assistants would work 8 hours per day on average, and will be paid a salary. This will be easier to budget for. We also discussed trying to get basic insurance for all full time employees. We also spoke about the need for a janitor/maintenance person for a few hours every evening.

Hiring process: 1. Post openings on website 2. Submit resume with cover letter 3. Principal will narrow down the applications. 4. Interviews will be held with at least 2 board members, at least 1 teacher, at least 1 staff, Principal, at least 2 students, and at least 2 parents. The same committee will need to be at each interview. Applicant will be asked to submit a lesson plan and also be asked to teach a classroom while under observation.

If anyone knows an interested CPA or lawyer that would like to join our board, please let me know. We could really use someone like this to help with issues that arise.

Questions, comments, concerns, let me know!

You can e-mail albanykidsfirst@gmail.com
or you can call 541-791-3772

Documents on-line.

Hoping this will work better for sharing documents!  I have the intent to enroll letter and the parent survey so far. Let me know if you have issues!
intent to enroll

Survey

Summer is slipping away!

Well here it is August already!  Where has the summer gone?  Hopefully some of you heard the interview I did on KGAL the other day.  It was way longer than expected, as someone didn't show up.  I am not a public speaker, so this was definitely a challenge for me.  You can find the interview here if you are interested: http://archive.org/details/073012KgalValleyTalkJenniferCumminsOnCharterSchools  I am still in need of paperwork from a lot of you.  The more intent to enroll forms we have at the board meeting, the harder it will be for the school board to turn us down.  So please get those in or contact me if you have no idea what I'm talking about.  Also, if we have a core group of people attend the board meeting and just sit at the meeting in support of a charter school, that would be very helpful.  You can also add your comments. :)

We will need approximately $850 to file for tax exempt status from the IRS.  Once our non-profit paperwork is complete we can set up a bank account for donations.  Until then you are welcome to contribute or ask for donations from local businesses.  If you have fundraising ideas, please contact me!  Car wash? Can drive? Rummage sale?

WHAT CAN YOU DO
1.  SUBMIT YOUR PAPERWORK
2.  Tell friends, family, co-workers about the charter school movement here in Albany.  Hve them e-mail or call to get on the list.
3.  Donate your time or funds to help achieve tax exempt status from the IRS.  Will be tax-deductible once are papers come in from the Secretary of State. 
4.  Hand out flyers at public events!  River Rhythms would be a great place to do that. Anyone up for that??

 
Progress made: quite a few new families added to the list :), submitted paperwork for Oregon non profit status, submitted for an Employee Identification Number, worked on rules and regulations, working on packets to go over for steering committee, networked with potential board members, researched a few food options, and more I"m sure!

These are all people I have talked to who are willing to jump on board and help run the non profit that will run the charter school! Kudos to them!

Potential Board Candidates:
                            

*Jennifer Cummins (me)-a crazy mom who is passionate about all kiddos.
 *Ellen Carlson: Wonderful former principal with GAPS, teacher, and speech pathologist 

  * Ed Gallagher: Director of Albany Public Library, wants a better option for kids.
  *Pat Loy: former teacher with special needs experience, reading and writing specialist, worked with middle through high school students.  

**Ideally we need one more board member.  Someone with experienced in accounting or the law would be a great fit!  Do you know someone? Let us know!


Dates of Interest
August 2-6:00 Steering Committee meeting at Albany Public Library Meeting Room.  contact me for special instructions
August 14, 15 Oregon charter school conference
August 27 -School Board meeting 7:00 p.m. District Office

I will be emailing a packet of info that we will be discussing for the steering committee later this week. 

Happy August!

Always open to comments, ideas, questions, or smaller info meetings for new parent groups!  Let me know when and where and how many parents you have and I can give a short presentation  :) 

Paperwork, Paperwork!

It is absolutely imperative that everyone have in their paperwork ASAP.  In order to hold your spot, I need a minimum of an intent to enroll letter from you.  I am happy to e-mail it to you, then you can print it out and mail it back to me.  If you need more info, have questions, or would like to be added to the list, please email albanykidsfirst@gmail.com. 

We will be having a steering committee meeting next Thursday August 2 at 6:00 at the main branch of the Albany Public Library.  You will need to enter through the exterior door to the meeting room that opens to the parking lot on 14th avenue.  We will be discussing mission statement, rules and procedures, school calendar, daily schedule, and fundraising.  Steering committee meetings are open to anyone who is interested in helping make decisions about how the charter school will function.  However, they are not a mandatory meeting. 
-Jennifer

Linn County Fair!

Well I have some big news!  Albany Charter School will have a booth in the expo center at the Linn County Fair.  Feel free to stop by and get some information, keep us company, or ask questions.  We will have a sign up to get on our e-mail list, parent surveys, and information on our plans. Please come by and visit!  
Jennifer

First off I would like to apologize for my absence over the last week.  We went on an unplanned trip to Denver, then went through Vegas and Reno on the way home.  We all had fun but are very happy to be back in our own beds.  With that said I will get on with the business side of things. 

We had our first meeting on Thursday June 28th.  We were lucky enough to have Mary Northern there who is the founder of P.I.E. which runs Sand Ridge and Sweet Home Charter Schools.  She is a great resource for us to have and gave us some very helpful advice. I am hoping that everyone understands what a charter school is and how it works.  If you do not, please feel free to e-mail me.  Our focus for Albany will be to have small class sizes (20 kids per class), lots of staff (1 teacher and 1 assistant per class), have education tailored to each child's needs, strong parental involvement, and a complete balanced education.  These of course are just a few of the core ideas we will build upon. 

So after our meeting, (which you can find the powerpoint to here: www.albanycharterschool.blogspot.com )  We have come up with our plan of action. 

1. Spread the word-tell everyone you know that there is a charter school coming to Albany.  Emphasize that it is a different choice and that it is free of charge.  Encourage them to join the email list. 
2.  Find an established non-profit that would be willing to take us on instead of establishing our own. 
3.  Research locations. 

So my update on the plan of action:
-I have had some flyers printed at a reduced charge from minuteman press that are available to handout at public events.  Please contact me if you would like some. 
-I have begun researching other charter schools to see if one would align with our ideas.  I am still working on Mary Northern to take us on, as that would be the most logical fit. The next best match that I can find is Kings Valley Charter School outside of Philomath. I have left messages for King's Valley but may need to try a different contact.  I am not convinced this is the best idea yet.      
-Marsha and I visited Fir Grove school this morning and were very impressed.  It is a school that has been closed due to budget cuts, and is vacant.  It would be a wonderful fit for us if we can convince the district office to allow us to use it.  There are 9 very large classrooms, as well as some space that could be modified slightly to accommodate a 10th classroom.  The property is large and beautiful and has a country feel.  The negatives are that it is out of town, and the overflow parking may not be ideal. 
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What can you do????
1.  Spread the word!  Pick up flyers from me and pass out at events.  Tell people in your circle of friends, church groups, and jobs about what we are trying to accomplish.  
2.  Fill our a parent survey found here: http://www.filedropper.com/parentsurvey  You can either wait for a meeting to turn it on or you can mail it to me at 530 1st ave e albany oregon 97321
3.  Come to a meeting that I am working on scheduling. :)
4.  Write an intent to enroll letter that we can submit with our proposal to the school board.  You can find a template here: http://www.filedropper.com/intenttoenroll
5.  Learn about charter schools!

PLEASE feel free to contact me with any questions, input, or concerns.  I want this project to be something that we as parents can do together, to make a difference in the lives of kids for a long time to come.

 Jennifer Cummins                       
541-974-1486 call or text
albanykidsfirst@gmail.com
Facebook: Albany Oregon charter school
http://albanycharterschool.blogspot.com

WE'RE GOING TO SUCCEED BECAUSE WE'RE CRAZY ENOUGH TO THINK WE CAN!