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