From dave at 1.0ne.org Wed Aug 27 22:05:49 2014 From: dave at 1.0ne.org (Dave Allen Barker Jr) Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 22:05:49 -0400 Subject: [Sagamore] A DeKalb County Charter System In-Reply-To: References: <53EF06D2-12B4-461D-9280-FABFE2A0FF33@gmail.com> Message-ID: <53FE8E7D.4070509@1.0ne.org> Thanks, Marilyn (and anyone else), for this information. This is exactly the kind of stuff I hope any interested parent (or community member) can know, not just those who happen to be on this particular email thread. Please(, all,) consider including sagamore at list.9.0ne.org in on these discussions too, a mailing list I setup for general Sagamore discussion . It currently has about 45 subscribers, and anyone can join (see the link). Thanks again, Marilyn---those are great notes! On 08/27/2014 09:27 PM, Marilyn Ratzel wrote: > I went to the meeting this evening about the proposal for a > county-wide school system, and just wanted to share with you some of > the more general notes from the session in case any one was > interested. The link below may be helpful in explaining some of the > background: > > http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/news-and-info/press-releases/school-system-flexibility-timeline.pdf > > In a nutshell, what I got from the session was this: All school > systems have, under state law, have until June 30, 2015 to notify the > State Department of Education of its intention to remain status quo > under existing state laws and requirements, or to elect for a more > flexible school system in exchange for higher accountability. DeKalb > County School Board empaneled (from my understanding) an advisory > committee, who, after holding meetings for community input and > feedback, determined that if DeKalb is to go for a more flexible > program under state law, then the charter system is the way to go. > The attached .pdf lays out the other options that were on the table > for consideration. > > Having decided to move forward with exploring the option to seek a > county-wide charter school system, the county is now holding community > input sessions. It was presented tonight that the petition for > seeking a charter school system has not been drafted, but rather the > idea is to get community input so that the petition could be drafted. > > However, there seems to a short leash on this--from my understanding > the school board may vote as early as September 8th to move forward > with the petition, in which case the petition will be drafted and > submitted to public review by October 6th and then submitted to the > State Department of Education (DOE) by November 1st. > > THE BASIC PETITION PROCESS: > > Once the petition is submitted to the DOE, it gets kicked to the > charter advisory committee, who reviews the petition for adequacy, > accuracy, etc. The charter advisory committee can either kick the > petition back to the county, ask it to fix, etc. If everything checks > out, the charter advisory committee then issues a recommendation to > the DOE. General understanding from the meeting was that DOE follows > the recommendation of the advisory committee. > > BASICS OF THE CHARTER SCHOOL SYSTEM > > If implemented, then each school will be governed by a Local School > Governance Team (LGST) (unclear to me how it is chosen but it is a mix > of parents and school personnel). The job of the LGST is to control > the governance of the school and to create programs, etc, that guide > the overall goals of the school. The LGST does not control all the > administrative details of the school (the example thrown out there is > that the staff still controls how the prom theme is set). > Furthermore, the LGST will give way to some local school district > control. For example, the Dekalb County School Board will still set > attendance lines, or required materials where it can take advantage of > economies of scale. There is also still a level of oversight from the > School Board, in that if an LGST identifies a program or would like to > seek waiver of certain state guidelines, it has to go to the School > Board. The role of the School Board is to evaluate those requests > based on certain criteria, such as does it violate any federal laws, > or does it affect the potential safety and welfare of the students, etc. > > If DeKalb County becomes a charter school system, schools can elect to > opt out and to remain status quo. > Existing charter schools can elect to operate under their existing > charter or opt into the Dekalb program. > It does not affect school choice programs, magnet schools. > Charter schools get additional funds, capped at $4 million. > The entire system gets re-evaluated--if the system as a whole is > meeting the requirements or living up to the purpose of its petition, > everyone under the charter loses charter status--that does not affect > the ability of a school to move forward to seek its own charter. > > GENERAL QUESTIONS/ CONCERNS FROM AUDIENCE > > This is just based off my observations from the meeting and not > intended as commentary either way. One of the concerns I heard noted > was the issue of autonomy. There seemed to be a feeling from some > that if the LGST still had to seek approval from the School Board as > to programs or waivers, that it will still run into the problem it is > facing now, or unjustified denials. > > Another concern raised was that there is only one teacher on the > advisory committee for this proposal and that the input of teachers is > not being sought. This same person stated that the state is releasing > a revised charter petition process soon? > > Another concern was re: those areas where historically no parent > involvement and the success of the LGST or the program in those areas. > > > Anyway, those are the basic notes-- > > > > Marilyn > > > > > > On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 10:04 AM, Marilyn Ratzel > > wrote: > > There is also a meeting this week about the larger proposal to > make all DeKalb County schools into charter schools. I was > planning on trying to go to that meeting at Lakeside on Wednesday > at 6:00. Info below (sorry for the cut and paste). Maybe we can > email each other any info/notes after the respective meetings! > I'd be interested to know if they can push through the Druid > Hills Charter Cluster, the affect that would have on the larger > proposal to make all DeKalb County schools charter. > > DeKalb Charter District Community Engagement Schedule: > > A Message from DeKalb School District > > > > > > > The DeKalb County School District is seeking to become the largest > charter > system in the state of Georgia. In order to accomplish this goal, the > district must submit a petition to the Georgia Department of Education > seeking charter system status, and your input in this petition is > sought. > The district is seeking your thoughts on autonomy and flexibility > at your > school and how that autonomy and flexibility can lead to > innovations in > how students are taught and how the school is governed. > > Five community engagement sessions have been scheduled, and anyone > seeking > the opportunity to provide input is invited to attend, including > parents, > teachers, and other community members. You are also encouraged to > review > information from the Georgia Department of Education concerning > charter > systems and review some of the petitions from other school systems > around > the state that are already operating as charter district. That > information can be found at the following web address: > http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/Charter-Schools/Pages/default.aspx. > > Region IV Lithonia High > School Tuesday, August 26 @ 6:00 PM > Region II Lakeside High > School Wednesday, August 27 @ 6:00 PM > Region I Dunwoody High > School Thursday, August 28 @ 6:00 PM > Region V Towers High School Tuesday, > September 2 @ 6:00 PM > Region III Stephenson High > School Wednesday, September 3 @ 6:00 PM > > We thank you in advance for your participation and look forward to > seeing > you soon! > > DeKalb County Schools > > > > On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 9:52 AM, Lara Baldwin > > wrote: > > Even though this was in the Sagamore Wildcat Newsletter, it > wasn't on my radar. > Suzi Wilke just told me about it, and it does sound very > interesting. More importantly it's easy because it's at > Sagamore this month! I'll be there it get the scoop on the > possible Druid Hills Charter Cluster. > Lara > > > *Emory Lavista Parent Council* Meeting at Sagamore > > Wednesday, August 27 @ 9:15 am > > > > /Get the Facts About the Druid Hills Charter Cluster: > Answering Your Questions > What Does the DHCC Mean for DeKalb County School Children? > What Does It Mean to You? > > Even as the DeKalb County School District explores system-wide > charter status, the Board of Education is expected to revisit > the Druid Hills Charter Cluster petition for the first > autonomous public charter school cluster. Do you have > questions about the Druid Hills Charter Cluster? Join us for > this important discussion and get the facts. / > > > > The Emory LaVista Parent Council > meets > for the purpose of strengthening the Emory LaVista school > community by providing a forum for communication, and > promoting educational opportunities for the children of our > community. Please join us on the third Wednesday of the month > for a lively discussion of school issues and topics. All > interested parents are invited and encouraged to attend. > > > > Serving these DeKalb County Schools: > > * Druid Hills High, Lakeside High > * Druid Hills Middle, Henderson Middle > * Briar Vista, Fernbank, Laurel Ridge, McLendon, Sagamore > Hills, Briarlake, Evansdale, Hawthorne, Henderson Mill, > Oak Grove, Pleasantdale, Avondale, Coralwood, The Museum > School of Avondale Estates, and the International > Community Charter School. > > Sent from my iPad > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dave at 1.0ne.org Thu Aug 28 11:05:29 2014 From: dave at 1.0ne.org (Dave Allen Barker Jr) Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 11:05:29 -0400 Subject: [Sagamore] STEM Certification Work at Sagamore Message-ID: <53FF4539.3040707@1.0ne.org> Myself and two other parents were invited to sit in on the first monthly meeting of the school year regarding Sagamore's pursuit of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) certification. I was very impressed with what I saw, and you can get an impression of what some of it is about by viewing the attached pdf scan of the first few pages handed out at the meeting. Hat's off to Ms. Miller and all the teachers putting in so much time and effort to make Sagamore, "be more", in this way. To stay in the loop, subscribe to the fledgling Sagamore STEM discussion group. 1. Email stem+subscribe at groups.sagamorehillspta.org 2. 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