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<p>Thanks, Marilyn (and anyone else), for this information.<br>
</p>
<p>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.<br>
</p>
<p>Please(, all,) consider including <a
href="mailto:Sagamore%20Discussion%20List%20%3Csagamore@list.9.0ne.org%3E">sagamore@list.9.0ne.org</a>
in on these discussions too, <a
href="www.9.0ne.org/w/Sagamore_discussion_list">a mailing list
I setup for general Sagamore discussion</a>. It currently has
about 45 subscribers, and anyone can join (see the link).<br>
</p>
<p>Thanks again, Marilyn—those are great notes!<br>
</p>
<br>
On 08/27/2014 09:27 PM, Marilyn Ratzel wrote:<br>
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<div>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:<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/news-and-info/press-releases/school-system-flexibility-timeline.pdf">http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/news-and-info/press-releases/school-system-flexibility-timeline.pdf</a><br>
<br>
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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.<br>
<br>
</div>
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. <br>
<br>
</div>
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. <br>
<br>
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THE BASIC PETITION PROCESS:<br>
</div>
<br>
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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.<br>
<br>
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BASICS OF THE CHARTER SCHOOL SYSTEM <br>
<br>
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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. <br>
<br>
</div>
If DeKalb County becomes a charter school
system, schools can elect to opt out and to
remain status quo.<br>
</div>
Existing charter schools can elect to operate
under their existing charter or opt into the
Dekalb program.<br>
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It does not affect school choice programs, magnet
schools.<br>
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Charter schools get additional funds, capped at $4
million. <br>
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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. <br>
<br>
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GENERAL QUESTIONS/ CONCERNS FROM AUDIENCE<br>
<br>
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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.<br>
<br>
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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? <br>
<br>
</div>
Another concern was re: those areas where historically no
parent involvement and the success of the LGST or the program
in those areas. <br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Anyway, those are the basic notes--<br>
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<div>Marilyn<br>
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<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 10:04 AM,
Marilyn Ratzel <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:marilyn.ratzel@gmail.com" target="_blank">marilyn.ratzel@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">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.
<div>
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<p><span>DeKalb Charter District
Community Engagement Schedule:</span></p>
<p>
<span>A Message from DeKalb School
District</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
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<div>
<br>
<br>
The DeKalb County School District is
seeking to become the largest charter<br>
system in the state of Georgia. In
order to accomplish this goal, the<br>
district must submit a petition to the
Georgia Department of Education<br>
seeking charter system status, and
your input in this petition is
sought. <br>
The district is seeking your thoughts
on autonomy and flexibility at your<br>
school and how that autonomy and
flexibility can lead to innovations in<br>
how students are taught and how the
school is governed. <br>
<br>
Five community engagement sessions
have been scheduled, and anyone
seeking<br>
the opportunity to provide input is
invited to attend, including parents,<br>
teachers, and other community members.
You are also encouraged to review<br>
information from the Georgia
Department of Education concerning
charter<br>
systems and review some of the
petitions from other school systems
around<br>
the state that are already operating
as charter district. That<br>
information can be found at the
following web address:<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" shape="rect">http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/Charter-Schools/Pages/default.aspx</a>.<br>
<br>
Region IV Lithonia High
School <span><span>Tuesday,
August 26 @ 6:00 PM</span></span><br>
Region II Lakeside High
School <span><span>Wednesday,
August 27 @ 6:00 PM</span></span><br>
Region I Dunwoody High
School <span><span>Thursday,
August 28 @ 6:00 PM</span></span><br>
Region V Towers High
School <span><span>Tuesday,
September 2 @ 6:00 PM</span></span><br>
Region III Stephenson High
School <span><span>Wednesday,
September 3 @ 6:00 PM</span></span><br>
<br>
We thank you in advance for your
participation and look forward to
seeing<br>
you soon!</div>
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<td rowspan="1" colspan="1"> DeKalb County
Schools</td>
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<div class="gmail_extra">
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 9:52
AM, Lara Baldwin <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:lara.baldwin@gmail.com"
target="_blank">lara.baldwin@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="auto">
<div>Even though this was in the Sagamore
Wildcat Newsletter, it wasn't on my radar. </div>
<div>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.</div>
<div>Lara</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<p><span><strong>Emory Lavista Parent Council</strong> Meeting
at Sagamore</span></p>
<p>
<a moz-do-not-send="true">Wednesday, August
27 @ 9:15 am</a></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p>
<em>Get the Facts About the Druid Hills
Charter Cluster: Answering Your Questions<br>
What Does the DHCC Mean for DeKalb County
School Children?<br>
What Does It Mean to You?<br>
<br>
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. </em></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>The <a moz-do-not-send="true"
shape="rect"
href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0010bHHckN3bNsTqqsZi4qfh7mhow_kSw6MlWqL2oakOw3F5dj7gdXqO6Y9Yhi1qhxyht9DE8I8lO4leRsBNPOWRRGlnF01nguKfjdxK2TEKVFfIhn0KCtfJaR8eEp4d1ZqeuTraeFx65EF4youpbT5C8dQC4lG5kjvpFjRuQLVfwZKrGF5TLf1MQ==&c=MMehDVH4xV8V-MibIQgzzdnDKg5xdYi13K3mEIkJHFpQP5t6sBFWyg==&ch=tESNvv_-8eZznqdJtL3S5D3rcSpgAP0MQaF1cOML8I_BUlbUZ6Atow=="
target="_blank">Emory LaVista Parent
Council </a>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.</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>Serving these DeKalb County Schools:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span>Druid Hills High, Lakeside High</span></li>
<li><span>Druid Hills Middle, Henderson
Middle</span></li>
<li><span>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. </span></li>
</ul>
<span>Sent from my iPad</span></div>
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