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week of 2/27/02 | |
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By Scott McLeod
Who: Mountain Discovery Charter School Board of Directors
What: Two meetings to meet with parents to discuss the school
When: Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. at the United Community Bank Building in Sylva; Thursday, March 14, at 7 p.m. at the United Community Bank Building in Bryson City.
° Additional meetings are planned in Cherokee and Graham County, but details have not been finalized. Call 828.497.1122 for information.
Organizers of a new charter school are asking parents to take a “leap of faith.”
That was what one member of the board of directors of Mountain Discovery Charter School told a group of prospective parents at the school’s first public meeting since it received its charter from the state.
“I know that parents who put their children in our school the first year are taking a leap of faith,” said Heather Green of Swain County.
Without a track record, without a permanent home, without any teachers hired and without a director, Green said “there is a whole lot that we have to do.”
All that aside, though, she assured parents that the “school culture” of Mountain Discovery would help children achieve at their highest potential.
“It’s about how we invite parents to be involved in the school, how we we give back to the community, about how we empower students,” said Green. “All that philosophy is about how we treat one another.”
Green and other board members answered questions from about 40 parents for an hour last week at the Old Whittier School, the first of several public meetings planned over the coming weeks. The former Whittier school is one possible home for the new charter, but as of yet a location has not been finalized.
Charters are public schools that operate independent of the local school board. Public funds follow the students who enroll so there is no tuition. The board of directors hires teachers and administrators and sets up the curriculum, but students are still expected to meet state standards.
Mountain Discovery has a charter for a minimum of 65 students and a maximum of 144. It can open its first year with less than 65. It will serve students in grades K-6 in the 2002-2003 school year and expects to grow to K-8 in two years. The school will primarily serve students from Swain and Jackson counties along with Qualla Boundary, but it hopes to draw others from Graham, Macon and Haywood counties also. Its permanent home must be in Swain County because that is the location named in its charter application.
Other facts about the school include:
° It will follow the New American Schools Expeditionary Learning instructional model, which focuses on hands-on learning and reinforcing teaching with real-world experiences. It will also employ the state Standard Course of Study and will do state End-of-Grade testing.
° Class size limited to 16 students.
° Students will be able to cross grades depending on their abilities.
° A 12-week, tri-mester schedule, with classes expected to start Aug. 14.
° Will serve Swain, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Haywood counties and the Qualla Boundary. School’s charter says its permanent home must be in Swain County.
° Will offer music, art, foreign languages and computer instruction.
° Parents who want to enroll their children should be notified by mid- to late April.
Davy Stehling, who lives in Jackson County, said he has one child who is growing bored in the public school system while his other children are thriving in it.
“I’m just looking at alternatives to the usual school system,” he said after the meeting.
He said he wished the charter’s board of directors had more answers.
“The hard part is that there are still a lot of unanswered questions,” he said.
Mark Zwick has taught school in Cherokee and Robbinsville, and he said the charter school sounds interesting.
“It could work very well. There is every opportunity for it to succeed,” said Zwick.
He said the charter board seemed energized and enthusiastic.
“It may be more work to start a charter school than to change the existing school board,” said Zwick.
Mary Ellen Hammond, a member of Mountain Discovery’s Board, said she was thrilled with the turnout at the meeting.
“This is as much as we had hoped for,” she said.
The board, she said, is working very hard right now to hire teachers and a director and find a site. That must happen before a lot of the other questions parents want to know can be answered, she said.
“We are very busy right now,” said Hammond.
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