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Alternative
high school to be considered
The charter
school will be launched if the district OK’s the $73,000 in operational funds.
By Dana Haynes
The Statesman Journal
February 8,2000
Salem-Keizer’s
first true charter school, the 21st Century Community Schoolhouse,
could be approved by tonight’s school board meeting.
The
proposed school targets high school students who don’t thrive in traditional
programs, and focuses on making the curriculum meaningful to their lives.
“The
district has a goal of reducing dropouts and this is a partnership that could
help do that,” said co-creator Andrew Goldstein.
But
theirs a hitch: Organizers want to District to come up with $73,000 in the first
year of operation – starting this fall – to pay for the site and some
services.
A
district committee reviewed the charter school proposal and said the additional
money could be the deal–killer. Without the money the committee called the
project “non-usable, non-sustainable.”
Goldstein
and his colleague, Molly Kellar, are the first people locally to attempt the
time consuming process of getting a charter school proposal this far. Since the
charter school law was passed in 1999, their plan was one of only four projects
around the state to gain federal start-up grants.
In
its first year, the school would serve up to 90 ninth and 10th
graders, with a focus on passing the Certificate of Initial Mastery. By the
second year, it would be open to 11th and 12th graders,
too, for a total of 130 students.
Plans
call for an executive Director, not principle to handle the business end of the
school, such as writing grants.
The
teachers would split other administrative duties as needed.
A board of directors already exists; its members include educators, a
former South Student and Raul Ramirez, Marion County Sheriff.
Student–teacher
ratios would be kept at 20 to 1 and all students would study Spanish and
English.
Since
existing schools don’t have room for the program, organizers hope to set up
shop at 210 Liberty St. S.E., the former site of Trend College
That’s
where the extra money comes in. Public schools in Oregon are funded per-pupil
basis; the more students, the more money.
Charter
schools receive 95 percent of that per-pupil funding from the state, with the
district keeping the other five percent.
The
schoolhouse would operate on that state funding plus a $100,000 grant from the
Department of Education. But organizers still need about $62,000 to pay for
site, and another $11,000 to pay for services such as clerical help.
In
the second year, a second federal grant would take care of the services, but the
district would be asked to pay the rent on the site.
In
the third year, the district would be asked to pay only half of the site costs.
In the fourth year, no more district contributions would be needed.
Goldstein
and Kellar ran the 21st Century project at South Salem High School
from 1995 to 1998.
District
funding for the program evaporated in 1998-99. The founders went to halftime
status at South and helped transplant 21st Century Schoolhouse to an
alternative school in Woodburn. This year, that program continues under the
direction of Woodburn teachers; Goldstein and Kellar returned to their full-time
status at South.
They’re
three legs to the schools structure; local activities, such as cleaning the
environment; community education through lectures, newsletters and speaking
before lawmakers; and global collaboration with students from 11 nations.
The
schoolhouse would offer the same credits as any Salem-Keizer high school, but
the classes would be blended into a theme.
“We
want to do this without lowering the standards,” Kellar said, “All kids are
capable of learning, how they get there is the trick.”
| 
The
21st Century