WINNEMUCCA - The last few articles have provided background on charter schools. Now to tie it together. Charter schools must be approved by the Nevada Department of Education. The application is rigorous and requires extensive planning, preparation, justification and funding. One Catch-22 of the process includes having start-up money to launch the school but not being qualified for the funding until the school is open. That is where donors are critical - individuals who supply time, money, a facility and supplies at the onset.
The charter school has a board of directors who work with administration and staff. The school is held to high standards based on state expectations and teacher/parent vision. Teachers have a negotiated salary based on experience, talents, and need. A top-notch teacher might start at $80,000 (doubtful unless donors have deep pockets) with an extreme expectancy of excellence. Most salaries, however, are in line with public schools, although there may be fewer package benefits.
Some advantages to a charter school are smaller sized classes and fewer students overall, creating wiggle room for individuality. Since teachers and parents have elected to be a part of the school, requirements such as homework, parent volunteer time, and make-up Saturdays with no excuses are possible negotiable.
One year when working in another district, we had a guest speaker who emphasized that if we teachers really wanted to transform our school into dynamic learning centers we needed to step out of the current paradigm, innovate and redesign. Our administration nodded approval and so a group of us brainstormed our paradigm shift. We created our concept based on a school-within-a school. Seven of us would work within a K-5 setting with a year-round focus of 9 weeks on, 3 weeks off, rotating throughout the year. There would be six classroom teachers and the seventh would be a jack-of-all-trades teaching special classes, art, music, and physical education.
We planned to work within the district mandates and use district facilities. We visualized open classrooms where Jimmy who is in Kindergarten but is ready for multiplication would transition to third grade during math. Gretchen who moved 17 times last years would quietly exit fourth grade and head for third to review and master multiplication facts. We guaranteed that we would have a minimum of 25 per classroom so that the "regular" teachers would not have disproportionate overflow.
We planned to ask parents to join us for at least the first 9/3 session so that students would not be on the shuffle. During our three weeks "off" our little staff would rotate teaching responsibilities and create catch-up time to help students who were lagging (required) and to challenge those who wanted to excel (optional). During the 3-week summer break we would accept any "regular" students for remediation or acceleration. Open door; open minds; open opportunity for all.
In our all-volunteer school only those who desired the perspective shift need join: teachers, students, and parents. While many doubted we could round up 150 students a quick survey about town exceeded our expectations. With a plan written, research completed, volunteers at the ready, we headed to the school board for approval where members volleyed intriguing questions and we eagerly responded. Finally they pronounced, "Proceed!" We did with wild, anticipatory enthusiasm. Our vision flourished.
Monday, however, brought us a downer. We each received "angry" letters in our mailboxes basically saying "Who do you think you are?" A large poster was taped to the faculty room refrigerator denouncing our ideas; evil eyes followed us through the halls and on the playground. Undaunted, though disconcerted, we rallied and continued working on fliers, plans and goals. Though exhausted from the thrill of intense preparation, we were enthused and infused with excitement. Then our principal signaled us to his office.
While we had been harassed on the side, he had been blasted in the face. Dumping water on our spirit, he said, "Return to our paradigm." Astonished, we really didn't have to ask why. A glance around our school told us we had been labeled enemies and with our support gone (even the school board was quaking), our dream fizzled and then fizzed out. This didn't squelch our desire to teach; it did squash our strength for widespread change.
It took several months for the seven us to be re-integrated into the fold, although we still remained lumps in an otherwise smooth batter. We returned to our assignments, gently closed the door, and taught the students we loved in classroom solitude.
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