What is a charter school?
Charter schools are tuition-free public schools that provide new options to students and their families. They are independent from the county board of education and
are run by incorporated non-profit organizations. They control their own
curriculum, staffing, organization, and budget. They must meet the same
academic standards that traditional public schools meet. They have no access to State funds for
buildings and or NC Education Lottery funds.
How many charter schools are there in North Carolina?
Right now there are 99. State legislation allows for no more than 100.
How does a charter school become official?
The non-profit that wants to start a school must submit an
application to the NC State Board of Education. The State Board issues a
charter, or contract, to those groups that submit successful applications. The
contract explains the mission, the goals, the governance and the financial
plans.
What are a charter school’s obligations when enrolling a
child with a disability?
Public charter schools must serve any
child that enters the school with an individual education plan (IEP).
Is there a minimum number of students required?
State law says that there is a minimum requirement of 65
students except if the application contains a compelling reason, such as the
school would serve a geographically remote and small student population.
How are charter schools funded?
The state allocates the same average per-pupil allotment
that is given to the local district in which the school is located. When the
local students choose public charter schools over the district school, the
local funding is re-allocated to the school (even if the school is located in a
different county).
How did you all decide to start the charter process?
There was a lot of frustration among
Corolla/Carova parents having to get their kids to school on the mainland, an
annual exodus of people to Dare County or the mainland when their kids started
nearing age 5, and lots of anecdotal evidence of people deciding not to move here
because of the no-school situation. After initial research and investigation on the process of starting a school, a group of motivated, intelligent, and local-education-minded
people has met about three times a month to hold information sessions, gather
ideas, study numbers, and work out everything from school’s name to mission to
understanding incorporation and tax numbers.
What does the Currituck Superintendent of Schools think
about this?
Meghan Doyle is our new superintendent and she too believes
that educating children in their community is best for them. She recognizes that the charter
application is competitive, that properly funding an adequate building can be
difficult, and that running a small school has its challenges. We are sharing
our innovations with her so that all hands are on deck trying to find another
option for our kids.
Why are you applying for k–6 only?
Given that funds follow kids, given that we don’t have even
the minimum of 65 for the application, and given that after 6th
grade teachers need to be certified in one of four major subjects, we
recognized that we could never have the funds initially to hire enough teachers
for a k-8 or a k-12. We hope to work something out, either with the County soon
or by expanding the school eventually, to help the kids headed for 7th
grade+.
How many kids live in Corolla/ Carova?
In the 27927 zip code we know there are at least 28 kids
aged 0-18 and quite a bit more on their way. Of them, about 19 are
age-appropriate for the school. Currently many of them are home schooled.
How do you expect to start a k-6 with 19 kids?
We have spoken with many people who live out of town but who
work here and many of them, lots of moms who work at real estate companies with
fairly regular hours and families where both parents work up here, indicated
that they would like to work near their kids’ schools. We also think that our unique
curriculum and small classes will make us attractive to many of the Dare county
parents whose kids are currently in classes with 30 other kids and one teacher.
But I thought you were doing this for the Corolla kids?
We are. We also know that the funding for 19 kids isn’t
sufficient for paying teacher and maintaining a building. Priority is given to
Currituck County students and we
believe that families will stop leaving the area once an excellent school is
established here.
Why do people move here when they know there are no schools?
Our target populations are the working class who make up the backbone of our tourist economy. We need these dedicated workers to become live-in stakeholders in our community to ensure that our visitors are receiving the very best Currituck Outer Banks experience. If our community thrives, so do our children and vice versa. We believe that people who support the tourist economy, which helps to support the entire county should be able to live where they work. We believe a charter school serves Currituck County's best interest as the project has been fully executed by local concerned citizens and educational professionals volunteering time. This relieves strain on public resources while offering a solution to a county problem.
Could you explain the
application process?
The State posted an application
four weeks ago. We had been
preparing an application from the 2009 application posting and so were not
caught unprepared. The taskforce
for the Corolla Education Foundation has been hammering out details since then
(finagling policies/manual drafts/bylaws etc). After this meeting we hope to
incorporate your feedback and then must get a final application to Raleigh by
February 19th. The Office of Charter Schools will let us know
whether they’ll even consider our application sometime in April and if we pass
that round we’ll know by July 4th whether we were chosen. If we are, we’ll spend a year attending
trainings and await final approval in March 2011 for a school opening in
September 2011.
Do you think your application has a chance of filling the
last spot?
The support, the buy-in, the
innovative ideas, and the diversity of people who contributed have been
everything we could have asked for. We think we have compelling innovations for
creating another option for Corolla kids. We can only hope the Office of
Charter Schools feels the same way. Please let us know if you have input for
the application before we send it off in a week!
What will you do if your application isn't succesful?
We will continue the process of
applying for a non-profit education foundation, we will continue our advocacy
to the public school system, and if nothing gives we will apply again when a
space becomes available (either because another school failed or because the
100-school cap gets raised)
I noticed that your big break
comes in the middle of your school year.
Why?
Using feedback from parents who
support our tourist economy, we came up with the idea of having kids out of
school when parents would have the most time to spend with them and to have the
kids in school when parents have the most work to do. A unique education for a
unique location!
Outer
Banks public schools struggle when kids leave for extended periods, due to
their parents’ businesses being closed or parents following seasonal work.
After looking at how many days kids need to be in school, how many mandatory
teacher work days there are, where holidays fall, etc. we decided that a
trimester system with a long break after the first trimester (so out of school
from Thanksgiving through mid- January) was an innovation that could work
better than the traditional calendar, both for the parents and the school. That
the break comes in the middle of the year actually lends stability for
transitioning grades, a concern many parents have with a traditional school and
summer break.
So
that kids can enjoy our excellent resources in a more unstructured fashion, we
have allowed for about four summer vacation weeks as well. We hope to be able to provide remedial
and childcare options during those weeks and possibly even camp!
I’d love to send my kid to you
but am worried about extra-curriculars.
What is your plan for after school activities and sports teams?
Water’s Edge Village School will have an after
school program that might include: karate, yoga, swimming, tennis, board games,
chess, surfing, kayaking and civic engagement (trail maintenance, fire truck
washing, etc) – in other words, all activities that use the excellent local
resources and opportunities. Given
the size and the mixed-aged groups we’ll have initially at the school, we
predict that we will not t be home to the next State champions in competitive
sports teams.
How can you work an
after-school program like that into your budget?
Our application and our mission make it very clear that this is going
to be an incredible school based on community resources and support. Our board, our task force, and our town
are full of able-bodied, talented folks and we’re know that people will be
moved to donate a few hours of their time to help our kids and to have fun with
them!
What are you all going to do about a building?
We have a plan and a timeline to discuss various options
with the County and individuals and are confident that we will have worked
something out by the time the school would open. That said if you are hoping to donate a chunk of land or a
building to an education foundation, talk to us!
