Thoughts on Administration

When the guys at CCSA mentioned that I would be the Executive Director, I was shocked.  I have no experience in administration and while I think it is important to have a teacher's perspective when in administration, I think that you also need to have an administrator's perspective.  So...I've been working on a mental list of the qualities that I have seen and admired in my administrators (and the qualities that I could do without).  Granted I get that administrators will NEVER be able to please everyone at the same time, but I figure I should at least start thinking about it.

Here are a couple of thoughts (incomplete to say the least)...

Great administrators...

  Spend time in the classroom - both observing and participating.

  Provide continual feedback to teachers from a mentoring perspective.

  Make themselves available to parents, students, and teachers alike.

  ALWAYS back their teachers in front of parents (kind of like parents do in front of kids).

  Have high expectations for their staff and students.

  Make a habit of publicly recognizing effort - with students, staff, and parents.

  Have concise and organized weekly staff meetings.

  Ask staff for input on professional development and scheduling needs.

  Foster an environment of mutual respect between staff, students, and parents.

  Communicate with parents on a weekly basis - through email, newsletter, coffee meetings.

PLEASE feel free to add other things that you have noticed about your administrators.  I'm focusing on the positive things at the moment, but I am mentally creating the opposite list as well.  I would love input from the community at large...parents, teachers, students...

Slowly but surely

I am working on building a team.  I have little in the way of flexibility to get out and about town without a vehicle, but I am drawing on my other networking skills...the internet and phone.

I have talked with two women now who are interested in helping.  To what degree, I'm not sure.  And then there is another friend of a friend who has voiced an interest.  Interest is good.  But what I'm going to need to find is commitment.  I need people who will step up and say, "Yes, this is a GREAT idea and I am willing to give my time to make it happen."

The woman I was going to meet with today had to reschedule due to an illness.  I hope that we can get together this week.  I would like to give her a task or two to work on.  I may just give her a call and chat instead of wait for the face to face.

Meeting with CCSA

I had an informal meeting with the General Manager and Assistant General Manager for Riverside County Region California Charter School Association (mouth full, eh?).  We talked for about an hour about where I am at in the process, how the Charter Launch program could help me, and what I need to work on next.

Bottom line is...I need a TEAM.  I need to network until I come up with 3 or 4 like-minded individuals who believe enough in this charter school to dedicate their time and energy to its creation.  Where will these people come from?  I'm not sure.  I am new enough to the area that I don't have much in the way of connections, but I will talk with everyone I know.

My team needs to include people with experience in governance, education, finances, administration, and real estate...to name a few suggestions.  I want to create a team that comes from diverse backgrounds in this community, but who are able to come together with their knowledge to work toward a common goal.  Honestly, at this point, anyone with the passion to help is welcome.

The Charter Launch program will start in January 2009 and all team members will be welcome to attend workshops and benefit from the professional advice that CCSA will give us.  We will have many resources available and CCSA will guide us through the process to when we (hopefully) submit our petition in September 2009.  There is a general meeting on December 6th that CCSA has invited me and any potential team members to that will step us through the process of creating a charter school.  I hope to have at least two people coming with me to that meeting.

More Business Plan Finished

Well, I've been plugging away at the Business Plan.   I am in the Research and Market Analysis section at the moment and find it easy to get side-tracked while researching.  There are so many exciting articles about charter schools.  And it seems like everything is on a dramatic incline!

For example:

One school in San Diego County went from 17 students in 2000 to over 3800 students in 2006.

The Press-Enterprise reported that businesses and chambers of commerce were looking to charter schools for their employee base.  "Public charter schools should be actively supported by local businesses and chambers of commerce in light of the unprecedented need for a highly educated workforce allowing the nation to compete in the global economy" (www.prnewswire.com).  It stated that due to the high demand for well-educated employees, businesses and chambers are looking at supporting charter schools to increase their output of qualified applicants because of a downturn in public school students who are prepared "...for further education and jobs of the 21st century" (www.prnewswire.com).  

The public school system is doing what they can, but they are severely limited by the mandates of their districts and state.  They are doing their best to meet those expectations, but what people are realizing is that there need to be more options available to students so that ALL types of students will be able to succeed.  The general public school system works well for certain students, but it doesn't have the resources to meet all of the diverse needs that a community presents.  Charter schools are one way that this need can be met.

But I digress...I've got the National Trends section done and am working on the Local Trends.  I should be finished with it by the end of the day, depending on the boys.

Next week I have a possible team member coming over to talk with me about what she would like to add to our venture.  She is ECE trained and has some background in EL.  I am hopeful that this will become my first official crew member.

Qualifications for Starting a Charter

It was asked of me...what are my qualifications for starting a charter school.  Well, I am a teacher and have had experience teaching in an EL school.  I've taught in the public school system for 10 years in grades K-9th.  I hold a Bachelor of the Arts from Scripps College and a Masters of the Arts in Teaching from Pacific University.  I have been a statewide scorer for Math and Writing tests.  I have excelled in the classroom and often found myself undertaking semi-administrative positions within the schools that I have taught at.

But those things are not really why I feel qualified to start this charter school.  Honestly, starting the school begins with a desire to add choice to the public school community.  I have a passion for expeditionary learning and I want to promote it.  I have a good solid understanding of the ins and outs of EL, what it looks like in a classroom, how it works with students and teachers, and what outcomes are possible.  As for HOW to build a school, I am learning as I go.

I see myself as the seed.  I am working on creating a team that will be able to help this school grow into something spectacular.  I am going to search out those professionals with experience in the areas of business, administration, curriculum development, professional development, personnel, real estate...My goal is to gather a group of people who do have the credentials and the qualifications.

Support from ELS

I was so excited to talk with the California Regional Director from EL Schools yesterday.  He and I chatted about my plans and he gave me some excellent suggestions.  But the most important thing is, he feels that ELS would like to work with our charter and is behind it 100%!  That vote of confidence means a lot.  He has school designers living  in the LA area who are ready to work with our charter school to build curriculum and professional development.  How awesome to have those supports in place before we even have the charter.

I have looked into joining the California Charter School Association (a suggestion from ELS), but the fee is $1500 and I just can't afford it at the moment.  I'll look into some fund-raising for it.  The support system that they offer looks like it would greatly improve our proposal.  I'm sure that we'll find a way to get involved.

Another suggestion that ELS made was to work on building our team.  This is a goal that I have had from the start and I guess I am not using enough channels to get it done.  Jason suggested that I write an article about what I am trying to do and submit it to the local papers.  He said that highlighting the fact that everyone is talking about the challenges of public schools today but that nobody is doing anything to change it.  Play on the elections and how I, just a stay-at-home mother of three who can barely pay the bills,  am doing something about it.  He thinks it might draw support and I agree.

"Framework" versus "Content"

One of the hardest things for people to understand is that EL is a framework for teaching and not a specific content.  When I imagine it in my head, I see a set of shelves.  These shelves are how I am going to present my information to students.  I could choose to present them in a different format (like on a table or on the floor), but I choose to use these shelves.  The information that I put in the shelves is the curriculum.  It looks different when I present it on the shelves than if I were to lay it out on the floor, but it's the same information.  I just think it's easier to see on the shelves.

So with EL as the framework (the shelves), my charter school will use a variety of sources to create a curriculum (the information).  We will look at the state standards, the school district's curriculum, curriculum from other schools.  In the end, our curriculum will meet state standards (because we have to) but we will be learning it in a completely different manner.