E-mail message from Fallon Charter School

I have to say..

We are currently facing the closing of one school (It is definately WE), and RIF's of at least 30 teachers yet they want to open a new school that gets its funding the way "other public schools do"? Then why not funnel the money that would go to this charter school to CCSD to keep our teachers where they are? I can deal with them eliminating specials, but darn it, keep the staff you have, especially those who are great where they are.

A teacher that is perfect for first graders may not do so well with 5th graders not because she is not a good teacher, but because her heart is with her first graders and that is the curriculum that she knows.

Hi! I was born in Fallon and lived there most of my life. I have lots of family and friends still there so I keep up on events and such through facebook, LVN online etc. I just thought I'd offer an opinion speaking from experience regarding charter schools.

I currently live in another state. I have one child in a regular public high school who attended a regular public middle school. I also have a middle school child who is now in a charter school. I'm not sure how legal differences might play out between the states, but here's what I have seen with our charter school:
-Charter schools receive a fraction of the funding the other schools do per student AND (at least here) that includes paying for the facility. The regular public schools do not have to budget for facilities/upkeep out of their per pupil money.
-Charter schools have their own independent board, and though they must follow the same curriculum standards, they have flexibility with other things. For example, our school does not run on the exact same time schedule as the other schools. My son's school also requires uniforms. THIS IS AWESOME. I didn't think it would make a big difference...it really does. Also...the school only has single gender classes. This is also awesome.
-Required parental involvement. Since it is a choice to attend the charter school, parents here are required to commit 10 hours per quarter of volunteer time to the school. They have many different options for people who work to meet this requirement.
-Our charter school is ranked #1 above all of the other public middle schools in our county (which is very large) in math, science, and english. They were #2 in social studies. These numbers are based on our states standardized test system. We were also the only middle school in the state to receive an excellent rating for 4 years in a row.
-The teachers have a great deal more input in the operation of the school than in any other school my children have attended. The teacher satisfaction rating for a 2009 survey was 100%. This despite they receive a slightly lower salary than the majority of other public school teachers.
-smaller class sizes because there is a cap on enrollment which is done through an application and lottery process

Overall, the differences between the middle school my daughter attended and the one my son now attends are HUGE. All of his teachers know who he is as an individual. It is almost like sending your child to a private school for free. That being said, the school is very reliant on parents to aid in fundraising because they do receive such a substantially smaller amount of money per pupil. We also do not have access to sending our children to school on a school bus. These negatives are far outweighed by the positives we have experienced this year.

I am a graduate of Churchill County High School. I feel like I got a great education there and I had no complaints about the schools in Churchill County when I was a student. I don't know how things are now...I have seen lots of stories about budget problems (like everywhere in the country) and cuts to the district etc. So I just wanted to put out there that a charter school can be a very positive thing and I wish the teacher who is looking to put one together good luck!

To nursej - What is the name of the charter school you speak about in your post and what state? It would be nice to research it and see exactly what they are doing and visit with the school's administration.

I live in Greenville, South Carolina.
The charter school that my son attends is Langston Charter Middle School. They have a website...langstoncharter.org

Here's the link NurseJ was talking about: http://www.langstoncharter.org/

I'm looking forward to checking this out! A charter school with uniforms sounds very hopeful.
Thanks!

I don't know if ours will have uniforms. I guess we'll find out their intentions at the public meeting this Friday.

This is the kind of charter school we need here, for both middle and high school!!! While reading the information about Langston and reading about the teachers, all I could do was wish that Fallon had this school. Everything they do is so right for the kids and the community that there isn't anything wrong! I am blown away! If there's a move on here to open another charter school, I can only hope that this model will be used, Lord knows past examples have failed to give our students a proper education. Anyway, if you are interested in what a good, quality charter school is, check out the link that Admin provided and be prepared to be impressed! That school, the faculty, the parents and the community ALL work together for the benefit of the students! How refreshing! Thanks Nursej.

I am thinking this is a way for West Enders to keep their image. My opinion at the moment. I will go to this meeting to see just who is planning for this and why. We did have a "charter" school here for our alternative high school. It was closed due to funding. Yes charter schools are great, but it takes a lot of work, supervision and determination for success, oh yes, funding too.

If anyone knows where this meeting will be and the time, I'd like that information. I, too, am interested in hearing the plans for this school.
We've actually had two such schools here in Fallon. The first one got into trouble over falsifying grades and eventually closed. I think the state got involved. I can't remember it all. It had bad publicity for a long time. It was behind Raley's. Then there's the one that was located at the old high school. I think the district closed it down because of funds and I THINK (not sure though) there was a problem with the students not reaching state standards?
Anyway, both schools seemed to attract many of our low-achieving students and both became almost private clubs if you will. Neither really set the sort of agenda that would make a parent run out and enroll their kid because they felt he/she would get a good education. I'm not saying that all the students were this way. I can only speak from what I have witnessed and heard from students who did go there and from adults who lived close or worked close to the facility.
Hopefully, if a new charter school opens, it will pattern itself after the Langston Charter School. Uniforms and single-gender classes have both proven to be assets to a good learning environment.
There is much written pro and con on uniforms and I have added a few links here:
http://www.angelfire.com/journal/worldtour99/uniforms.html
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1931687
This link is for single-gender classes:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr215.shtml

Community Interest Meeting - K-8 Charter School
Charter Schools are FREE and open to any Churchill County student.
Charter schools allow for innovative teaching and reduced class size (15 students per grade level) among other things. Find out what other community members are thinking by joining us. . .

Friday, May 7th, 6 p.m.
Oats Park near the Centennial Stage

Tell other interested parents!
Bring a blanket to sit on, something to write with and dress for the weather (hopefully shorts and t-shirts)

Email us at falloncharterschool@gmail.com

I just found a really cool link about charter schools. It's a live video of questions and answers for anyone interested. I found it informative and brief.
Enjoy!
http://www.videojug.com/interview/how-charter-schools-work-2

Thanks for posting the links, retiredteacher

So, did anyone go? How was it?

The meeting at Oats Park last Friday evening was interesting. The presentation was informative but as to just what this charter school was going to offer, well, I think they're still in the 'deciding' stage. They did mention that Elko's charter school was something they hoped to fashion their school after. They also said that they hoped to put a trip together to visit the school again with people from here who are interested. Here's that link: http://www.elkocharterschool.com/index.html
The Elko Institute for Academic Achievement is impressive! It combines a wonderful academic curriculum with some mentor based student projects; a nice combination! A project based school was talked about for our new school but I don't recall much, if anything, being mentioned about academic levels. There is a lot of work to be done to get the charter up and running for the 2011-12 school year. They said that there would be a start-up cost of about $2,000.00 per student. Their priority now is to get volunteers from the city and county to help them with everything from legal work, to grant writing to fund-raising. They are a youthful, energetic group and hopefully their next meeting will address more fully just what they have in mind for their school. I looked up project based learning sites and found a variety of charter schools on the net.
The Elko school is a uniformed school (not as strict as some can be) and they have a strict disciplinary policy. I hope everyone checks it out. It is a great, successful school and one worthy of modeling.

I just wanted to let the charter people know that sometimes the military makes donations of used office equipment and maybe they could approach them and see how much help they can be. They have even made donations of computers in the past!