MONROE COUNTY: GET THIS ON YOUR CALENDARS. Public hearing for the Green Charter School on March 27th at the public library. Notice in todays HT. PLEASE come out to give a statement about why you want the choices to stop coming into our town and the funding to stop leaving our schools! WE NEED A LARGE SHOWING OF SUPPORT FOR OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. (If you would speak out against a higher class size, loss of teachers, loss of art, music, gym, band, or librarians, then surely you can be proactive before we lose this funding by speaking at this event?) State charter school board sets hearing on Bloomingtons Green School proposal Posted: Wednesday, March 12, 2014 5:41 pm | Updated: 5:45 pm, Wed Mar 12, 2014. By Mary Keck 812-331-4353 | mkeck@heraldt | 0 comments The Green School, a proposed charter school that would open in Bloomington in Fall 2015, will take the next step toward authorization at the end of the month. The Indiana Charter School Board, which is overseeing the authorization of the Green School, released dates for public hearings on four proposed charters in the state on Wednesday. The public will have an opportunity to weigh in on the Green School on March 27 at the Monroe County Public Library. The meeting is planned to collect input on proposals to open new charter schools, the charter board said in a press release. After a public meeting is held, the board will hold a question-and-answer session with the Green School organizers. Then, the board will take a vote about authorizing the school by the end of April. According to Sarah Sullivan, manager for the board, the public hearing doesnt necessarily make or break a charters chances for authorization. All of the pieces of the application process combine into one recommendation that we end up providing to the board, Sullivan said. There is not one that necessarily weighs more heavily than the other; they just present us with different information. By the time of a public hearing date, a proposed charter has submitted a letter of intent, and a full application that is evaluated by the board. Before voting on whether or not to authorize a charter, the board holds two interviews with the proposed charters organizers. This is the first time the board has held a public hearing for a charter in Bloomington, and they chose the date to avoid conflicts with the Monroe County Community School Corp. calendar. We dont want it to interfere with spring break or the board meeting of local school district, Sullivan said. The Monroe County Public Library was chosen because we find that libraries are a community gathering place people feel comfortable going to. Charter board members, who will ultimately vote for or against authorizing the charter, can attend public hearings, but they might not be there. Comments from the public hearing are summarized for the board and included in a packet for its consideration. All emailed public comments are submitted and not summarized to the board. At the hearing, organizers of the Green School will have a chance to share a brief overview of their proposed school. If authorized, the Green School would open in 2015 and would enroll 165 students in grades K-5 in its first year, with the intention of having a maximum of 240 K-8 students within five years. The Woolery Stone Mill at 2200 West Sunstone Drive is the current location where organizers hope to house the school. The Green Schools curriculum will be arts-infused with a focus on education for sustainability. Sullivan noted that those who attend the public hearing will be asked to sign up and write down that they would like to speak, and the hearing will not be a conversation between community members and the Green School applicants or the board. The board really values community input and comment. Certainly, if the community has certain concerns the board is interested in hearing that, Sullivan said. The intent of the hearing is for people to offer specific comments directed at the Green Schools application and not perspectives on issues such as the value of charter schools versus public schools or vouchers and private schools. I will say it is an interesting balance between community members being against a particular school and being against all charter schools, she said. Three other charter school applications will be considered by the board, and public hearings will be held at their proposed locations in Dugger, Jeffersonville and Muncie.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 11:57:25 +0000
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