Charter Start-up Grant Submitted

On Oct 31 our grant application of $651,950 was submitted to the State Department of Education for three years of charter startup funds. The budget is subject to negotiation at the time of award.

Most interesting was developing a set of project goals for school opening, as opposed to the school itself:

The 5 goals below relate to the Charter and focus on the process of launching a successful school:

1. Recruit and retain both highly qualified school staff and qualified school governing and advisory boards and develop their understanding and practice of the Expeditionary Learning model.
2. Recruit a diverse student body including economically disadvantaged and ethnic minorities, expand enrollment, and move toward sound self-sustaining business operations.
3. Develop and refine curriculum, including Learning Expeditions aligned to state standards, acquire technology, furniture and necessary materials to effectively implement a high quality curriculum.
4. Develop and refine criteria for assessing meaningful communication and involvement with the local community and communicate that understanding through school activities.
5. As set out in Tab 4 of the Charter, the percentage of students (grades 3-8) who receive a score of Proficient or above across all required subjects measured by the ISAT will within five (5) years and thereafter meet or exceed the similar fraction computed in the Moscow School District.

UI Interior Design students to help design remodel

I just had a very productive meeting with Miranda Anderson on the UI faculty about her students doing a project with Palouse Prairie to design the remodel of the Now & Then facility for use as our school.

UI students will collaborate with Palouse Prairie on the design for the remodel of the school. While this won't be an "Expedition" in EL terms, it has many of the elements: integrated curriculum, teamwork, authentic problem, and service to community. And, while ELS doesn't talk as much about it, assessment of the students' learning/project outcomes open to the community. Watch for announcement of the final project presentation this fall.

Trying to think in Web 2.0 ways, I put the photos I have of Now & Then into a Palouse Prairie Flickr group for the UI students.

Time line to opening

The Board has begun to work on a time line of issues to be solved before the school opens. You may be able to contribute to our thinking on some of these issues. You may see issues we have not yet added to the list. In either event, comments are welcome here, or direct thoughts privately to Nils Peterson.

Agenda for Board Mtg Jan 24, 2008

Agenda of Board Meeting

January 24, 2008 Peterson Barn, 847 Travois Way, Moscow Idaho

6:30 PM

Agenda:
1. Welcome and updates
2. Approval of Minutes from Jan 10
3. Announcements/Updates
a. Charter Workshop – Boise Jan 29 – Nils to present
b. Summer Expedition – any updates/deadlines?
c. Vision Grant - information on situation
4. Other Grant seeking – Discuss strategy
5. Submission of Charter -Nils
a. Discussion of Tab 4 Measurable outcomes
b. Approval of Budget for PPSEL 2009-2012
6. Web Presence, blog, email, files, collaboration
7. Wrap-up/ review


Dates for Next meetings –
February 14th, Nils’ Barn – Summer Expedition, advisory committee