Proposed charter school to open 2009

Nine educators planning to open a new charter school for 100-120 students in Bloomington in the fall of 2009 informed the public of their plans during a meeting Monday night at the Monroe County Public Library.\nThough the “Project School” doesn’t have a specific location yet, it is slated to open in August 2009. As a designated charter school, it will be an independent public school that does not receive money for facility costs or student transportation.\n“Public rules and regulations do not allow us to make the best school possible right now,” Daniel Baron, proposed principal-teacher of the Project School, said. “With the Project School we’ll be able to remove these policy constraints to create a better educational experience, but will still have all the benefits of accountability to the public.”\nBaron said Monday’s meeting was the school’s “coming out party.” But word about the school has been circulating for many months. \nSo far, the Project School Board has not chosen a location for the school and has not developed a student transportation plan, said Heather Caudill, a local teacher and Project School board member. The board is looking into funding such services when the school opens.\n“We are fully committed to finding adequate funding for all of our students’ needs,” she said.\nThe Project School will first apply for a K-5 charter, Caudill said.\nShe said the school will maintain a 20-students-per-teacher ratio, with at least two teachers in each classroom.\nStudents will be chosen through a lottery system. Baron said every child in grades K-5 will be eligible to apply. \nThe school will follow a year-round educational calendar with breaks of a few weeks after each nine-week period of classes. Each school week would have at least one half day in order for teachers to attend conferences where they will discuss each student’s progress.\nBaron said one of the main motivations for opening the Project School is to address achievement gaps between white and minority students. He said the longer minority students remain in public schools, the farther they fall behind in test scores and graduation rates.\n“African American students score (lower) on ISTEP in 10th grade than they do in 8th grade. We want to eliminate the preventative value of class, race and other social factors in the classroom,” Baron said.\nLocal educator and Project School Board Member Tarrey Banks said the school will try to create an equal educational experience for all students while addressing the specific needs of each child.\n“Every single student deserves the same quality of education,” he said. “Parents need to say: If this school is not good enough for my child, it’s not good enough for any child.”