Clayton Valley's Charter progress . . .

In case you were wondering...

There has been a flurry of activity and reporting on the charter school in the last week, so we wanted to recap where you can find more information. I'm curious what you all think. Take the poll (above).  Do you support the effort of Clayton Valley, do you hope more schools will follow suit, or do you think this is a dangerous precedent to start in our district?

Plus, there are petitions out in the community.  I'm not sure how aggressive they are with this, as personally, I've not seen one yet! But, I guess there's always the element, wrong time, wrong place.

The potential for a charter application being presented to our school board seems to be growing more likely. In articles from the Contra Costa Times, and the Clayton Patch, it appears they're nearing the point where they will be ready to submit an application for the charter within the next month or so.  Our board would then have 30 days to review and respond.

The City of Clayton has also agreed to loan the effort an "unprecedented" $8,500 toward the costs of developing the charter.  Patrick Creaven of the Clayton Patch tells us more in his recent patch post: http://clayton.patch.com/articles/council-votes-to-help-fund-clayton-valley-charter-campaign

Theresa Harrington of the Times has also posted on her "on assignment" blog and it has also brought up some good discussion there.  Check it out at http://www.ibabuzz.com/onassignment/2011/05/20/proposed-clayton-valley-high-charter-brings-hope-questions/

Gary Eberhart has also posted on his blog about the charter and also shared the Superintendent's Q&A that was sent to district families on Friday.  You can read his "FAQ's Regarding a District Charter School," HERE.

Coincidentally, the CVCHS facebook page was updated today after a long time w/out an update. Check it out below, or HERE on their facebook page.

We have been very busy the last few weeks writing and revising the 16 required Elements (sections) of the conversion charter.

During this process, we have consulted with several experts, including financial and legal advisors, who work with successful conversion charter schools in California. As we receive their feedback, we are continuously updating various Elements.

Our goal is to have the charter written and submitted to CV teachers by the first week of June. A simple majority (of permanent certificated CV teachers) would then be needed to sign the charter petition in order to move forward. At that point, the charter would be submitted to MDUSD for their consideration.

CVHS Charter conversion meetings

Want more information ?

A couple of meetings are taking place this week if you are interested in the possible charter conversion.

Monday (today) , April 11th at 12:30pm
Thursday, April 14th at 12:30pm

Meetings at Clayton Valley room E1.

There will also be a couple of community meetings one day next week at Endeavor Hall in downtown Clayton, so stay tuned for details on that.

They will present a PowerPoint informational slide show.

Message from the CVHS PFC President 4/12/11:

Friends—As you may have heard, Clayton Valley High School is currently and actively pursuing a charter school conversion.  This means that CVHS will convert from a traditional public school (governed by a school district and a school board) to a CHARTER school public school (governed by a site-specific governing board comprised of teachers and staff, administrators, parents and community members).

This conversion charter school affects everyone in the Clayton Valley area.  Even if you don’t have children in our local public schools, charter schools can be a boost to area real estate prices, safety, and the overall connection of a community.

As we are just in the beginning stages, there are many questions and points of clarification that still need to be researched and worked out, however the process is exciting and underway.  We have begun holding community information meetings and hope that everyone will take the opportunity to either go to one of the meetings to have all your questions answered or call me directly (redacted) to talk about what this might look like and how it might affect your child’s educations.

Our next meeting will be held this Thursday, April 14^th at 12:30.  We will meet on the CV campus in room E-1.  Additionally, we are planning an evening meeting for (we hope) next week.  The dates and location are being worked out now so stay tuned and please forward this on to anyone you think may be interested.