Proposed Sisters charter school delayed

The public charter school that a group of Sisters parents had hoped to open this fall will not open until the fall of 2007 at the earliest. The plan has been delayed by state rejection of the group’s application for a planning grant.

The chief developer of the project, Michelle Williams of Sisters, confirmed these facts last week. But she also said that despite this setback the project is going ahead.

“I was really sad” (about the rejection), she said. “But it’ll be better this way. We will have more time to plan. I’ve got a line of parents (interested in the school) and they’re very eager. But I don’t think realistically if we got the money in May or June that we could open the school this fall.”

Williams said that Patty Wills of Gold Beach, who wrote the original application, is writing a new one to be submitted in April. Wills said that only four of the 12 applications submitted in the last round were approved by the Oregon Department of Education.

“You just never know,” she said.

Wills said the applications are reviewed by an appointed group of readers from around the state, which makes recommendations to ODE.

Both women said the description of the proposed school will remain basically the same in the new application. As announced last November, it is intended to be an elementary school with about 30 students and two teachers. The curriculum will be centered on the fine arts. The school will be called the Sisters Charter Academy of Fine Arts.

Under Oregon law, public charter schools operate under the legal sponsorship of public school districts and, in the case of elementary schools, receive 80 percent of the state’s per-student support for standard public schools. Although they receive public funding, charter schools are free from many of the state requirements and regulations that apply to regular schools. Advocates say this makes them more innovative.

When told of the proposed school’s delay, Sisters School Superintendent Ted Thonstad said, “Well, I’m sorry that the grant was turned down. But I do think that from the district’s perspective the timing is better because of the review process we have to go through…Spending more time insures a better opportunity to be successful. I don’t think you can do this quickly and I had a feeling they were trying to rush this through.”

Thonstad said he believes parents “have a right to choose” the best education for their children. “These are parents who want something different from what we’re able to offer and I think that even though we’d like to offer what they want, because of economics we can’t do it. So I’m not opposed to charter schools; I see it is an opportunity to establish a partnership that’s educationally good for all kids.”