School board approves Web academy

The Sisters School District will have a second charter school next fall. The new school, the Sisters Web and Early College Academy (SWECA), will bring technology-based education especially to homeschool, dropout and non-attending students in grades K-12. (See "School district considers new Web Academy," The Nugget, January 9, page 1).

Members of the Sisters School Board voted unanimously to approve the school at their regular meeting on Tuesday, January 15. Approval is contingent upon the negotiation of a final contract agreement with SWECA.

The director of the North Clackamas Web Academy and Clackamas Middle College Tim King will oversee the new school. Teachers will be employed by SWECA, not the Sisters School District. The board acted upon the recommendation of superintendent Elaine Drakulich to approve the school, after learning that implementation of SWECA should be much easier than last year's start-up of Sisters Charter Academy of Fine Arts.

"The Sisters arts academy did not have a draft agreement in place... SWECA actually has a draft proposal agreement already. What we need to make sure of is that we're comfortable with all the dollar pieces in that, but everything is in place in the contract and ready to go," said Drakulich.

Board member Tom Dumolt sees the new cyber-school as not only benefiting Sisters students but also children all over Central Oregon.

"Based on the recommendations of hired staff, I have no questions (about approving the school)," he said.

With board approval now under his belt, King is working diligently to pull everything together so that the school will be ready to open in September without any glitches. His plan is to complete final contract negotiations rapidly.

"I hope we can do this by next month's board meeting," he said.

He is also working on health insurance and benefit options for the school's employees, recruiting students and purchasing laptops.