February 5, 2010

Dear Charter Community,

Today, many area newspapers and media outlets are reporting some research just completed by the Civil Rights Project based out of UCLA.  The research is based on an analysis of Federal Government data and an examination of public district schools as well as charter school across the United States.  A link to this report can be found at the end of this letter.  This report did not focus on the academic performance of charter schools. Instead, this research focused on demographics.  According to today’s San Francisco Chronicle:

"Nearly 3 out of 4 black students who attend charters are in "intensely segregated" schools with student populations that are at least 90 percent minority, according to the study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project. That's twice the rate of regular public schools.

Almost a third of those black students are in what the researchers called "apartheid schools," where 0 to 1 percent of their classmates are white. Charter schools in the Bay Area and California have similar rates of racial isolation."

What is interesting to note in the research is that the study never makes note of the fact that charter schools, by their very nature are “schools of choice.”  That is, parents and families choose to send their child to a true charter school.  A report that blames society’s problems on the fact that families are self-selecting to attend charter schools for want of a superior education for their child miss the whole point as to why charter schools exist, how they operate, and the reasons why schools like CLC are so successful. 

California charter schools are diverse, have open-enrollment, and offer innovative programs to meet student’s needs regardless of their race, ethnicity, or language of origin.  Unfortunately, California Charter School Law requires that all charter schools offer a higher preference for enrolling at school to children who live within the district boundaries.  This automatically makes it more difficult for a charter school to achieve the kind of racial diversity that this research would like schools to achieve.  Charter schools like CLC believe that our first need is educational excellence wherever children may reside.
Speaking specifically about CLC, our families here in the SF Bay Area have the right to choose to send their child to a school like CLC because some parents want to have input in their child’s education.  Parents here on the Peninsula deserve to have the choice to send their child to a school like CLC because they want a different educational experience for their child—one that is project based, focused on multi-age learning opportunities.  Parents should be able to choose a school community like CLC because it allows them the opportunity to share in their child’s learning experiences by being an active participant in the classroom.  This is what CLC offers and it is what differentiates us from other local public school options.  Charter schools ought to exist and should exist to serve students wherever there is a need.

Some people have suggested that charter schools should only exist to serve students in communities where the local schools are not successfully educating their children.  How do we measure this “success”?  Anyone who has looked at any of the state tests that our kids take know that these standards used by the state to determine what is “successful” are woefully inadequate.  I would not measure my son’s school based on earning a 650 API score.   To me, this would be totally unacceptable.  Yet, there are school district leaders who will object to a charter school in their district because their schools are all “proficient”.   As we all know, a successful school is more than just test scores.  It is also about a healthy community and a environment that is physically and emotionally safe for our children.  A school with great test scores where kids get bullied and harassed is hardly an environment I would want for Emerson.   Charter schools should not be limited to poor or disadvantaged communities.  They should be options for all families who want them and charter schools should exist within any community where there is a need.  Given by our long wait lists at every grade level, CLC is clearly serving an important need for families in the SF Bay Area.

Though most of the more rigorous research on charter schools demonstrates mixed success when it comes to educational achievement, there are many charter schools that demonstrate consistently high levels of achievement--one of them being Charter Learning Center.  Since we started sixteen years ago, San Carlos Charter Learning Center provides not only a top rate educational experience, but also a warm, nurturing and caring environment for our kids that is also valued by our community.  It is the reason why we all choose to be a part of it—parents, educators, learners, and even administrators!


--Chris Mahoney, CLC Director

Dear Charter Community,

As we approach the early days of February and as we are just over 100 days from our second annual Run for FUNds Weekend (May 15-17--Mark your Calendar!), I wanted to take this time to share with all of you why I think CLC is such an amazing community.  We have been working hard to provide a truly unique educational program for our children for over sixteen years.  In a snapshot, here is why I think that CLC is so special:

1.  We are the only recognized "School of Choice" within the San Carlos Community

2.  We provide a unique project based learning experience that not only emphasizes rigorous academics, but also are dedicated to supporting an explicit program in social and emotional learning.

3.  For sixteen years, we are the only school in San Carlos that offers a true "Dawn to Dusk" experience for the children of San Carlos.  CLC has consistently provided effective "Outside of School" learning experiences not only before school and after school, but also on school vacations and throughout the summer.  For sixteen years, CLC continues to be the only school that operates twelve months out of the year.  We are proud to be the leader in this area for San Carlos and we are excited that the San Carlos School District is being informed by what CLC does in this area and is working to develop their own version of this "Dawn to Dusk" experience.

4.  We offer a nine year experience for our families that helps to build strong emotional ties and a strong sense of community that lasts years after children have graduated and moved on.

5.  We offer authentic learning opportunities for our children and engage them as active learners.

6.  We provide all of these things for our children with a budgeting model that spends less money per child than comparable public schools.

7.  We provide unique community building events such as the Chili Cook Off, Dining for Charter, Welcome Back Picnic, Learning Exhibitions, etc.

8.  Our teachers represent some of the best educators in the Bay Area.  they  not only challenge our children, but they also inspire and nurture them towards being not only intelligent young men and women, but also thoughtful and ethical citizens who care about the larger world.

9.  We offer a community where parents and teachers work alongside one another both in the classroom and within the community.

10.  For sixteen years, our families continually volunteer over 12,000 hours each year!

It is through all of our collective efforts, that we can provide such an inspiring, successful and rewarding community for our families.  And, we continue to innovate.  Last year, we incorporated the Exeter Math Program in our upper grades that has really taken math education to the next level for our middle school learners.  We have restructured our Early Childhood Program in order to offer an effective educational experience that is both academically challenging as it is nurturing and supportive for our youngest children.  This year, we are looking at ways in which we can better meet the needs of our high end learners and exploring opportunities that will continue to challenge students who may be gifted in a particular academic subject.  Most importantly, we have expanded our afternoon enrichment programs to offer a greater variety of experiences for our kids.  Such programs have included both Cooking as well as Chorus with Gwynne Curtis, and Art Experiences with Dave Burgess.  We have added some exciting and engaging new Milestone Trips for our kids this year.

As we look ahead to the next six months, there will be lots of excitement around the humongous World Wide Rummage Sale that CLC puts on each Spring.  This is something that takes an entire year to plan for in order to have the kind of success we expect.  The Rummage Sale will be held the weekend of March 20-21 (both Saturday and Sunday).  Please mark your calendar, tell your friends and encourage everyone to come down on the weekend and check out the high quality merchandise that will be for sale that weekend.  Then, a few months later, the second annual Run For FUNds will be held the week of May 15-17.  It is our goal to raise $250,000 by the end of May.  Should we reach the $250,000 mark, then both Rob Cohen and I will shave our heads.  And, should we reach $275,000, then Marty has vowed to shave his head as well!  Special ceremonies will be held the following week at school should we reach these Fundraising Goals.

The amazing and thoughtful stewardship of our GC board has been invaluable in navigating us through these difficult financial times.  At a time when CLC receives $578 less per child in federal and state funding compared to other area public schools, we could not continue to have balanced budgets and intact programs without their support.

And, finally, the quality of our school program and this community could not be sustained without the amazing efforts of each and every family with their extraordinary contributions. As a charter school with federal and state funding that does not come close to paying for the kind of educational program we want for our kids, it is more important than ever that we come together and help to bridge this gap.  Whether we volunteer time or finances to CLC, both resources are definitely needed to provide the quality educational experience we want for our children.

I am excited to be a part of this community and I am looking forward to the next six months.  Our community experiences a shared vision.  Our community shares common beliefs when it comes to nurturing our children.  I look forward these exciting times ahead.  As the oldest charter school in California and the only recognized school of choice in San Carlos, we are proud to be the only "Dawn to Dusk" school community in San Carlos.   And, I am deeply humbled and grateful that I have the opportunity to lead this community.

---Chris Mahoney

Dear CLC Parents,

Today's Enrollment Orientation Meeting for prospective parents was very well attended with almost 120 families from around the Bay Area attending and learning about our program from our amazing Educators!  Though the majority of the families were interested in Kindergarten, we had many parents coming to learn about possible opening in all grades, K-8.  I want to thank our parents for promoting our school community and encouraging your friends to come and learn more about CLC.  When I had asked the parents how they had heard about CLC, many of them shared that they heard about us from their friends who are current CLC community members.   I want to give a special shout out to all of our current Belmont parents!  Thanks to your efforts talking about CLC in your community, we had dozens of Belmont families attending this morning's meeting.

Our tour dates are filling up fast with many more inquiring parents than was originally anticipated.  Tour dates will be on most Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-10:30 AM.  Please know that at this time, both Stacy and I may be walking the campus with our groups.  These tours will begin next week and last through the second week of February.

A prospective parent did leave their jacket behind at the end of the meeting.  If you attended Saturday's meeting and did forget to pick-up your jacket, please call or email the CLC Main Office.

Our next CLC Enrollment Orientation Meeting will be held this coming Thursday, Janaury 14th, from 6:00-8:00 PM, in the CLC Library.  We look forward to seeing everyone there!

My special thanks to Jen Cohen, Charlene Nelson, and Gwynne Curtis for planning and organizing this morning's well run event.  And, a special thanks to all the Educators and Parents that spoke this morning and gave of their time:  Erin Broderick, Jenn Leydecker, Stacy Emory, Fran Dickinson, Karrie Amsler, Inga Davis, Kim Holl, Jessica Burtis Linderman, Sonya Sigler, Andrew Luey, Zarrin Tafsiri, Ana Lizarraga, Helen Casserly and Marianne Petersen.

Everyone did such a great job!

--Chris Mahoney

December 4, 2009

 

This morning, we had about 18 people present for our Director's Coffee and it was an excellent meeting!  It felt great to get back to talking about teaching.  I did share with the group a quick update on the CLC budget.  In addition, I shared some of my comments I made from a recent presentation.  Stacy and I did remind everyone that one of the challenges CLC faces each year is that CLC does not receive the same level of funding as other schools in the SCSD and we continue to look for ways to diversify our revenue streams to help fill this gap.  For the 2008-09 fiscal year, CLC received about $578 less per child in federal and state revenues compared to other schools.  Proportionally, this is the equivalent of about $140,000 less per year in funding.  We continue to look for ways to diversify our revenues to help bridge this gap.  In addition, I talked with the group and reminded everyone how last year CLC made some difficult decisions to raise class sizes, reduce some programs, freeze or reduce salaries, and change our overall school structure in response to CLC's financial situation.  We have not escaped any of the pain of budget cuts.

Finally, we gave the group a brief update on the conversation the GC had last month about considering an option to pursue a 501c3 non-profit incorporation for CLC.  I will be updating the GC on the potential next steps to this process at next week's meeting.  More details to follow from the GC Meeting next week.

The second half of the meeting was devoted to conversation around the CLC math program.  This was exciting as we talked about the "Exeter Math" program that is being used in our 7th and 8th grade as well as the underlying philosophical rationale of our K-4 math program.  The meeting ended with plans to provide some "math training" and interesting "Math Enrichment" classes for adults in the near future.

I attached a "pdf" copy of the Exeter Math Program, Math I, for anyone interested in looking at it.  The Exeter Math Program is available online and covers Algebra I through Calculus.  I encourage people to take a look at it.

Both Stacy and I were thankful to actually be able to talk about teaching and learning and to focus on the most important part of our school--the children!

 

---Chris Mahoney, Director San Carlos Charter Learning Center