showed up in my driveway on the front page of the garner-clayton record, but also is on the smithfield herald website. :w00t: :hurray: Neuse Charter Expands
DB, you seem to be "in the loop", any guesses as to the timeline for expanding to Grade 12? I've got 2 who keep on missing the age by a year (or 2), and I would love to have Charter School as an option. Next year, maybe?
Dgsat our goal is to at least "keep up" with the current kids. We'll go faster if it's feasible and in the best interest of the school long term...
nothing really, just that from an objective point of view the thing you like about the charter school is that it makes a mockery of the gov't school system. when putting together bullet lists of selling points about the school for our website or for reporters, it's not an angle we usually cover
Charter schools are subject to the same mandates and requirements as any other public school. The only difference is that the money is not funneled through the "LEA" or local educational area, or county. So, I'm not sure how charter schools make a mockery of "public" schools since they ARE public schools!
Only a matter of time before Johnston has another private school or likely even more than one with the rate the western half of the county is growing. Johnston County needs a private school so that parents have an option and really the 4042 area is probably the most ideal location.
Johnston Christian Academy was in Smithfield for years and it went out of business this summer. I don't know if there would be enough support ($$$) for a private school. Greenfield Academy in Wilson seems to do OK but I understand that the tuition is major dollars. So far the homeschoolers seem to have the most distance from the public schools but they too are subject to state mandates (tests, etc.).
I'm not for sure about whether it was a money issue or not. However, I believe that there is a strong likelihood that a smaller private school (300-400 kids) could be supported in the western side of the county. Of course, that might would conflict with Wake Christian Academy. However, WCA is not that convenient for Johnstonians since its way over on 401. I think the 40-42 area is ripe for a private school and there are probably enough parents out there that can swing a monthly tuition payment for their kid(s).
The Johnston Christian Academy was shut down because of money. The church on the site had just built a gym for them for a million plus. There was a lot of bad blood between the school people and church people (articles in the Smithfield Herald, etc.) when it happened. I'm not saying that you're not right about this area being a good one for a private school. I am surprised that C3 hasn't been pursuing opening one (although they may be, I don't know.) They would have enough money to launch one, I suppose. JCS are building schools as fast as they can and it seems like it isn't fast enough and they are always overcrowded (kids in trailers). That being said, the test scores of the schools in the Cleveland area are always the highest in the county, so I don't think quality is an issue, even with large numbers in the classrooms.
we have to take EOG's, yes. we actually have more stringent standards to meet with regard to teacher certification. we are free to pursue our own curriculum focus so long as we are able to meet the state's basic requirements. our in-house standards are much higher. we are free to pursue those ends as we see fit. we employ a critical thinking/socratic/padaia (sp) method. students are constantly assessed, and instruction is tailored to them on an almost individual level. in any classroom of 20 kids, there might be 5 different reading groups. we are able to allow higher performing kids to actually participate in another grade level. for example, a high performing 2nd grader might go to a 3rd grade class for reading and math an hour a day. the same is true in reverse, by the way. we have on average 10 students per classroom less than your regular public school. yes, we get funds from the state/fed govt, but they resent the fact that they can only tell us what to do with it up to a certain point. they don't give us a location or building, no sports fields or equipment, no busses, no cafeteria. it almost seems to me that the hurdles put in place for charter schools are a result of the state only begrudgingly allowing charters schools to exist. a small portion of our funding is from the county (actually, counties. we have students from at least 4 or 5 counties), but we are not technically part of the county school system, so they have no say over us. eventually the school will own its own facilities, not the county or state. we are a public school that operates like a private school. we have a board of directors, who make pretty much all decisions as it relates to the operation of the school. we are a non-profit organziation. we hire/fire our own teachers as we see fit... i think in general the way a charter school might be percieved to be making a mockery of the regular public school system is probably this: we are able to pursue the end goals the way we see fit, not how the system dictates. when we haul off and start our own thing because we believe the current system is ineffective, then proceed to outperform the test scores of 2/3 of the county in only our second year, the "regular" system types don't like it...
you might want to check those test scores. according to the abc's site, the clayton schools were the tops. riverdale, riverwood, east and west clayton i'm pretty sure outperformed cleveland and polenta. i'll try to find the link... edit: correction. cleveland elem/middle did very well. http://abcs.ncpublicschools.org/abc...r=2008-2009&pList=2&pListVal=Johnston&pPage=1
