Post by doctorwho on May 6, 2010 5:57:43 GMT -6
Reform bill would allow local charter school
Comments
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2241774,6_1_NA06_CHARTER_S1-100506.article
May 6, 2010
By KATHY CICHON kcichon@stmedianetwork.com
While there's still much work to be done, plans for an "innovative" and "groundbreaking" partnership among several school districts and Aurora University to establish a charter/magnet hybrid school took a step closer to reality this past week.
"It's very exciting," Sherry Eagle, director of Aurora University's Institute for Collaboration, said Wednesday. "The university and four school districts coming together with community partners to share in the responsibility of educating the community's children in math and science."
Partnering with Aurora University on the project are Indian Prairie District 204, West Aurora School District 129, East Aurora School District 131 and Oswego Community Unit School District 308.
To help make this possible, Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, and Rep. Linda Chapa La Via, D-Aurora, recently introduced a charter school reform bill in Springfield.
"This bill will enable the Institute for Collaboration of Aurora University and its partners to form a charter school for students in the top 3 percent of their class in math and science," Cross said in a news release. "These third- through eighth-grade students will be taught problem-based learning. They will research real issues facing the city, local businesses or industries, and develop solutions."
House Bill 6862 states that if more than one school district jointly issues a charter to a single shared charter school, then the charter school may focus attendance to only residents of a municipality shared by the districts. Instead of a lottery, it can select students for enrollment based on admission criteria that focuses on academic proficiency in science and mathematics. The legislation also prohibits a charter school from discriminating on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, gender, national origin, religion, ancestry, marital status, or need for special education services in the establishment of the charter school in its attendance boundaries or in the selection of students for enrollment.
Eagle said the innovative charter academy will inspire a new generation in the areas of mathematics and science "that will be essential to our community's workforce and economic growth."
The partnership is called the Aurora Mathematics and Science Education System, and has already provided after-school and summer middle school programs in math and science. The idea for the charter school evolved from discussion among area school teachers and university faculty involved in the creation of new math and science graduate studies programs at AU. They talked about the "need to excite more young people into those areas, and ultimately career paths," Eagle said.
"In order to get that you need to start in the school system to ignite the imagination and inspiration," Eagle said.
District 204 officials briefly discussed the proposal at last week's board meeting.
"This is an opportunity I think will be great for our school district," said Jay Strang, assistant superintendent for instructional services.
Currently there are not a lot of specifics in place, he said.
"There are not a lot of details right now about how many kids from each school district would attend, where would they go, what types of teachers would teach those courses — would it be ours, would it be East, would it be West, would a combination of all of them, how much money would be coming in from possible federal or state grants, how much from corporate or private donors. All that's to be determined," Strang said.
Eagle said the discussion is very young right now.
"Right now we're focused on getting the legislation to make it an opportunity," Eagle said.
It will likely be a couple of years before the school opens, Strang said. It would likely be located on the Aurora University campus. At last week's District 204 meeting, Superintendent Kathy Birkett said the school would probably start with about 300 students, possibly growing to 600.
"It's not going to happen overnight, and it's not going to happen with thousands and thousands of students," Birkett said.
District 204 official stressed they want to be sure all Indian Prairie students could attend the academy, whether they live in Aurora or not. Board members seemed to offer early support for the idea of the school
"I'm very excited about this partnership," board member Alka Tyle said.
Board President Curt Bradshaw said the school is "designed to be innovative and cutting-edge" and in such a way as "to attract significant dollars to be able to benefit the kids academically."
"We're not committing financially to anything at this point," Bradshaw said.
Comments
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2241774,6_1_NA06_CHARTER_S1-100506.article
May 6, 2010
By KATHY CICHON kcichon@stmedianetwork.com
While there's still much work to be done, plans for an "innovative" and "groundbreaking" partnership among several school districts and Aurora University to establish a charter/magnet hybrid school took a step closer to reality this past week.
"It's very exciting," Sherry Eagle, director of Aurora University's Institute for Collaboration, said Wednesday. "The university and four school districts coming together with community partners to share in the responsibility of educating the community's children in math and science."
Partnering with Aurora University on the project are Indian Prairie District 204, West Aurora School District 129, East Aurora School District 131 and Oswego Community Unit School District 308.
To help make this possible, Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, and Rep. Linda Chapa La Via, D-Aurora, recently introduced a charter school reform bill in Springfield.
"This bill will enable the Institute for Collaboration of Aurora University and its partners to form a charter school for students in the top 3 percent of their class in math and science," Cross said in a news release. "These third- through eighth-grade students will be taught problem-based learning. They will research real issues facing the city, local businesses or industries, and develop solutions."
House Bill 6862 states that if more than one school district jointly issues a charter to a single shared charter school, then the charter school may focus attendance to only residents of a municipality shared by the districts. Instead of a lottery, it can select students for enrollment based on admission criteria that focuses on academic proficiency in science and mathematics. The legislation also prohibits a charter school from discriminating on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, gender, national origin, religion, ancestry, marital status, or need for special education services in the establishment of the charter school in its attendance boundaries or in the selection of students for enrollment.
Eagle said the innovative charter academy will inspire a new generation in the areas of mathematics and science "that will be essential to our community's workforce and economic growth."
The partnership is called the Aurora Mathematics and Science Education System, and has already provided after-school and summer middle school programs in math and science. The idea for the charter school evolved from discussion among area school teachers and university faculty involved in the creation of new math and science graduate studies programs at AU. They talked about the "need to excite more young people into those areas, and ultimately career paths," Eagle said.
"In order to get that you need to start in the school system to ignite the imagination and inspiration," Eagle said.
District 204 officials briefly discussed the proposal at last week's board meeting.
"This is an opportunity I think will be great for our school district," said Jay Strang, assistant superintendent for instructional services.
Currently there are not a lot of specifics in place, he said.
"There are not a lot of details right now about how many kids from each school district would attend, where would they go, what types of teachers would teach those courses — would it be ours, would it be East, would it be West, would a combination of all of them, how much money would be coming in from possible federal or state grants, how much from corporate or private donors. All that's to be determined," Strang said.
Eagle said the discussion is very young right now.
"Right now we're focused on getting the legislation to make it an opportunity," Eagle said.
It will likely be a couple of years before the school opens, Strang said. It would likely be located on the Aurora University campus. At last week's District 204 meeting, Superintendent Kathy Birkett said the school would probably start with about 300 students, possibly growing to 600.
"It's not going to happen overnight, and it's not going to happen with thousands and thousands of students," Birkett said.
District 204 official stressed they want to be sure all Indian Prairie students could attend the academy, whether they live in Aurora or not. Board members seemed to offer early support for the idea of the school
"I'm very excited about this partnership," board member Alka Tyle said.
Board President Curt Bradshaw said the school is "designed to be innovative and cutting-edge" and in such a way as "to attract significant dollars to be able to benefit the kids academically."
"We're not committing financially to anything at this point," Bradshaw said.