County Board of Education Hearing
(target date)
School Opening
Fall 2008!
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South Bay Prep
a free, public, charter school, open to all students;
a small school, with 20-25 students per class and about 100 students per grade with a positive, democratic school culture and involved parents;
all students are prepared for admission to college, with a curriculum based on California content standards and AP courses open to all;
innovative teaching methods, such as hands-on, interdisciplinary projects; performance-based assessment; and advancement through mastery;
and a strong advisory program teaching study skills, leadership and conflict resolution, college planning, and providing social, emotional, and academic support.
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Greetings!
We're so excited about our progress over the past couple months, so take a deep breath and please keep reading - we've got a lot to say!
Special Alert: We want to alert you to the possibility that we may open with 4 grades instead of 2 - 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. This will allow us to accept students whose elementary schools continue through 6th grade as well as supporters who have been with us since the beginning but thought that the delay in opening would rule out middle school at SBP for their children.
Thanks for staying connected and being patient as we work towards school opening in Fall '08 - we can't do this without your support. Drop us a line if you have any questions.
And as always, please forward this email (use link below) to anyone you know who is interested in an alternative for middle and high school.
Coleen Wagner
Felicia Gershberg
Vicky Gray-Clark
Chris Duckering
South Bay Prep Board of Directors
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New Found Partners
We are thrilled to announce that we will be the first EdVisions school in Northern California. EdVisions is a network of schools based on a philosophy that mirrors our own. EdVisions' mission is to create and sustain small, project-based, teacher-led, democratic schools. See their website for more information on who they are www.edvisions.com. Their first school, Minnesota New Country School, was recently named one of the top 8 charter secondary schools in the country by the U.S. Department of Education.
EdVisions has 11 schools in California as well as more than 20 other schools around the country. Since they have schools in California up and running using our philosophy, we have decided to join their network. There are two very good reasons for this partnership: 1) We can show the county successful, project-based schools in California that meet or exceed California state standards. They can see what our philosophy looks like in action. This should eliminate some of the uneasiness that came with the last petition as they couldn't really see how our lofty philosophical goals could really be implemented. 2) They supply coaching and support for schools that partner with them. They will help us to get our charter approved, and they will provide professional development to get our teachers oriented and trained in our philosophy and educational program so that we can get up and running smoothly.
We are getting additional help with our charter from another company, EdTec, which is a firm that provides complete business and technology services to California charter schools. See their website for more information www.edtec.biz. They have a lot of experience helping charter schools with the business part of their petitions, such as budgeting. This should lend a lot of credibility to our petition and give the board a sense of security that we are going to be professional in our handling of public funds.
We are very excited about these partnerships, which we believe will significantly strengthen our petition. Look for more information on partnerships as we move forward.
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Charter Update
The board had a very successful meeting with the county staff to discuss the petition, and we received very helpful feedback on changes they would like to see. We have established a good working relationship with the staff and are making the changes suggested, which should give us a very good shot at a recommendation of approval to the county board. Given the changes we have to make, we have decided to aim for an early Fall hearing. Stay tuned for updates on this.
We also want to alert you to the possibility that we will open with 4 grades - 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. This will allow us to accept students whose elementary schools continue through 6th grade as well as supporters who have been with us since the beginning but thought that the delay in opening would rule out middle school at SBP for their children.
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Where Do You Work?
To apply as a county-wide charter, we need to show the County Board that we have a county-wide support base (that's you!) AND we need to show them that we have partnerships with companies throughout the county in order to provide the kind of education we are aiming for.
We need you to bring a letter to your company (for example, a manager or a community outreach department), asking them to help us by providing support in a variety of ways, such as allowing a student to shadow a member of the company in the workplace, having a member of the company lead a short-term seminar or project at SBP, or having a member of the company mentor a student in a project that is related to his or her area of expertise. This is not a big commitment from your company, so we hope they will be happy to sign up.
We have written a draft of the letter - click here to download the letter - to bring to your company. We need a diverse group of companies so that every student can find something of interest, so, everyone (including small business owners and independent contractors), please help us with this.
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Update Your Info
It's easy! See below for how to do this. Here's why we need it:
In meeting with the county, we discovered that we need a little more information from you. If you attended a meeting or signed up online, you gave us your name, address, phone, and children's grades. We now find that having your ethnicity will help us fulfill a request by the county that we make our aim of diversity more concrete by setting a goal of enrolling specific percentages of students in each ethnic category. To do this, it would help to know the breakdown of our current supporters. We're asking you to spend 1-2 minutes to tell us your ethnicity and to verify the information we have for you. Of course, giving your ethnicity is optional, but it does help us in writing the charter and getting approval.
Also, we need updated information about your children's grade levels - we need your child's grade at school opening in Fall 2008. We would like to give the county a good idea of the number of students that are interested in attending the school in the first 3-5 years.
So, please enter one of the following for ethnicity: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Other, Decline to State. Verify the grade your child will be in for the 2008-2009 school year. Verify the other information we have for you is correct and fill in anything that is missing.
It's easy and doesn't take long at all. Go to our website www.southbayprep.org, and enter your email address (the one at which you receive this letter) in the box on the left labeled, "Join the Mailing List." You will see a screen asking you to press a button to send an email to this email address. Follow the link in the email, verify/complete the information presented, and press Submit. That's it, you're done!
If you receive this newsletter at more than one email address for the same child(ren) such as both spouses or someone with multiple email addresses, please enter the child information on one address only. Otherwise we will count your child(ren) twice.
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Facilities Search
We need everyone to be on the lookout for a potential site. Desirable sites are in a central location in Santa Clara County, close to transportation (light rail and/or multiple freeways). Churches are a good possibility, as they usually already have classrooms and don't need much tenant improvement. Office space is the next option but will require money to adapt. Ideally we'd like to find a space we won't have to move from as we grow, at least for the first couple of years. Here are minimum space requirements depending on how soon we want to move:
# of classrooms: 10 - 20 @ 800 sq ft each
restrooms: 800 sq ft
office space: 3 - 4 offices
library/open space: 1,000 - 2,000 sq ft
conference room (optional but nice): 1 - 2
TOTAL: 10,000 - 20,000 sq ft
We have a commercial real estate person looking for us as well but harnessing the power of our community will give us many more options.
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What South Bay Prep Means To Me
by Vicky Gray-Clark
Director, South Bay Prep Board
As a parent of second grader who is thriving in a small school and small classroom environment at a private Montessori school, I have started to slowly investigate the options available for our son's next phase of education -- since to this parent it seems that time flies by so quickly and before we know it, he'll be ready for middle school.
I attended my first South Bay Preparatory community meeting about 14 months ago to learn more about the emerging school. I was immediately inspired by the founding members' enthusiasm and unwavering commitment to creating a personalized learning environment that focused on high academic standards as well as impressed by two of the charter schools that it is emulating - Pacific Collegiate in Santa Cruz and Summit Prep in Redwood City - two schools that are flourishing. I was further impressed by the distinguished panel of South Bay Prep advisory board members affiliated with the school, many of them leading academics, who continue to contribute ideas and broker introductions with others prominent in academia - all efforts that continue to help shape the future of the school in a positive direction.
The group mentioned that volunteers were critical to the school's future success. Like most parents I felt there was no more room in my busy schedule but decided to volunteer a few hours a month towards the start-up efforts. After about 10 months I was invited to serve as a board member.
It is a privilege to contribute time and professional communication skills to help South Bay Prep move through the charter petition approval process and help handle the myriad details and planning necessary to bring an exceptional school to the community. It's nearly impossible to put in the words the amount of work and attention to detail required in this effort. That being said, the mission and values that South Bay Prep board members are committed to were created by parents in the community and resonate strongly within me personally as something that I not only want for my child but one that I wish for all students.
I am very excited that South Bay Prep is working with EdVisions and the Coalition of Essential Schools to bring a personalized, democratic and intellectually vital school environment to students in Santa Clara County. And, I look forward to becoming involved in a positive school culture where the pursuit of ideas and individual differences are valued, and parental involvement beyond the PTA is viewed as an asset.
As a member of the Board, I look forward to meeting more of our supporters in the near future!
If you would like to share what South Bay Prep means to you with the rest of our mailing list, please send us your story, and we will send it out in a future newsletter.
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