CommunityNewsletter

Thursday, October 8,1998

Dear CLC parents and friends,

Thanks, so much, for your continued support. Wereally appreciate all that you have done to get us to this point! Ourprogress to date has been quite remarkable, and we look forward to"completing the trip."

As we discussed, our final "destination" is aschool in which every child is actively engaged in project-basedlearning, and is making progress toward a personalized learning plan.It’s a school in which all parents have more and betterinformation about the progress students are making, and one in whichstudents have powerful learning resources both at school and at home,and know how to use them well. And, it’s a school in which wehave developed strong, productive relationships between school andhome &emdash; relationships that lead to the development of happy,capable, confident people.

As we all know, we are not there yet.But don’t be disappointed, that’s the way complex changeswork. Numerous books and articles have been written about thephenomenon. Whenever you make a significant change, productivity goesthrough what experts call an "S curve," like this…

Productivity increases slowly at the beginning,as people adjust to new routines and methods, but then productivitypicks up dramatically, and climbs for quite a while before eventuallyleveling off again.

When my mind wanders, it wanders to CLC issues.The other day I carved out a few hours to work on a deck we’readding to our home, and I had an "Aha! Experience." The deck-buildingproject and the development of the CLC have a lot in common! The deckproject began with a period of thinking about what our home would belike with a deck, and some time spent with books and magazines on thesubject. Then, to investigate the possibilities, we went to Lowes,where a salesman sat down at a computer and quickly moved our ideasonto the screen and automatically developed a parts list and a price.We left with a pretty good idea of what we wanted to build, whatmaterials we’d need, and a good estimate of the cost.

That was in June. I then sat down at mycomputer and created my own customized set of plans, and produced theforms and supporting documents I’d need to apply for permits.The process of getting permits took quite a while, but when I gotapproval I had new information that resulted in a better plan and ahopefully a stronger, longer lasting result.

It took a few hours to create the web ofstrings that would guide us during construction, after which the"real work" began. What I now call "the dirt phase" involved digging18 holes (each 3 feet deep), pouring a concrete foundation in eachhole, adding precisely positioned brackets and posts, and refillingthe holes. It took many hours, over several weeks. When that stagewas complete, there wasn’t much to show for all that work, butwe were actually well on our way. A few weeks ago, the area lookedlike a battlefield, and last week it was just a bunch of polessticking up out of the ground. But now, with that solid foundation inplace, we are making rapid progress, and it won’t be long nowbefore all that hard work pays off.

So, what does that have to do with us? Foryears we’ve been studying education and visiting interestingschools (the idea stage). Just five short months ago, our charter wasgranted (the permit stage). Since that time, we have: recruited anamazing cast of students and families; hired an excellent staff;found a fine location; acquired furniture and equipment; defined thecurriculum; implemented a financial management system; installed acomputer network; ordered software to support student learning goals;initiated a school lunch program; opened for business, andincorporated (the foundation stage).

Now, thanks to lots of hard work from ourteachers and great volunteer contributions by our parents, we’reclimbing toward the steep part of the S curve. In our first fewweeks, we have worked hard to assess and develop writing skills,arithmetic skills, and technology skills, and to develop importantattributes in students that will make the goal of independent,project-based learning possible. I believe, now more than ever, thatwe can attain our goal. We can create the school I described in theopening paragraphs. To do this, we’ll have to work together,openly and honestly, and resist the temptation to judge too quickly.It is my hope that this newsletter and the conversations that followit will be steps in that important direction. Please read on, andplease use one of the methods described below to help move the CLCforward.

"Romewasn’t

built inday."

---

Parent Concerns

Result in ImportantAction

by Kyle Peck

Dr. Tom King, a friend of mine, was the founderof the "Saturn School," an innovative, technology-rich "magnetschool" in St. Paul, Minnesota. In a recent conference presentation,"Lessons from Saturn," Tom made a very important point. He said thatevery innovative school needs a "critical friend," someone who willtell you what you need to hear, even if it isn’t easy tosay.

The CLC is VERY fortunate to have severalcritical friends &emdash; parents who are not afraid to tell us whatthey think, even when they don’t particularly like what theysee. At the CLC we believe that constructive criticism, tempered bypatience, is crucial to our success.

The purposes of this article are:

1. to summarize the concerns parents have voiced to date
2. to describe our plans to deal with the concerns, and
3. to introduce new ways of raising and discussing issues.

The major concerns we’ve heard so farare:

• "The students are not well supervised at lunch and after school."
• "The teachers are working too hard."
• "I don’t see enough (insert a subject here) happening."
• "The behavior of other students is limiting what CLC can do for my child."
• "I don’t have enough information about what’s happening at school."

I’ll discuss each of these concernsbriefly below, and will invite an extended on-line discussion ofthese concerns at the end of this article.

Concern #1: "The students are not wellsupervised at lunch and after school."

At first, I resisted taking action on thisconcern for three reasons: 1) I felt that providing unnecessarilyhigh levels of supervision costs money that I’d rather spend onlearning resources for students. 2) I found it curious that we wouldrequire a teacher to be in visual contact with children at school,when at home adults are clearly not in visual contact at all times.We’re in "auditory contact," but not visual contact. 3) If weover monitor students, when will they develop the capacity to monitorthemselves? Several of the attributes we’re intent on developing("self-discipline," responsibility, respect for others, respect forproperty, and others) are not optimally developed when an adult isalways here to require that students live within externally imposedguidelines. 4) I felt that these kids should be allowed to have fun,since many of them are in school from 7:30 &emdash; 5:30 &emdash; aten-hour day that eliminates other opportunities for "kids to bekids."

However, after hearing repeated suggestionsthat we tighten the reigns, and hearing requests from some parentsthat we make it easier for students who have other obligations in theevening to do their homework and spend their time in other productiveways, we have devised and implemented the following plan.

Starting on Monday, October 5^th,parent volunteers will be at the CLC to help with supervision ofstudents during lunch and after school. Parent Volunteer KateItinger has done a great job of drumming up a list of willing andable volunteers, but I’m sure would be eager to hear from otherparents who want to help out.

The upstairs classroom will be reserved fortwo types of activities: 1) Quiet Study, and 2) Quiet Games. Theupstairs classroom is within "earshot" of the office area, and theteachers and I will step in if we hear any noise from this room. Iwill be acquiring a few more quiet games that require strategy orother skills, like chess, "Othello,." and jigsaw puzzles.

The downstairs classroom will be reservedfor supervised activities, which will increase in number. Wealready have parent volunteers who have expressed an interest inoffering 4-H, Odyssey of the Mind, a Young Authors’ Club, and aDrama Club, and other ideas are welcome, too. We will send homeannouncements as these opportunities are firmed up.

Concern #2: "The teachers are working toohard."

As I look at all of the threats to thefuture of the CLC, my biggest concern is that the teachers areworking WAY too hard. Although it’s not easy to get accuratedata on this from them, we’re probably looking at abouttwelve-hour days, and not just five each week. These are dedicatedpeople, and they care about your child’s progress. They want tomake it all happen at once, but it simply can’t.

To be honest, we all knew that the first twomonths would be a horrendous workload. That’s not a surprise.But we didn’t anticipate a few factors that have compounded theworkload problem.

Delays in purchasing were caused by troublegetting leases for equipment because we had no "financial history."We lost several weeks trying to come out from under these startupproblems, and several more with manufacturers’ delays inshipping, as we waited for the latest and greatest products to ship,long after we were told they would arrive. As a result, Josephine hasbeen "limping along" on an outdated laptop computer, and does nothave full access to the network and the applications that will soonarrive.

To address this problem

We are searching for an additional"Instructional Aide" to allow one full-time aide to work witheach teacher all day.

Malena Moore has contacted Penn State’sCollege of Education and has invited students studying to becometeachers to volunteer time to assist in CLC classrooms. A meetinghas been scheduled to talk with over 15 interested studentteachers.

The teachers have move toward our ultimategoal of individualized education in stages, rather than trying to getthere all at once. By working with three or four groups of six oreight students it is possible to provide appropriate levels ofchallenge without the increased preparation time required byfull-scale individualization.

We have grouped the students into two teams,and have each teacher working with a single group most of theday. We meet briefly as a large group at the beginning of eachday, and them split into the two teams, generally coming backtogether for lunch and PE. This gives the teachers and students abetter opportunity to get to know each other, which simplifies theplanning process.

I am trying to absorb some of the calls andduties that would normally be directed to the teachers. Thisnewsletter, for example, will normally have columns and othercontributions by each of the teachers and students, too, but I wrotethis first issue to protect their time. If you have general questionsor a comment on the operation of the school, please contact me,rather than one of the teachers.

Each day the process is working a bit better,and the teachers and students become more capable and comfortable intheir new roles. Let’s keep an eye on this one…

Concern #3: "I don’t see enough(insert a subject here) happening."

Please be patient. Our promise to youwas that your children would learn the topics normally covered ingrades five through eight, but not necessarily in the sameorder. In addition, we promised to work toward greater levels ofcreativity, problem solving, teamwork, confidence, and otherimportant attributes. If you don’t see enough of a particularsubject, please remember that we made a multi-year commitment to yourchildren, and we are accountable for delivering the full range ofacademic content, as defined in the documents we distributed. If, ina month or so you are still not happy with your child’s activityin a particular subject, please call me. At that time we may be ableto enhance your child’s academic program in thatarea.

Concern #4: "The behavior of otherstudents is limiting what CLC can do for mychild."

I believe I speak for the others when I saythat we are disappointed with the behavior of some students. Whileeach of our students is remarkable in many ways, and I wouldn’ttrade any of them (Really!), many are simply not ready to operate inthe activity-oriented mode we envision. Some lack interpersonalskills, some are very easily distracted, and others engage inbehavior that is disruptive and takes the teacher and class offtrack. Add to that the fact that most of our students have never evenSEEN the type of cooperation we’re looking for, and the factthat many adults can’t function this way, and you’ll seethat it’s a tall order.

However, we remain convinced that all of ourstudents will attain the level of understanding of their role and theskills the role requires. We have all read the research on theeffects of rewards and punishments, and we all want to develop aschool in which students perform and behave guided by an internalsense of right and wrong, and not out of fear of punishment or desirefor a reward. We want students to experience natural consequences fortheir misbehavior, and we want them to see participation in CLCactivities as the privilege they are earning through responsiblebehavior.

So, given the fact that behavior is a problemfor some of our students, but not others, we have taken the followingsteps:

All students were given a CLC Plus Card thatsignifies that they are responsible people and should be given theright to participate in all CLC activities. When students misbehave,these cards are revoked. Students who do not have a card cannotgo to certain locations at certain times (minimally supervised areasduring lunch and after school) and may not be allowed to go onwalking field trips or other activities during which responsiblebehavior is required.

Fighting and other acts that jeopardizestudent safety will not be tolerated. Students who fight will beimmediately removed from the classroom. Their parents will becontacted, and the student will not be allowed to return from schoolfor two days.

Because students at this age are very concernedabout their social status, and because their emotions are tied totheir academic performance, "fighting with words" will result inimmediate repossession of the CLC Plus card, for a two-dayperiod.

We believe that all of our students have greatpotential, and we are confident that we will not need to use any ofthese responses very often.

Concern #5: "I don’t have enoughinformation about what’s happening at school."

You are absolutely correct, and I takeresponsibility for this. We promised you "more and betterinformation about your child’s progress," including onlineaccess to student information. We’re working on it. We havedeveloped databases that describe: the projects students are workingon, the assignments teachers are giving, and the quality with whichstudents are completing assignments. Parent volunteer John Cieply isdeveloping computer programs that will allow parents to type in alogin and "PIN Number" and will then retrieve and display the datafor your child.

Unfortunately, we are still a few weeks awayfrom providing the type of information you want. I predict thatcertain types of online information will be available online beforethe end of October, and more will follow. Your patience in this area,too, is appreciated.

In summary, we hear and share your concerns,and we are taking steps to address all of your concerns.

To make your thoughts known on these orother issues, do one of the following:

• Call Kyle at 861-7980. (If you like, you can call after hours and leave a message on the answering machine.)
• Use one of the "online conversations" we have established. (Go to our website at clccharter.org, and follow the links.)
• Send a note in with your son or daughter, and ask them to put it in the "Suggestion Box" beside the photocopier.
• Come in any time and talk with Kyle about your concerns.

CLC Students AlmostReady

to Bring iMacsHome!

That’s right! Our CLC students have justabout mastered the skills they need to ensure success when they takethe CLC iMacs home. Each student will work to demonstrate the skillslisted below, and when all have been completed we’ll send abrief "permission slip" home to arrange a time for you to pick up theiMac.

Here are the skills students mustdemonstrate before they bring the iMac home:

____ Open Claris Works

____ Write a short paper and save it using Claris Works

____ Create a folder

____ Move a document from one folder to another

____ Use the "Find File" software to locate software and documents

____ Send an email message

____ Send an email message with attachments

____ Receive an email message

____ Receive an email message with attachments

____ Reply to an email message

____ Open Claris Home Page

____ Create and save a simple web page

____ Browse the Internet

____ Search the Internet

____ Copy Text and graphics from Web pages to word processing documents

____ Explain what "copyright" is and how to avoid copyright violations

____ Explain the CLC Internet Use Policy

____ State the URLs of the CLC server, the CLC "tools" directory, and your directory

____ Use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to transfer documents to and from the CLC server

____ Describe how to set up an iMac

Most students are nearly ready, and weanticipate sending the first iMacs home this weekend!

Please start thinking about where you’llput the computer when it comes home, and whether you’ll be ableto attach it to a phone line for Internet access, which willsignificantly increase the value of the computer. If the fee forInternet access presents a problem, please do not feel obligated toprovide it. We are writing a grant and with any luck we may be ableto offer to pay for Internet access in homes where this presents afinancial hardship. In addition, we have ordered ten "Superdrives"that students without access to the Internet can use to transporttheir work from home to school.

To assist you in getting an Internetconnection, Kate Itinger (CLC Parent) has compiled some informationabout some of the companies you might wish contact to gain access tothe Internet. This information is attached. These are not the onlyproviders -- others can be found by looking up "Internet Services" inthe phone book. Thanks, Kate, for creating this.

Thanks, to you, too, parents, for opening yourhomes to this "new addition." We are confident that the educationalopportunities this affords will greatly outweigh anyinconvenience.

When your child brings home the iMac, you willwant to consider connecting it to the Internet, a global computernetwork. Apple has made this very easy (although not quite as easy astheir TV commercials make it look). The following notes are takenwith a few minor modifications)

pfrom the Apple documentation that comes withthe iMac…

The Macintosh operating system software (OS 8)comes with an Internet Setup Assistant to help you set up Internetaccess either through an Internet service provider (ISP) or a localarea network (LAN). Double-click the Internet Setup Assistant iconlocated in the Internet folder on your hard disk to set up yourcomputer to connect to the Internet.

The Internet Setup Assistant provides you twooptions:

Register connects you to the NetscapeInternet Account Server, where you can select an ISP and set up anaccount with that provider.

Update lets you add an Internetconfiguration for an ISP or a LAN connection. You also use the updatefeature to modify or remove existing Internetconfigurations.

For either option, follow the onscreeninstructions and type the appropriate information in each screen. Ifyou don't know all the information you are asked for, contact yourISP.

Connecting to the Internet

Your iMac is set to dial automatically intoyour ISP when you open an Internet application, such as ClarisEmailer Lite, Eudora, or Outlook Express. If you turn off theauto-dial option, or you have more than one Internet configuration,you use the Internet Dialer to connect. The Internet Dialer islocated in the Internet folder on your hard disk.

Disconnecting from theInternet

When you have finished your work on theInternet and want to free the telephone line for use by others, quiteach of the Internet applications that are open (like OutlookExpress, Netscape, Fetch, or Internet Explorer), then use theInternet Dialer to disconnect.