Two field trips in a single week! Onedown, one to go. Yesterday we hopped over puddles (which the girlsinform me is no small feat in a long skirt) and spent time withfinancial experts at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. While some ofour students have spent time in large cities, one of the treats formany was the sheer size of the buildings. For others, sharing storieswith people who think for a living was a real treat. What a nicecapstone activity for the CLC investment project! Special thanks toMark Toci, Josephine Pirrone, and CLC parent John Beard for theirwork in designing the project and planning this trip.

Friday's trip to Gettysburg is ahorse of a very different color. Instead of city canyons formed byskyscrapers and an emphasis on economics, we'll walk rollingfields and be surrounded by history. Thanks to Josephine Pirrone andBill Brusse for pulling this expedition together. Thanks, too to allof the chaperones who accompany our troupe when we hit the road. Youmake this type of learning possible!

Because we care so deeply about theprogress our students are making, and because it is so important thatwe demonstrate the power of what we are doing to the State CollegeArea School Board, we have implemented a comprehensive assessmentprogram. Dr. Tim Daniels, the PA Department of Education's"point man" for charter schools, reviewed our plan and was soimpressed that he asked if we would present it to a meeting of theother schools in the state.

You have an important role to playin this assessment. One aspect of the assessment (funded by thestate, not the CLC) is a parent survey. I know what you'rethinking - "Another survey? Haven't they heard enough fromus?" I realize that we have asked for lots of feedback lately, butthis time the sealed confidential responses will go to a team ofresearchers at Western Michigan University, and the responses fromall of PA's charter schools will be analyzed and reported toeach school and as a whole. The researchers have selected (at random)25 parents to receive the survey. We provided them the mailinglabels, and the surveys went out Monday, 5/24. Please return them tothe CLC in the enclosed envelope. We will not open the envelopes - I'll just collect them and send them on to theresearchers when we have a complete set. (The return address labelhas your address on it, so we'll be able to follow up with aphone call or second mailing, if necessary to get all 25back.)

In addition to this Parent Survey,our students have taken a total of 8 tests, covering all subjectareas. The results of these tests will become available as the summerrolls on, and we'll let you know when we have the results pulledtogether in a meaningful way. Penn State has granted me a researchassistant for 120 hours this summer to help us gather and interpretthe data. Roxanne Toto has been selected for this position, and shestarts today. The State College Area School District has agreed toprovide us with the data we need to compare the progress of ourstudents with the progress of comparable students in districtschools. We are eager to see the results of our efforts, despite thefact that new educational programs never reveal their true potentialin the first year of operation. Staytuned! 

Roxanne Toto, PSU ResearchAssistant

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Don’t forget the

Parent & Board Meetings onThursday, 5/27/99!

(We will keep both short so we can all get somesleep before the field trip to Gettysburg.)

A team of charter school applicants led by Dr.David Popp will be visiting the CLC on Wednesday, 5/26. Thesepioneers are hard at work to get a charter approved by the JohnstownSchool Board, and they are coming to the CLC for ideas andinspiration. If you see visitors, let them know how you feel aboutthe CLC and the value of Charter Schools.

It's that time again! As we wrap our firstyear of CLC operation, it's time to set the wheels in spin fornext year. Expansion of facilities and faculty areunderway (nothing to announce just yet, but we should have great newson both in the next few weeks). So now it's time to let parentsin the area know that we are expanding and that there will beopportunities for some new fifth and sixth grade students to attendthe CLC next school year.

We anticipate about 28 openings next year and,without advertising, we already have 12 applications on file.Advertisements should start running today, and will appear in threeissues of the Centre Daily Times each week for the next three weeks.These advertisements invite prospective parents to attend informationmeetings at the CLC, beginning at 7:00 pm on the followingdates:

• Wednesday, May 26
• Tuesday, June 1, and
• Monday, June 7

As was the case last year, we anticipate twolotteries. Our first lottery will be on June 10, during which weshould be able to accept all applicants, unless an unanticipatedflood of applicants materializes. Then, based on the number ofvacancies that remain, we'll consider additional advertising andwill set a second lottery date, trying to ensure that we have all ofthe students we need, but trying not to disappoint anyone.

We appreciate the help you provide by tellingyour friends about the CLC. Our "satisfied customers" are our bestadvertising. If you'd like some brochures to hand to friends,feel free to pick some up at the school. They will be available atThursday's meeting.

At our last Board of Directors' Meeting wedecided that the time had come to add an "Administrative Assistant"to the CLC staff. As you know, the CLC has been operating in a modewe call "administration light." We take pride in that, and it hasmade money available for important learning resources and forexpenses related to next year's expansion.

However, the service we have been providing toyou, as parents, has not been very good. Phones often go unanswered,messages taken by students don't always find their intendedtargets, and requests for information are not always handled in atimely manner. When computers or copiers go down, teachers and aideshave to spend valuable time to deal with the problem. And, someopportunities for external funding have come and gone because wedidn't have time to submit a proposal.

We didn't have to look far for thesolution! We hired Brian Rowan as our Administrative Assistant, forfour hours each day. You already know Brain. He's the fine youngman who is currently running our after school program. Brian willcontinue to work with our students after school, in addition to hisduties as Administrative Assistant. He has been answering phones,taking our ailing computers in for repairs, investigating mathcurricula, and researching networking options for our new location.Brian will work with us four hours each day through the summer, tohelp make sure that we start smoothly in September.

In addition, we've asked Malena Moore andCarol Sonenklar (Sam's Mom and author of children's books)to work as a team to develop a response to a call for proposals fromthe Disney Foundation. The proposal, which would hire people todesign and develop the ideal replacement for our current onlineparent information system, seems an ideal fit. However, if Disneydoesn't go for it, we'll have our team of consultants tomodify it and submit it to another likely source. Thanks, Brain,Malena, and Carol!

Diane Lehman, CLC Instructional Aide, isinterested in providing tutoring services this summer. If you wouldlike to make arrangements for Diane to work with one or more of yourchildren, please contact her at 861-6037 (evenings and weekends) orby email at diane@clccharter.org

What a year it has been! We are so proud of theCLC pioneers &emdash; the families, the students, the teachers, theaides, and all of the volunteers &emdash; that we're going tocelebrate on the last day of school. We've rented the pavilionsat Tussey Mountain, and hired a caterer to provide a simple meal forthe CLC community. We will provide hamburgers, hotdogs, and a fewside dishes. Bring a side dish if you like, but it's notnecessary. The batting cages will be open for our use, and each CLCstudent will get a free ticket for a go-cart ride.

You are welcome to bring the whole family, butwe'll need to know how many will be attending. Please send anemail to our new Administrative Assistant, Brian Rowan, atbrian@clccharter.org.If email is not a good option for you, please call 861-7996 and leavea message on the CLC recorder.

If your CLC student will be attending thepicnic, transportation to Tussey Mountain will be provided. Parentsare responsible for providing or arranging transportation home. Busstudents who attend school on June 11, but will not be attending thepicnic will be dismissed at 12:30, to ride the high school busses,which leave at that time. Dinner will begin at 6:00. If it rains, wewill move inside.

This should be a GREAT way to end theyear!