Has anyone here been involved with starting a charter school?

[Globetrotter]

For a variety of reasons, some friends and I have been toying with the idea of starting a charter school to offer a more balanced student life, not focusing only on academics, and offering innovative teaching methods.
We have a lot to learn, and we don't know whether it's feasible in the current economic climate, etc...

Any thoughts on this?

[kali]

DH and I have. DS goes to it now. It has been awesome for us for so many reasons, but also an incredibly long and difficult road. There were at least 5-6 families deeply engaged throughout the several years between charter application to school opening. Even so, the effort would not have been successful if one person hadn't dedicated herself to it nearly full-time during that period with little or no pay.

PM me if you have detailed questions. I am familiar with the process in our area, but of course it is different across states/school districts. One thing you have going for you is that Obama and his Sec of Education support charters, both rhetorically AND financially.

[pinay]

I work at a public high school that went charter 2 years ago and it's been one of the best things we've done for ourselves and our students. I think a conversion is vastly different when compared to starting a charter school from scratch, but I know one of the biggest issues for us the past few years has been fiscal responsibility. It's probably the most common reason for charter schools to close.

Don't know if I'll have much to offer in the way of advice since it sounds like you're interested in a different path than my experience, but I'll try to answer any questions you might have.

[SnuggleBuggles]

My ds goes to a charter school that was just formed last year. I was not involved with the start up process beyond signing a petition of interest and distributing fliers.

The school district is very anti-charter schools so it was a rough go getting it approved.

IIRC, they tried to do it grassroots style but eventually got one of the commercial charter school overseeres involved so we could have their time, expertise and money to get through the planning and approval stages.

Beth

[brittone2]

A very close friend of mine was a teacher and wasn't happy with how things were going in education. She was staying home w/ her kids and debating homeschooling them. She and her husband were asked to help w/ the startup of a "green" and alternative-minded charter school, and they were extremely excited about it. The last I spoke w/ her it had rapidly become very political (I guess in terms of administration and how positions would be filled etc? ) and she and her DH dropped out of the planning. They are now going to HS their DDs instead.

I don't know more details than that, but I know they found the experience frustrating.

[kijip]

I think that it takes a few years to get something up and running so it is not something that will solve an educational issue you have having now or even soon.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I think it took 2 years for our school to get created, maybe 1.5. It got rejected on the first go and had to go to state appeals. I think it got kicked back down again and they had to revamp the curriculum almost entirely. I think the school finally got the charter granted in the spring and the school opened in the fall. It was total and utter craziness putting a school with 260 students together in a few short months. Anyone who volunteers to be involved with this sort of project needs to know that the time commitment can be huge.

Beth

[Globetrotter]

Thanks for the feedback. We are going to talk to the founders of other local schools to see if we even want to do it. I know it's going to be a long path, if we decide to pursue it. I will probably have more questions at that point!

[zen_bliss]

your state charter school association will be a good resource, as will networking with people involved with getting other local charters working. it takes an entrepreneur's spirit with a politician's drive -- you will essentially need to create a very thorough business plan with projections and a mission statement as well as gather support willing to provide signatures. it will take an absolute minimum of 1-2 years to get everything together to submit the charter for approval. good luck!