Charter school wins approval.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

With the Eugene School Board's unanimous approval Wednesday, the district will have a fourth charter school come fall.

Following a model unique to Oregon and possibly the nation, the Network Charter School will link seven disparate, community-based education programs into a unified middle and high school.

Operating at several different locations under contract with a single administrative entity, the programs promise to provide a full range of academic offerings with a focus on self-directed, project-based learning.

It is an ambitious proposal - one that will be difficult to pull off, cautioned Tom Henry, the district's assistant superintendent for instruction.

"We're not saying this can't be done," he told the board. "But it's going to be a huge challenge."

The member groups - all of them established organizations with respected educational programs - are the Center for Appropriate Transport, or CAT, an alternative education program that teaches courses such as bicycle design and manufacturing, and industrial sewing; Full Circle Farm, an organic farm that runs an education program for teens; Le Petit Gourmet, a bakery and culinary arts program targeting kids with learning disabilities; Nearby Nature, a center focused on education about the natural world and environmental stewardship; Creative Minds, an alternative academic program for students who haven't succeeded in regular middle and high school; Skinner City Farm, a community garden and youth farm program with an emphasis on local history; and the Materials Exchange Center for Community Art, or MECCA, a nonprofit center that collects recyclable items for art projects and offers community classes.

Most of the organizations are based in or plan to locate in the Whiteaker neighborhood.

At a public hearing last month, several board members questioned the school's ability to deliver a complete education that meets rigorous state and federal standards.

Henry said the proposed curriculum guide is indeed complete and impressive - at least on paper.

For example, students will be able to earn high school diplomas as well as certificates of advanced mastery, or CAMs, which show proficiency in a career strand. Sample courses will include ecological literature at Nearby Nature, local history at Skinner City Farm and a bike lab at CAT that will touch on numerous mathematical and engineering concepts.

But Henry said it's impossible to say whether the quality of teaching, the student schedules and the delivery of instruction will measure up until the school is established and running.

Charter schools, ushered in by 1999 legislation, have their own governing boards and are free of some of the policies regular schools must follow. For instance, only half a charter school's teachers must be certified. Through sponsoring districts, charter schools receive at least 80 percent of the per-pupil allocation from the state for elementary and middle school students and 95 percent for high school students. Districts keep the rest.

Eugene is home to three other charter schools, all of which opened in 2000: The Village School, Ridgeline Montessori Public Charter School and Pioneer Youth Corps Military Academy. A fourth applicant, the Children's Peace Academy, was turned down earlier this year and has appealed to the state. The board felt that the K-8 school would have an adverse impact on already struggling elementary schools by luring away students and state dollars.

While some board members expressed concerns about the potential costs of the Network Charter School, district staff said the impact will be substantially smaller than the Children's Peace Academy because many of the 60 to 100 students the school expects to attract are already enrolled in alternative programs, which are funded in a similar manner.

However, as part of the recommendation, the board agreed to a moratorium on additional charter schools for the 2003-05 biennium, unless the district decides to launch its own. Other school districts have done so partly as a way to access grant funds available only to charter schools.

School founder Jan VanderTuin, director of CAT, said he learned Friday that the district staff report would recommend approval. He said Wednesday that he's largely pleased with the proposed agreement, though he is disappointed that the district will not allow dual enrollment between the charter school and district schools.

"We should have all these options available," he said.