District turns away from school.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - Despite ardent appeals from supporters and a last-ditch attempt by South Lane School Board Chairman Jim Goes to mend the district's broken partnership with Blue Mountain School, the board on Thursday refused to reverse its decision to sever ties with the unorthodox charter school.

By the same 4-3 vote it took July 9, the board reaffirmed its decision to end charter sponsorship of Blue Mountain midway through a two-year contract, citing concerns about safety and the school's failure to show evidence of learning.

While the initial vote had been a shock to Blue Mountain supporters, Thursday's was disappointing but not entirely unexpected.

Lesley Stine, a Blue Mountain founder, teacher/administrator and parent, said she was grateful to Goes for his unsuccessful motion to form a subcommittee of district and school employees and members of both boards to iron out acceptable conditions and continue the charter at least until it comes up for renewal in 2008.

"It's very disappointing," said Stine, who gave a heartfelt, half-hour presentation to the board earlier in the night, explaining her motivations in founding the school and outlining steps it has taken to try to satisfy the district. "I thought the solution the board chair presented was a perfectly reasonable way to cure what appeared to them to be breaches."

Stine said the school will do all it can to stay open, and can continue on as a charter school at least until the State Board of Education hears its appeal.

At least 75 people jammed the meeting room during two hours of testimony. Twenty-four spoke, all but three urging reconsideration, and more would have had the board extended the hearing time.

A few expressed anger, questioning the board's commitment to the children they were elected to serve. But most simply spoke about why the school should continue. They described a place where a unique brand of organic, empowering learning takes place and all children feel welcome, even those who were teased elsewhere for being different.

"I work very hard and have fun at the same time, and it was great to feel free," 8-year-old Maya Ahara told the board. "I will be very sad if you close this school."

Sue Armstrong described how her children both learned to read at Blue Mountain in a week, with no parental intervention. They were 8 and 9 years old, she said, and ready to learn on their own terms.

"There's lots of data that this model works for lots of different kinds of kids," said Armstrong, whose husband, Hal Sadofsky, attended Massachusetts' Sudbury Valley School, which served as a model for Blue Mountain.

Several Blue Mountain alumni spoke, including 19-year-old Jasmin Carmi, who attended Blue Mountain from grade 5 through grade 8 and went on to become a 2006 valedictorian at Cottage Grove High School. Now a sophomore at Linfield College, Carmi credited her schooling at Blue Mountain for instilling in her "a deep-seated self-motivation" and the courage to speak up when she witnesses injustice.

Only three people spoke against the school, among them neighbor Lane Hillendahl, who said students run wild. She has heard explosions and profanity, she said, and has witnessed kids smoking, playing in a dangerous creek and even tossing school property into the creek.

"I see no adult supervision whatsoever," she said.

Blue Mountain opened on rural acreage southeast of town in 1998, following a democratic model in which students have an equal voice in day-to-day operations and the freedom to direct their own learning. It has about 65 students in grades kindergarten through 12, who can spend their days as they see fit - playing video games, learning calculus or reading books, for example. Teachers step in only when asked.

The school initially operated as a private alternative program under contract with the South Lane district, but in 2004 won approval as a charter school, allowing it to enroll students from any district.

Blue Mountain's Portland attorney, Matt Lowe, said the board's actions violate the spirit and letter of the charter school law. He also accused the board of breaching its contract with the school by not giving it a reasonable opportunity to address concerns and by citing problems that aren't sufficient cause for termination.