Director comes to new charter school after more than 12 years in Atlanta schools

By Halley Griffin Daily News staff writer
July 10, 2009

Summer Clayton is ready to start from the beginning.

Clayton began her tenure as director of the new Palouse Prairie School of Expeditionary Learning on July 1.

"I think one of the things that I'm really, really excited about is being able to start from scratch," Clayton said. "As a small school and as a small community, we can move forward in the way that aligns with our vision. It's shared leadership at its best, and I think that's the way school should be."

Clayton comes to Moscow after working in Atlanta schools for more than 12 years. She last worked as an instructional coach, a role similar to that of assistant principal, in a small school district made up entirely of charter schools.

The elementary schools within the district were based on the same expeditionary learning outward bound model as Palouse Prairie will be, in which all aspects of student learning are incorporated into different units, or "expeditions."

If students are studying presidential elections, for example, their reading, writing, math and science class lessons will be election-related as well.

A past unit Clayton worked on was "history through the eyes of the media." Students studied radio media when they learned about the Great Depression, incorporating math by making Depression-era family budgets.

"I think one of the things that make these expeditions so successful is not just the learning that takes place on the part of the students, but also on the part of the parents (and) the community, because everybody wants to be a part of it," she said.

Clayton said Palouse Prairie probably will wait until spring to implement its first "expedition," because of the sheer volume of work involved.

Despite the hard work, Clayton is passionate about this learning model, which she said would be impossible to give up now that she's found it.

"Teachers are teaching kids to take responsibility for themselves and their learning," she said. "It empowers kids."

Palouse Prairie was one of just two expeditionary learning schools looking for a director when Clayton began submitting applications.

"I did not want to go to a non-(expeditionary learning) school," she said.

Clayton said the movement is growing but job satisfaction is so high within the model that the turnover rate is low.

"Teachers like working there, administrators like working there, so they don't want to leave," she said. "So teachers don't move very often."

Clayton will live in Moscow with her partner and son.

Palouse Prairie is a free public charter school, located in the old Brown's Furniture Building on South Main Street. The school has seats available for fall in all grades but kindergarten.

Halley Griffin can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 239, or by e-mail at hgriffin@dnews.com.

Palouse Prairie officials getting building ready for classes to start this fall

By Halley Griffin, Daily News staff writer
July 3, 2009

Moscow's newest school is a hub of activity these days.

The Palouse Prairie School of Expeditionary Learning will become Moscow's second active charter school this fall, and one of the six sanctioned by the state of Idaho to open each year.

Parent and trustee committees are hard at work planning school lunches, student nutrition programs and playgrounds.

Architects, contractors and volunteers have been moving, cleaning, painting, pouring concrete, erecting walls and making plans for several months now, and hope to have their building ready for students by mid-August.

School Director Summer Clayton officially began her appointment July 1, and is already diving into work, and facility upgrades are in the home stretch.

"I feel like things are coming together, it's happening really fast," Palouse Prairie School Board member Lahde Forbes said.

Hearing the sounds of construction has been a relief for school board members who say securing a building has been their toughest task to date.

"Because we couldn't get our charter through the charter commission in Boise before we had a building that fits our needs," Forbes said. "That's what took a really long time, was simply finding a facility that works. And once that happened we could say, 'OK, this is when the first day is, this is what will happen next.' "

Plans for the building have steadily been moving forward since Brotnov Architecture was hired in January, with the exception of a few financial hiccups.

The school will be housed in the old Brown's Furniture building on South Main Street, and the board of trustees had hoped to spend about $120,000 on "phase one" of construction.

But bids came in around $200,000 and the board was forced to take out a loan to cover the rest of the cost.

Charter schools have only been around for a decade in Idaho, but already have a history of finding themselves unable to purchase facilities or make upgrades.

While they receive funding based on the same state formula as any other public school, charter schools are not included in a taxing district and cannot run bond or levy elections to pay for capital projects.

"Any little bit (of money) helps us, just because there's not much in the federal grant or coming from the state," school board member Daniela Monk said. "We're going to try some fundraising, but mainly the hope is going to be apply for grants."

Work this summer includes the most necessary upgrades like remodeling bathrooms and pouring concrete sidewalks outside the school, Monk said.

Phase one also includes erecting walls for the kindergarten and first-grade classrooms, although budget constrains prohibit doors, Monk said.

The building had a number of existing walls from its previous use as a furniture showroom, and the combined second- and third-grade classroom will be mostly enclosed with those walls.

The fourth- and fifth-grade area will be housed in the northwest corner of the building, and will be separated by bookshelves and other creative dividers.

The building itself is sunny and open, and Monk said part of the board's goal was to leave as much open wall space as possible to display student artwork.

Keeping walls open is just one example of the many ways school board members worked to keep the remodeling project in line with their priorities for the school.

"I can't say our facility is 'green,' but it's an adaptive reuse of a facility," Forbes said, adding that the bathrooms also will feature low-flush toilets and waterless urinals to stay true to the school's goal of using and reusing local products.

Halley Griffin can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 239, or by e-mail at hgriffin@dnews.com.

Palouse Prairie hires first teachers

By Summer Clayton, Director, Palouse Prairie School:

I'm excited to be addressing you as a group for the first time in my new role. I'm even more thrilled to officially announce that we have made teacher selections and have received verbal acceptances.

Thank you to those who served on the teacher selection committee. The committee received over 40 applications and narrowed it to a short list who were invited to in person interviews. After a long but exhilarating day the committee emerged with a recommended list of candidates.

I had the pleasure of speaking with each candidate Friday and Saturday of this past week. My selections mirrored those of the committee. Jeneille Branen – kindergarten, Lisa Stratford – first, Jessica Dahlin – multiage 2/3, and Kathryn Bonzo multiage 4/5.

All four teachers are incredibly excited to begin the next leg in our journey and seem undaunted by the enormity of the task. It’s a great team. You all should be very pleased!

Thank you for your great work. I look forward to seeing you all again in a short month’s time.

Library getting ready

Whew, what a day on Monday. Gottschalks in Lewiston is going out of business and we got the call to go down there and look at all the fixtures-- hoping to find classroom tables.

The tables were not what we expected, but some of the other items were a steal. We got a set of pieces for the library -- display shelves and tables -- places to put pictures books and show off art.

We also got 10 great carts that can become computer workstations and be wheeled from the media center to where ever they are needed in the building.

A group of volunteers have been sorting thru the 1000+ books that have been donated so far, deciding what we have and what needs to be ordered.

This slide show will give you an idea about the furniture -- photos taken as stuff was getting bought or moved or stored at the school.

Student Centered School

The following is a reflection by a teacher/parent on her recent visit to Summit School and EL school in Spokane Valley. Its framed in the "Notice and Wonder" format:

What I noticed about the school was that is was student-centered and led. The school environment was very positive including the teachers, students and principal. Respect and accountability were evident throughout each classroom and the assembly. Students take responsibility in the learning, their behavior and are treated with the upmost respect by the staff and their peers. There was a strong sense of community and culture. One student described it as a big family. The learning environment provides each child with an intrinsic motivation to learn, which decreases classroom management issues. It was an honor to see the school in action.

What I wondered about the school is how new students adjust coming into the school and how they adjust when they go into middle school. I wondered about the resources and curriculum and what resources our school will have. I also wondered and got some clear answers from the teachers and principal about how expeditions are integrated into the classroom.


It was amazing to see this school and I can't wait for our school to get there! It is everything I learned about in grad school of what education should look like. It gave me goose bumps!

Jeneille Branen

Charter Document

I was doing some housekeeping in preparation to working on a minor revision to the charter approved by the Board in April 2009, when I found this photo of the charter printed in preparation for our March 2008 visit to the Commission.

Idaho schools to see 3.2 percent cut

Palouse Prairie School is still waiting to learn the exact impact on its budget, the funding comes in several categories, including the administrative and teacher salaries categories mentioned at the end of the article.

---

From Moscow-Pullman Daily News
Staff and wire reports
May 2, 2009

Idaho public schools took a lower-than-anticipated budget hit Friday, when Gov. C.L. "Butch Otter" signed their $1.4 billion 2010 budget into law.

State funding will be reduced just 3.2 percent with the help of federal stimulus money, state taxpayer funding and cash from rainy-day reserves to minimize cuts.

This is the first time in generations Idaho spending on public education is less than the previous year.

School district officials have waited and waited to find out how much money they'll receive from the state. They've had to set supplemental levy amounts based on guesses and estimates.

"I still don't know how much money we're getting," said Genesee Superintendent David Neumann. "It's nerve-wracking to wait so long to know where we're going to be."

He said the Genesee School District is cutting its budget by 6.6 percent.

Moscow School District Candis Donicht was out of town and not available for comment. Moscow Curriculum Director Cindy Bechinski declined to comment on the budget until she had a chance to read through it.

The public schools funding program was shifted in 2006 from an education maintenance and operations levy to a 1-percent sales tax increase.

Local school officials and legislators spoke out against the shift when it was implemented, and have repeatedly expressed frustration with the new funding formula. They say the switch removed the public schools' funding stability, or "three-legged stool."

"I certainly see the need to cut based on the economics. But part of the problem was created by the Legislature itself when they took away our ability to apply local property taxes," Neumann said.

The bill Otter inked Friday included $60 million from the federal stimulus package.

But it holds millions more in reserve in case the money is needed during the coming year if tax revenue declines even further.

"No one wants to cut education," Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said. "Unfortunately, with state revenues continuing to decline, we cannot avoid it."

Administrators can expect an average 5 percent base salary cut; teachers pay will be cut 2.63 percent.

New Moscow charter school nearly full of students

From Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Palouse Prairie fills 73 of its 87 seats; Moscow School District looks at potential layoffs

By Halley Griffin, Daily News staff writer
March 30, 2009

Seventy-three local students have secured slots at a new charter school that will open in Moscow this fall, while two Moscow teachers could find themselves without jobs next school.

Palouse Prairie Charter School officials announced Saturday they'd filled 73 of the available 87 seats through a lottery process. The rest of the seats will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Nils Peterson, chairman of the Palouse Prairie board of directors, said all but six of the students live within the Moscow School District.

Moscow School District officials have predicted the district will need to cut two teachers for next year to cope with the decreased enrollment.

"This is on top of the state reduction," Superintendent Candis Donicht said today.

Donicht said based on the results of the lottery, she still believes the district will need to downsize by two positions.

The state funds school districts based on 99 percent of their previous year's enrollment to protect districts that suffer decreased enrollment from one year to the next.

"The 99 percent is designed to give us a net when we have lost enrollment," Donicht said. "So the impact is lessened for this year, but it flows into (future) years ... It lessens it to a degree, but it's still a major cut."

According to Idaho State Department of Education data, the state spent an average of $5,644 per student during the 2007-08 school year.

However, Idaho Department of Education spokeswoman Melissa McGrath said it's "virtually impossible" to calculate how much state funding would decrease for the Moscow School District with a loss of about 70 students.

She said funding is based on the types and ages of students in addition to the numbers of students.

Donicht said she has had several notices of retirement or resignation from elementary school teachers, and still hopes to be able to ease job cuts through some attrition.

The next step for the Palouse Prairie board of directors is to hire a school director and teachers.

Peterson said the school has a "large pile" of applications for both director and teachers.

Ashley Ater Kranov, vice chairwoman of the board of directors, said the board has 10 highly qualified applicants for the director position from all over the United States.

The board began screening applicants last week, and hopes to have an accepted offer by mid-May or sooner.

The board also is preparing to put out a bid for remodeling on the old Brown's Furniture building at the corner of Lauder Avenue and South Main Street.

"This is a big milestone to pass, and we are looking forward to hiring teachers and directors," Peterson said. "Our focus right now is just to get the school open successfully."

Halley Griffin can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 239, or by e-mail at hgriffin@dnews.com.

Lottery Complete -- another milestone passed

Many thanks to all who have contributed to getting Palouse Prairie to this milestone.

On Saturday morning we completed our lottery. There were 81 student applicants. Given the enrollment capacity set out in the charter, 73 were able to be offered enrollment.


The results are

Kindergarten - 18 offered enrollment with 7 on waiting list
First - 18 offered enrollment with 5 empty seats
Second - 8 offered enrollment with 3 empty seats
Third - 12 offered enrollment with 0 empty seats
Fourth - 12 offered enrollment with 1 on waiting list
Fifth - 5 offered enrollment with 6 empty seats

The map above shows the distribution of students within Moscow. A next challenge is to figure out safe routes and means to get these children to school.

Impressionist Art -- March 21 project for kids

Here is a concept that we are going to try on March 21 at our school tour. Georges Seurat was a French neo-impressionist painter. Several folks have been suggesting kids hand prints be used in some way in the school. Amy Desrosier offered this vision, a Palouse-scape.

Think about the math skills potential of this activity done in the context of an expedition. Transferring the picture from original to glass could involve Cartesian coordinates and graphing.

Some version of this idea will be attempted March 21 at the Shebang event.

Research on Family Involvement in Kid's Education

A 2004 document on the Michigan Dept. of Education website provides a summary of the research (pdf) into the importance of family involvement in children's education. Among the ideas:

Family participation in education was twice as predictive of students’ academic success as family socioeconomic status. Some of the more intensive programs had effects that were 10 timesgreater than other factors.

• Families whose children were doing well in school exhibit the following characteristics:
• Establish daily family routine
• Monitor out-of-school activities
• Model the value of learning, self-discipline, and hard work
• Express high but realistic expectations for achievement
• Encourage children's development/ progress in school
• Encourage reading, writing, and discussion among family members

The exact nature of homework or other out of class learning will be decided by the school's teachers, but the information above suggests that Palouse Prairie School should find ways to encourage and support each family in meaningful engagement with their child's education. This might include learning at home activities as well as other ways for families to connect to the school or get support to assist their child from the school.

Tag cloud of Palouse Prairie Priniples and Values

This is a tag cloud analysis of the words in the EL Design Principles and the Palouse Prairie Vision, Mission and Values statement. An interesting assessment of the words we use.

Possibility of layoffs spooks Moscow District teachers

Worth knowing before you read: The Governor is recommending a 1% reduction in state support to school districts and for Moscow School District that will amount to about $100,000. State law protects 99% of the state support to the District in the event of an enrollment loss (such as Palouse Prairie School would cause, or a mill closure would cause). So the financial loss to the District caused by Palouse Prairie School, based on the District's estimate is 1% of 50 students is one-half of a student's revenue or about $2500.

MOSCOW: Possibility of layoffs spooks teachers
By Halley Griffin, Daily News staff writer
Posted on: Saturday, January 17, 2009

Hackles are up at Russell Elementary School.

Of the four elementary schools in Moscow, Russell's teachers are the newest, and they are the most likely to be affected if the school district is forced to consider layoffs.

"Just hearing the term (Reduction In Force), it's hard not to get your back up a little," said teacher Melissa Mueller. After four years, she's one of the school's most senior teachers.

Layoffs aren't on the table yet, but Superintendent Candis Donicht will recommend activation of a Reduction in Force policy at Tuesday's school board meeting in response to state budget woes and the opening of Palouse Prairie Charter School next fall.

The RIF policy outlines the procedures for reducing the number of district staff.

"Even if we didn't have the condition of the state, we would still need to downsize staffing for next year because we have a new charter school and some of our students will be going there," Donicht said. "Every school district is going to be affected by the reduced appropriation, and our district has a sort of second event going on as well."

Nils Peterson, chairman of the Palouse Prairie Board of Directors, wrote in an e-mail Friday he has no way of knowing how many students might come out of the Moscow School District. However, he said the 87 spots at Palouse Prairie are most likely to be filled with Moscow students, with some home- or privately schooled students as well.

Donicht said the district anticipates at least 50 students departing for Palouse Prairie, and said her district can't afford to be overstaffed for next fall. With 50 fewer students, the district would need to downsize by about two teachers.

"When people hear the word RIF, they automatically think teachers are going to be getting pink slips," Donicht said. "That isn't necessarily the case."

She said she hopes to be able to account for those positions through retirements or resignations, rather than having to lay off staff.

The Russell teachers hope so too.

"I think the thing that has really been on our minds is we have formed an incredible group," Mueller said, adding that losing staff would be like losing family.

She's especially nervous about first-year teacher Anissa Vreeland, one of the newest to join the staff.

"I was hired late in the summer," Vreeland said. "I feel like I'm last on the list."

Russell teacher Stacy Albrecht said she first got wind of the RIF during Friday's in-service day, and spent a fair amount of time discussing it. When she called her husband, a teacher at Moscow Junior High School, he hadn't yet heard of it.

"That's because it's hitting the elementary schools harder," Mueller said. Palouse Prairie will open this fall to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. If 50 students leave the district, it will be elementary school teachers left without students.

Idaho Public Charter School Commission Chairman Bill Goesling said there are some prominent issues with the effect of a new school on the existing district, but the provisions of the charter school act were designed to expand options for parents.

"It does create some excitement within a district when a charter school opens," Goesling said. "I think that's the challenge: the old way versus the new way; is the old way valid? I think that's one of the ongoing challenges as we continue to increase school choice."

With six new charter schools opening next fall, Idaho will have 37 across the state.

State Department of Education spokeswoman Melissa McGrath said 7,000 students statewide are on waiting lists for charter schools.

Other Idaho school districts have had to adjust to the presence of new schools in the area.

Idaho schools chief Tom Luna addressed patrons of the Gooding School District last week, imploring them not to divide the community over two school options, according to the Twin Falls Times-News.

The district is experiencing a 10-percent enrollment decline from students leaving for a new charter school that opened this fall.

Donicht and the Russell teachers hope the effect on the Moscow School District will be minimal.

"At this point, this is all new to us," Albrecht said. "It's hard not to be a little uncomfortable though."

Halley Griffin can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 239, or by e-mail at hgriffin@dnews.com.

IF YOU GO:

WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20

WHERE: Moscow Junior High School music room

WHAT: The Moscow School Board will discuss activating a Reduction In Force for the month of March.

The role of Adventure

"Learning expeditions" are long-term, "real world" investigations, by teachers and students, of compelling subjects, which culminate in public presentations. Expeditions often involve an element of adventure that is integral with the learning activity. But EL also recognizes a role for "adventure" that is not integrated into an Expedition.

To learn more about Adventure and to think about its role in the learning enterprise, the Board went to the UI climbing wall on Sunday Jan 11.

Lahde writes of the event: "Our climbing wall adventure was important because it facilitated a bonding experience that strengthened our ability, as a board, to care and collaborate with one another. We were literally entrusting our lives to our fellow board members who kept us from falling and who supported us through the challenges we faced during our climb. Our time at the climbing wall also jump started our relationship to one another by being in a new adventuresome environment where only the activity at hand was our focus.....there was no business directly relating to Palouse Prairie School tasks, yet inadvertently we strengthened our ability to work together as a board to successfully create our school."

Nils notes, "At one point early on I said to John, 'If I am able to go higher now depends on how much I trust you to catch me if I fall.' Trust in one's support gives the license to push harder and take larger risks which might be the key to success. Thinking about the trajectories of success and failure, having the trust and taking the good risks offers the paths to success, lacking the trust, or having it broken when the risks are not back-stopped would be the trajectory to failure.

The Enrollment Marketing Campaign

We are kicking off our marketing efforts for the open enrollment period, February 1-March 27 preceding the lottery. The deep marketing last fall involved an EL 101 session and a trip to Summit, as well as stories in the Food CO-OP newsletter.

As we go into Spring, the campaign ramps up with a public visit by our Principal Candidate, Lawrence Levy on January 10, 10AM 1912 Center Fiske Room and this display in the Moscow-Latah County Library, which will be up for the month of January.