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.

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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.