Originally sent to the school email list 12/2/08.
Principal Search Underway
The search for the Principal of Palouse Prairie School opened November 1. The search committee is progressing through screening the pool, calling references and a telephone interview. MARK YOUR CALENDAR. December 18 we are hoping to have an event where the finalist can meet the community and you can offer structured confidential feedback to be considered by the Board. Obviously, things are still in a formative stage, but we hope to see you at 7:30 in the Fiske Room of the 1912 Center.
Big Grant
On November 21, Shirley Rau at the Idaho State Board of Education announced that Palouse Prairie School was awarded a Federally funded Charter school startup grant (pre-opening/post-charter) of slightly more than $650,000 over three years. This is the second part of the startup grant process, Palouse Prairie School received $20,000 Vision grant (pre-charter) in March 2008. (See the Daily News story.)
The grant will fund many start-up activities, including training in Expeditionary Learning for the Principal and teachers, and other professional development for Principal and school board members. It also funds materials for the school library, computers and classroom furniture. While it funds ADA-related remodeling, it does not fund facilities or remodeling in general. Those funds still need to be secured.
Volunteers Needed
We need to develop advertising materials for the spring enrollment period in Feb-March. The COOP's deadline is the 20th of the preceding month, so work needs to happen now to be ready before Christmas. Graphic design/ layout help is needed.
We also need to get more information out than fits in a newspaper ad or tri-fold brochure: Architectural sketches of the new school, information about school lunch and calendar, etc., a rich picture of what the school will be, in addition to the Expeditionary Learning model. For that we need a multipage brochure designed. Some of the copy and images exist, but other parts are still missing. Writing and design/layout help are needed. We need to go to press in January.
Board Openings
Linda Sterk has served on the Board since the beginning of this process. Janet Granja has served this past year, and her husband was on the first Board, so she's also part of the founding effort. We appreciate their vision to have EL in Moscow and are thankful for their efforts getting things started. They have decided its time to step aside and so we have openings for two new Board members. Board job descriptions are posted on the website. We could use both K-12 expertise and finance/business backgrounds. If you are interested, reply to this email.
Financial Angels Needed Also
Despite the great news about grants, we also need to build a line of credit to help with our cash flow. When the school is running we'll gradually build a cash reserve, but right now we don't have that. The economy and banking being what they are, getting a loan for operating capital is "challenging." But AmericanWest Bank has helped find a solution, and you are part of it. Essentially, you help secure our loan by opening a Certificate of Deposit at the Bank and pledging it to secure our loan. Please consider how you can help, and reply to this email for more details.
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