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About Polk County itemizer observer. (Dallas, Or) 1992-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2018)
Polk County News 2A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 10, 2018 Instructional time a challenge for charter school By Jolene Guzman The Itemizer-Observer DALLAS — An Oregon School Boards’ Association review of Dallas Communi- ty School, a charter school in Dallas, found it is out of compliance with state in- structional hours require- ments. The finding isn’t surprising given that DCS’ model has parents — not licensed teachers — providing most of the instruction to stu- dents, said Kristen Miles, board development spe- cialist with OSBA who also conducts evaluations on charter schools. The school, which is in its third year, is designed to provide re- sources and guidance to families who home-school their children. As a public charter school, though, the school and its sponsor Dallas School District are ac- countable to state require- ments. Miles bases evaluations on the National Associa- tion of Charter School Au- thorizers’ “Core Perform- ance Framework and Guid- ance.” The re v i e w, called an “a n n u a l perform- a n c e framework and re- port,” ana- Miles lyzes a charter school’s academic per for mance, financial standing and organization- al management. Miles offered commen- dations on strong perform- ance areas and recommen- dations for improvement in others. “My goal is to provide a useful tool for the board, the district and the charter school to work from,” she said Monday at the Dallas School Board meeting. Miles said she noted the instructional hours com- pliance issue because it is Dallas School District’s ob- ligation as the authorizer of the charter to determine if its charter schools are fol- lowing the law. “The main question is, are they providing a com- prehensive instructional program, and are they pro- SMART needs more Dallas readers Itemizer-Observer staff report DALLAS — The Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) program needs more volunteer readers at Lyle and Oakdale Heights Ele- mentary Schools in Dallas. Volunteers read one-on-one with children in kindergarten through third grade for at least one hour per week. Training is pro- vided for volunteers. The program runs during school hours from October to May. Volunteers must v one hour per week, but can spend more time reading with children. Apply at www.getsmartoregon.org or call 503-391-8423. viding the required instruc- t i o n a l t i m e , which is defined in OARs as provided Johnstone by a li- censed teacher,” Miles said. She said DCS is using a model of accounting for at- tendance and instructional time that online schools use, but her determination is that the school is falling short of the requirement as it tries to blend home- school and traditional school elements. “The whole purpose of the school is to combine those things, to allow stu- dents to have a home school environment but also function as a charter school,” Miles said. “I think my note about that is to point out that there may be a tension in here in trying to do both. That is hard to do in a charter school model.” DCS isn’t alone in this predicament. Dallas Super- intendent Michelle John- stone said other simi- lar charter schools in the state are dealing with this concern. “Some Wilkins districts have said that’s not OK, like Bend, other districts have allowed it, like Medford,” Johnstone said. DCS Director Bill Conlon said the school is research- ing and working with the Oregon Department of Ed- ucation to find a solution. “We want to be in com- pliance,” he said. “We don’t want an issue for Dallas School District that they have something that is going to come back at them, so we are going to work hard to make it cor- rect and figure out what it is we need to do.” Miles commended the school on having 84 per- cent of its students partici- pate in state assessments, an achievement, she noted, for a school serving a pop- ulation not accustomed to such testing. However, scores on those tests were lower than state and Dallas district averages. “I’m recommending that the specific plan of im- provement be written,” she said. Miles also presented Luckiamute Valley Charter School’s evaluation on Monday night. In a letter accompanying the evaluation, LVCS Execu- tive Director Christy Wilkins said the school is regroup- ing after difficult years be- fore and after the former di- rector retired due to illness. She said he had been direc- tor for 13 years, and his mid-year departure last school year was challenging. State assessment scores also suffered during that time. “It was disappointing to the entire LVCS community that results on the state as- sessment were so poor, be- cause academic achieve- ment has always been a point of pride for students, staff and parents,” Wilkens wrote in the letter. “I believe those results do not accu- rately reflect the skills of our students or our teachers.” Wilkins in the evaluation and on Monday detailed programs and plans to im- prove performance, includ- ing better alignment be- tween the grades, better in- terventions and profes- sional development oppor- tunities. “We are implementing a lot of changes. I think good changes,” Wilkins said. “We are very focused on in- struction and improving student achievement.” Miles said parents she interviewed for the evalua- tion were satisfied with class sizes and relation- ships with teachers and staff. “They also hired a new ED (executive director) who is strong and compe- tent. I think that she will really serve that school well,” Miles said. “They are really focused on improv- ing student growth and achievement.” For more information or to see the annual perform- ance reports, see the Dallas School District Jan. 8 meet- ing packet at: https://www.dallas.k12.or. us/school-board. Western to celebrate MLK week Itemizer-Observer staff report MONMOUTH — Oregon public scholar and activist Walidah Imarisha will speak at Western Oregon Universi- ty’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Dinner. Several of WOU’s diversity-related groups will present additional events surrounding the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day from Monday to Jan. 18. Imarisha is an educator, writer, public scholar and spoken-word artist. Imar- isha has presented statewide as a public scholar with Oregon Hu- manities’ Conversation Project on topics such as Oregon Black history, al- ternatives to incarceration and the history of hip hop. Her nonfiction book An- gels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison, and Redemption won a 2017 Oregon Book Award. • On the observed holi- day, Monday, WOU stu- dents and local communi- ty members are invited to make a difference by vol- unteering to pack care packages for the Western Oregon University com- munity. The event will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at His- toric Gentle House, 855 Monmouth Ave. N. Helpers must submit a volunteer form before the event. • On Tuesday, WOU will host a “poverty simulation,” during which students, em- ployees and community members will gain a broad- er understanding of poverty and its impact on individu- als through an experiential learning and critical analy- sis activity. The session will be from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Pacific Room at the Werner University Center. It is free to attend. • The MLK Jr. Celebration dinner will be at 6 p.m. Jan. 17. Held in the Werner Uni- versity Center and featuring a keynote by Imarisha. Tick- ets are $3 for students and $5 for general admission Solution on Page 9A (including dinner) and can be purchased at the Werner University Center front desk or in Disability Services. • The final event of the MLK Jr. commemoration week will be a Jan. 18 stu- dent-led forum on the topic of “Media’s Representation of Marginalized Communi- ties.” Members of the WOU Black Student Union will fa- cilitate a critical analysis of media representations in- cluding the different per- spectives of attendees. The conversation will be 4 to 6 p.m. in the Willamette Room in the WUC. For more information about MLK Jr. Celebration week, visit wou.edu.