A five-year charter petition renewal request from Opportunities for Learning Public Charter Schools (OFL) will be evaluated during a public hearing at Wednesday’s William S. Hart Union High School District Governing Board meeting.
The public hearing will allow officials from OFL to present their renewal petition, support their arguments for approving the renewal request and answer governing board members’ questions.
The 93-page petition details information about the charter school’s founders and leadership team, renewal criteria, educational program, measurable student outcomes, school governance structure, employee qualifications and rights, admissions requirements, financial audits, among other procedures and items.
OFL is a network of charter schools meant to “address the needs of students who struggle in the traditional high school setting by offering an innovative, fully accredited blended learning program.”
According to the petition, the charter school works to re-engage students in their education, help them earn a high school diploma and allow them to follow their own dreams after graduation.
OFL has operated within the Hart District since 1999 and was reauthorized by the district in 2012, according to the petition document.
“OFL looks forward to a continued partnership with William S. Hart Union High School District in re-engaging the population of students who are either out of school or at-risk of dropping out,” the petition read.
If approved, OFL charter will be valid from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2022 and will continue to be overseen by the Hart District.
The renewal request, ironically, comes on the heels of a similar five-year charter petition renewal request from Albert Einstein Academy for Letters, Arts and Sciences (AEALAS) was denied by the district in a contentious discussion two weeks ago.
Board members will also review a resolution to recognize April 9-15 as National Library Week, to celebrate the contributions librarians, teacher librarians and library staff make to students, schools and communities.
During their review of the resolution, they also will hear a presentation from Placerita Junior High School teacher librarian Monica Ludlow about the district’s five year school library plan.
Through library usage, students gain access to resources and technologies, become 21st century learners, learn to think critically and independently and develop a lifelong love of learning.
With its five-year plan, the District Library Plan Committee hopes to improve currency of collections by updating print sources, create learning commons with 24/7 remote access, develop and teach digital citizenship curriculum to all students and reinstate full-time media technicians at each library location.
“Our school libraries must provide an abundance of appropriate learning resources in a variety of formats as well as instruction in how to critically evaluate all forms of information,” the plan read.
During the meeting, board members will also receive information on how to use the new California School Dashboard.
The dashboard is an accountability website that works to illustrate how well schools and districts are meeting the needs of California student populations.
It works to grade schools on a number of indicators—including continuous improvement, test sores, proficiency rates, school climates and student engagement—and will replace the previous accountability measure of a single API score.
The dashboard pie-chart format promotes equity, local decision making and evaluation based on more than just a test score.
The dashboard is set to launch and open to the public Wednesday.
Additional Agenda Items:
- Hear school site report of Saugus High School from Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Mike Kuhlman
- Sunshine initial bargaining proposals from the California School Employees Association Chapter 349 and from the William S. Hart Union High School District
- Approve Golden Oak Adult School externship program with CVS Health to provide work-based learning opportunities to for qualified district adult school Pharmacy Technician students
- Approve positive certification for district’s Second Interim Financial Report for period ending on Jan. 31, 2017
- Approve Geolabs-Westlake Villag’s Geotechnical Engineering Services Proposal for the South Access Road at Castiac High School
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