Dear Patrons,
The Open Enrollment Law that allowed the district to accept out of district students sunsetted earlier this year. Currently, the only path for out of district students to attend Corbett is through the interdistrict transfer process which depends upon other districts to release students. Further, that process is cumbersome, time consuming, and unpredictable. For those reasons, since November 2017, the Corbett School Board has been considering converting our district to a district with a single charter school (charter district). This conversion would allow the district to continue accepting out of district students in a predictable streamlined fashion.
An update to that nearly two year long process and its status are as follows:
A charter district proposal was submitted to the board in April 2019 to be reviewed not for approval, but for completeness. In early June 2019 an advisory committee made up of members of the Vision and Values Committee also reviewed it for completeness, as did the Oregon School Board Association (OSBA).
At the June 2019 board meeting, based on recommendations from the advisory committee and OSBA, an updated, completed charter proposal was submitted to the board. Normally within 60 days of receiving a completed proposal the board holds a public hearing on the provisions of the proposal. The board is drawing closer to acting on this charter proposal and is giving it careful consideration, including advice of outside consultant Rob Saxton, receiving feedback from the public, and training from the Oregon School Board Association (OSBA).
Although there are many technical issues to work out in a conversion of this nature, there are three critical pieces of information to remember:
A charter district, unlike a charter school, operates under the same elected school board that it did before the conversion.
This conversion is not intended to dramatically change the district except that it allows the district to continue accepting out of district students in a predictable streamlined fashion.
The elected school board will always remain in control of the charter agreement, including setting the number of out of district students allowed into the district.
The board will likely set the charter proposal public hearing as an agenda item in the near future. As always, the district and board encourage patrons to attend board meetings to stay informed. Regular board meetings happen the third Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM. The next board meeting will be on Wednesday, September 18th. They are typically in the MPB.
UPDATE (8/29/2019):
This information is intended as a follow up to yesterday’s email regarding the Board’s consideration of converting our district to a district with a single charter school (charter district). There are no plans to take any actions at the September meeting. The process of changing to a Charter will require and include opportunities for continued public comment at Board meetings. Many particulars of the conversion need to be solidified over the coming months but the ultimate goal will be to have the conversion complete by the 20-21 school year. As always, the district and board encourage patrons to attend board meetings to stay informed. Regular board meetings happen the third Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM. The next board meeting will be on Wednesday, September 18th. They are typically in the MPB.
We hope to see you there.
