Hello Families:
We have finally received word on the status of our charter school application. Unfortunately our authorizer has decided not to approve our charter for 2011 due to lack of funding and insufficient time to prepare for a fall 2011 opening. Although we are extremely disappointed, we are staying positive and are aware that deferring our opening until 2012 allows us the time needed to develop a highly effective program and enables us to receive the start up funding that is necessary to ensure a successful school.

We are continuing with our plan to open as a K-3rd grade school in 2012, and will open sections of 3th, 5th and/or 6th grade as we receive enough interest to support those additional grade levels in our initial year. Once established, the school will serve students in Kindergarten through 8th grade. For those of you who are looking to supplement your child's learning in their current school setting, we highly recommend the "What your ____Grader Needs to Know" series by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. The series includes a book for each grade level-preschool through 6th grade- and are available at the local library and at many bookstores for $13-$18.

Our authorizer has also advised that it is in our best interest to change our school's name as there is another charter school opening in the fall with a similar name. Any suggestions will be considered so we welcome you to post or email your ideas to cornerstoneprepacademy@gmail.com or our Facebook page!

We will be meeting with our authorizer in February to discuss our progress and our plan of action for the 2012 opening. The interim school board has been meeting two times per month and will continue to do so. We welcome your questions, comments, and concerns and will be happy to address any of those to the best of our ability.

Thank you for your continued support. We plan to keep working toward our goal and are confident that we will succeed!

Update!

Hello friends! We wanted to update you on our progress. We have submitted our final charter school application to our authorizer and are waiting to find out if we will be passed on to the state. If the state gives us an approval we will start our enrollment list as early as January 2011. We will keep you posted as more details arise. Safe travels and happy holidays!!!

Information Meeting Tonight

Information Meeting Tonight at Centennial Branch Library at 6:00pm. Please spread the news!!!

Article

Hi Supporters,
Check out an article in the local newspaper:
http://www.presspubs.com/articles/2010/10/06/white_bear_press/news/doc4cabc1fdc58ec999679885.txt

Hello Cornerstone Supporters!

We met with a representative from our authorizer on Friday and have an update and timeline to share with you.

Our application will be finalized with our authorizer and sent to the MN Department of Education by the end of October. We will be eligible for the federal grant for all three years, but we need to secure enough private funding and/or start up materials and services to secure opening in the next school year (fall 2011), as we will be unable to apply for the first round of the Charter School Start Up Grant until June. That means we will be doing a lot of fundraising, grant seeking, and inquiring about materials and services from various businesses (for example, asking Apple to donate computers to our school) over the next several months. We are continuing our plans and plan to start evaluating locations for our facilities later this fall.

The good news!!!

1. We are still on track to open our doors for the 2011-2012 school year!

2. It is looking very likely that we will have enough interest in the upper grades to open enrollment in K-6th grade.

The bump in the road...we have a lot of leg work to do in order to keep up this pace, but are confident we WILL make it happen. In order for this to happen we need help from many of YOU!!!

What you can do to help??

-Parents interested in forming the initial Parent Community Board should send your contact information to us as soon as possible. In the next week or so we will be scheduling a time for our first Parent Community Board meeting. (Our meetings typically are scheduled in the evening, so please enclose the best/worst days and times for you to meet.)

-If you have fundraising ideas/experience, or contacts with any businesses that would be willing/interested in donating any equipment, money, or services that we will need to get our school started please send us that information.

-Continue to spread the word of Cornerstone Preparatory Academy. We are continually adding to our enrollment list, we especially need names of K-2nd grade students (for application purposes).

We will be holding another information meeting in the next couple of weeks and will let you know when we have those dates!

Please contact us with any questions or comments!

Interviews were Wednesday and all went well! Our authorizer is looking for a list of names (75+) of families that are seriously interested in this new school...then we will be good to go! If interested please e-mail us! Be sure to include your name, phone number where you may be reached, address and grade level of child(ren) for the 2011-2012 school year. Help spread the word!! Cornerstone Preparatory Academy's focuses are: Core Knowledge/Challenging Academics; Parent/Community Partnerships; Hands-on, Inquiry-based learning; Healthy Living; and Quality Character Development! Please show your support by spreading the word!

Cornerstone Preparatory Academy was APPROVED for round one of the application process! Founder's interview scheduled for August 11th. Thank you for your continued support!

We still need all the positive feedback we can get for our application due next week! Please email your support to us at cornerstoneprepacademy@gmail.com ! Thank you friends!!!

A school development team is exploring the opportunity to open a tuition-free, K-8th grade Core Knowledge school in the Hugo/WBL area. Cornerstone Preparatory Academy (proposed name) is being designed with kids in mind! Cornerstone will be a unique & fast-paced elementary school where kids are learning in the way that kids learn best – through hands-on, project-based units of study where subjects interrelate. You may find a group of children scavenging books and internet resources for information on the history of boats, while another group may be exploring the properties of buoyancy by floating different models of boats, while yet another group is building their own canoe that they will float in White Bear Lake in the spring. The kids that graduate from this school will be some of the most inquisitive kids you’ll meet.Cornerstone Preparatory Academy’s Founding Board is presently run by five members. The group is quite diverse in its training, education and project experience; it is that same diversity that has been beneficial for the members to plan and strategize for CPA’s future successes. The Board is responsible for the school’s staffing, curriculum and budget to make sure it complies with the rules of its Authorizer and the laws of the state of MN.