HelloFamilies!
We have set a date for our Open Forum / Town Hall Meeting with Dr. Lovett & other WBL representatives. We will be meeting at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, March 29th inthe Community Room at the District Center. During the meeting we will learn a bit more about the District’s Strategic Planning efforts, have group discussion on topics of interest/concern, and havea Q & A session. Anyone interested in learning more about what the district is planning and anyone who would like to voice their concerns or desires fortheir children and the WBL school district is welcome to attend. This is an incredible opportunity for all ofus (including YOU), so we encourage you all to come!
In order tohave an organized and productive meeting, we are asking that you take a minuteto briefly answer the following questions prior to the meeting. Your name will not appear with your responses:
What do you feel the district is doing well?
What are your hopes & dreams for your child's education?
What are you concerned about/what needs to be doneto make the district better?
Is there anything specific you would like addressed at the meeting?
Details:
When – 6:30 PM on Tuesday, March 29th
Where – WBL District Center (4855 Bloom Avenue in White Bear Lake), Community Room
Who – Any interested families
Other info– child care will be provided, if needed
Please RSVPif you plan to attend and note if you will need child care.
Again, we plan to continue making a difference in the education of ourchildren by uniting with the White Bear Lake School District and hope you will chose to join us! Thank you all for yourinterest and support! Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like more information.
Don’t forget to RSVP if you plan to attend and send us your responses to the above questions.
Thank You!
CORE / Cornerstone Preparatory Academy
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Dear CORE/Cornerstone Families:
I cannot express how thrilled we are to hear that CORE / Cornerstone Prep has been approved by Friends of Education! We are very proud of our hard work and dedication. However, it is with a heavy heart that we have asked to withdraw our application for the time being.
In recent weeks we have become aware of information that could have a direct effect on our charter school. This has caused our board to take a serious look at the pros and cons of the situation. We have been in touch with Dr. Michael Lovett, the superintendent of White Bear Lake, and have learned of many encouraging efforts that are currently underway. These efforts have the potential to make White Bear Lake one of the top school districts in the state and a model for school reform; I sincerely hope this becomes a reality and plan to do all I can to ensure it happens.
This decision to withdraw our application has not come easily, but we have come to the conclusion that the school district deserves the chance to prove itself. One main theme continues to play in our minds: When we began this charter initiative, our ultimate goal was school reform; we now have the opportunity to impact 5000+ students, rather than just the 500 the charter school could serve, and I intend to take on this challenge wholeheartedly. For this reason, we feel it is in the best interest of CORE, Friends of Education (FOE), and the WBL school district to put our application on hold for the next year or two.
Over the last several weeks, we have learned that the White Bear Lake school district is currently engaging in a strategic planning process in which action planning committees have been assembled to make program recommendations throughout all aspects of the district; recommendations will be implemented beginning in the fall of 2011. Dr. Lovett has invited me to serve on the district’s gifted and talented program review committee and also on an action planning committee (see below for descriptions). He has also recently extended an invitation to all members of CORE’s team, along with our supporters, to become a part of this process. Early last week we met with Dr. Lovett briefly and mentioned that the school district could learn a lot from a group like Friends of Education (our authorizer). We were pleased to learn that both groups are willing to dialog with each other to work towards school reform! This relationship may prove to be extremely valuable.
Dr. Lovett also agreed to a “town hall” meeting between our supporters (all of you!) and representatives of the White Bear school district. I am in the process of working out the details for this event, but as soon as a date and time is set we will be sure to let all of you know. This will be a constructive opportunity for you to voice your concerns and desires for your child and the WBL school district. I encourage you all to come! Details for this event will be posted on our website and Facebook page; we will also send out one more email highlighting the information as well – look for it by the end of next week (hopefully)!
Throughout this charter initiative, we have come to appreciate FOE’s rigorous standards and expectations; if one is going to do something, one must go about it in the best way possible. Withdrawing our application was most certainly not our intended course of action, but feel it is the right decision at this time for all parties involved. This undertaking has been by far the biggest rollercoaster ride of our lives, yet not one of us would change a thing. We plan to continue making a difference in the education of our children by uniting with the White Bear Lake school district and hope you will chose to join us! Thank you all for your interest and support! Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like more information.
Very Sincerely,
Interim board of CORE / Cornerstone Prep
White Bear Lake’s Strategic Planning Action Teams:
1. We will develop a comprehensive understanding of our students' needs and interests to ensure students are challenged and excelling academically.
2. We will create and implement a plan for global experiences and relationships to further understand world connections.
3. We will ensure our facilities support our district's mission and objectives.
4. We will create a district-wide culture that inspires innovation, a passion for learning, and confidence to pursue dreams.
5. We will build a network of partnerships to provide personal and educational growth and service opportunities for students.
6. We will foster connections with and among students and staff members to ensure all feel valued, supported and understood; and we will establish an environment that cultivates understanding and respect for differences among people.
I cannot express how thrilled we are to hear that CORE / Cornerstone Prep has been approved by Friends of Education! We are very proud of our hard work and dedication. However, it is with a heavy heart that we have asked to withdraw our application for the time being.
In recent weeks we have become aware of information that could have a direct effect on our charter school. This has caused our board to take a serious look at the pros and cons of the situation. We have been in touch with Dr. Michael Lovett, the superintendent of White Bear Lake, and have learned of many encouraging efforts that are currently underway. These efforts have the potential to make White Bear Lake one of the top school districts in the state and a model for school reform; I sincerely hope this becomes a reality and plan to do all I can to ensure it happens.
This decision to withdraw our application has not come easily, but we have come to the conclusion that the school district deserves the chance to prove itself. One main theme continues to play in our minds: When we began this charter initiative, our ultimate goal was school reform; we now have the opportunity to impact 5000+ students, rather than just the 500 the charter school could serve, and I intend to take on this challenge wholeheartedly. For this reason, we feel it is in the best interest of CORE, Friends of Education (FOE), and the WBL school district to put our application on hold for the next year or two.
Over the last several weeks, we have learned that the White Bear Lake school district is currently engaging in a strategic planning process in which action planning committees have been assembled to make program recommendations throughout all aspects of the district; recommendations will be implemented beginning in the fall of 2011. Dr. Lovett has invited me to serve on the district’s gifted and talented program review committee and also on an action planning committee (see below for descriptions). He has also recently extended an invitation to all members of CORE’s team, along with our supporters, to become a part of this process. Early last week we met with Dr. Lovett briefly and mentioned that the school district could learn a lot from a group like Friends of Education (our authorizer). We were pleased to learn that both groups are willing to dialog with each other to work towards school reform! This relationship may prove to be extremely valuable.
Dr. Lovett also agreed to a “town hall” meeting between our supporters (all of you!) and representatives of the White Bear school district. I am in the process of working out the details for this event, but as soon as a date and time is set we will be sure to let all of you know. This will be a constructive opportunity for you to voice your concerns and desires for your child and the WBL school district. I encourage you all to come! Details for this event will be posted on our website and Facebook page; we will also send out one more email highlighting the information as well – look for it by the end of next week (hopefully)!
Throughout this charter initiative, we have come to appreciate FOE’s rigorous standards and expectations; if one is going to do something, one must go about it in the best way possible. Withdrawing our application was most certainly not our intended course of action, but feel it is the right decision at this time for all parties involved. This undertaking has been by far the biggest rollercoaster ride of our lives, yet not one of us would change a thing. We plan to continue making a difference in the education of our children by uniting with the White Bear Lake school district and hope you will chose to join us! Thank you all for your interest and support! Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like more information.
Very Sincerely,
Interim board of CORE / Cornerstone Prep
White Bear Lake’s Strategic Planning Action Teams:
1. We will develop a comprehensive understanding of our students' needs and interests to ensure students are challenged and excelling academically.
2. We will create and implement a plan for global experiences and relationships to further understand world connections.
3. We will ensure our facilities support our district's mission and objectives.
4. We will create a district-wide culture that inspires innovation, a passion for learning, and confidence to pursue dreams.
5. We will build a network of partnerships to provide personal and educational growth and service opportunities for students.
6. We will foster connections with and among students and staff members to ensure all feel valued, supported and understood; and we will establish an environment that cultivates understanding and respect for differences among people.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
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!!!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Information Meeting Tonight
Information Meeting Tonight at Centennial Branch Library at 6:00pm. Please spread the news!!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
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
Check out an article in the local newspaper:
http://www.presspubs.com/articles/2010/10/06/white_bear_press/news/doc4cabc1fdc58ec999679885.txt
Monday, September 13, 2010
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!
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!
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