And Now, It Begins

A lot has gone on since I last posted...Junior trip to Sacramento (excellent), trip to Atlanta (too short, but so great), attempt at a 20 mile run (the curse of Atlanta lives on), and Square Root Day (I think more people wished me Happy Square Root day than Happy Birthday last year).  But, today, all I want to do is shout from the rooftops that our new charter school, Everest, which was denied by the district 4-1, denied by the county 5-2...was approved by the state 7-0!!!  

This is awesome news for Summit, as having another school will help us all professionally and hopefully help our case as a model school.  But now, there is lots of work to do...not for me, but for the Institute that will oversee the schools.  We/They will have to hire the teachers (we all do this together) as well as the executive director (that will be done within a week), figure out the school's language offering (Spanish or Mandarin), and determine if the school really will be housed in just four portables in East Palo Alto.  

The unanimous Everest vote is a huge win for our school.  As you can tell, the local support is not quite there yet, despite having over 400 applications so far for the 108 9th grade spots at Summit and over 250 applications for the 108 9th grade spots at Everest.  Getting support from the state is a great boost for us and I'm sure we'll be celebrating tomorrow.  The lottery is on Saturday (Pi Day!), when 216 kids will get their spot at one of our schools.  For the students who don't get a spot, we'll be on hand to help families understand what courses their student should take to be on the college prep track.  It's amazing how many kids are not eligible for a 4-year school when they graduate from high school.