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| Charter school identifies potential sponsor |
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Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010 9:28 am
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By RUTH ANN HAGER
Staff Writer
WASECA — They have not yet finalized a sponsor or a building for the 2010-2011 school year but officials at TEAM Academy think things are falling into place.
After losing its Waseca School District sponsorship and then TEAM’s home in a wing of Central Intermediate School, Director Jill Ladwig said they are “moving forward.”
At an open house Monday from 6-7 p.m., she said, prospective students, including next year’s seventh- and eighth-graders, are invited to visit, although the school is officially still kindergarten through sixth grade.
Before the next school year, however, TEAM must have a new sponsor and they are hopeful about a relationship with a new company called Innovative Quality Schools.
In a Jan. 22 letter, Ladwig told the potential authorizer that TEAM’s current sponsorship, which expires June 30, was not renewed because the Waseca School District hopes to absorb charter school students into the public school system.
Ladwig said TEAM’s enrollment has held steady over the past six years. The school currently has 133 students, including three students who transferred to TEAM after the public school district’s referendum failed in November and “more signed up for next year.” They have the potential to max out their enrollment for the 2009-2010 school year, she said.
“Thank you for considering TEAM Academy as a school you would authorize,” Ladwig wrote in her letter to Bob Wedl, IQS founder and former education commissioner.
She was notified Tuesday by Wedl that the State of Minnesota has completed its new authorizer process so that sponsors can now be approved.
According to its by-laws, IQS’s vision is “to be a model of chartered school authorizing excellence in Minnesota and for the nation.” Its mission is to foster “innovative chartered schools in Minnesota where each individual student is a successful learner...”
The company is committed to serving as a school’s sponsor for the full five year period of its approval as an authorizer.
Wedl told Ladwig he is certain that IQS will be approved by the state and that its sponsorship of TEAM “is definitely a possibility.”
“I’m pretty confident,” she said.
Board chair Michael Osweiler said there are 13 or 14 schools in the same situation as Waseca, needing a new sponsor, so there is competition. IQS hopes to become the sponsor for a dozen charter schools by fall and, eventually, for 25 schools, he said.
The motion approving Ladwig’s letter to IQS was unanimously approved by the board.
The board also approved the purchase of Infinite Campus, which is software for a variety of school functions including student data, administration, and reporting. The up front cost is $20,054, with an annual fee of $5,200.
Ladwig said if the program is purchased now, they could begin to enter student records before the school begins moving to a new location.
The board also approved four vendors for services during the 2010-2011 school year.
TEAM’s location is still unknown but Ladwig said she continues to work with Krause-Anderson on a building in North Ridge and expects to have an outline of a lease and the cost this week.
She has also looked at the old Walter’s Cookbook building and a church which has Sunday School classrooms available.
“Krause still looks the most reasonable. They’re ready to go when we get a sponsor,” said Ladwig.
In the meantime, they are writing grants for equipment, they have received food service site approval and are taking bids for food service next year.
Thanks to E Rate, a federal funding grant program for schools, and because of the cost of moving to a new location and their high percentage of free and reduced lunch students, they will get phone, Internet and cable at their new location for $10,000 rather than $53,000, TEAM Business Manager Carol Russell said.
With the help of Brian Hering, Waseca Schools Director of Technology Systems, and Hickory Tech, Russell said, the school has its own technology plan, Internet and data backup, “all taken care of for next year.”
They also have 1,000 books already collected for their new library, thanks in part to a contest in which the winner will get to throw a pie in Ladwig’s face.
And this week, the charter school received a 2010 School Finance Award from the Minnesota Department of Education in recognition of “outstanding accomplishments in financial management, including compliance with state statutes.”
Minnesota Commissioner of Education Alice Seagren said the award “reflects a proactive stance by the district on positive fund balances, sound fiscal policies and practices, training initiatives and accountability.”
Ladwig said she is pleased because this is the first year TEAM has received the award.
In March they hope to have a sponsor, then the board will make a final decision on a building.
“When we have a sponsor, I’d like to go back to the public school one more time and ask if we can lease South Side,” Ladwig said.
That would prevent the building from standing empty and it would be the school district’s last chance to collect revenue from TEAM, she said.
Ruth Ann Hager is at 507- 837-5446 or rhager@wasecacountynews.com.
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Guidelines: Welcome to the Waseca County News community. Please keep your comments civil. Don't attack other readers personally and keep your language decent. We reserve the right to delete comments at any time.
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Member Opinions:
By: embarassmenttothecom on 2/25/10
Although the article is about the progress TEAM is making toward finding a sponsor and preparing for the 2010-2011 school year, I see nothing wrong with the WCN throwing in a mention of the school receiving an award recognizing its outstanding financial management. Therefore I also see nothing wrong with Randy's mentioning that the WPS business director got the same award for the 5th year in a row. As far as settling on a building, I hope TEAM will try to get the Southside lease. I hope there is no reason the WPS would refuse that.
By: Jeremiahmiller on 2/24/10
I am VERY happy for TEAM! I am a supporter of any education, and am very happy to say my wife and I are TEAM parents. We will stick with them and do what we can to help!
By: bleedingheart on 2/23/10
Congrat's TEAM! I'm so proud of Ms. Ladwig. She has really had to take on a lot for her first year. I'm excited at the prospect of being able to keep our kids at TEAM!
By: jonmiller on 2/23/10
i would love to help out team with anything they would need. i not only talk, i volunteer in the community, alot.
By: feedman on 2/21/10
RANDY, LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE GOING GET YOURSELF IN TROUBLE AGAIN.
By: LittleJoeFan on 2/21/10
Randy, I guess maybe the wording could have been done differently but it does come off as "We are better than you." I know you meant to give kudos to both but worded differently everyone would have been fine. But again the article was about TEAM..... Everyone should understand that this was the first time TEAM applied for this award and you do have to apply for it with a good amount of documentation. MDE just doesn't hand out the award willy nilly. I congratulate Jill and Carol on their hard work. I am sure things are not easy and there is a lot to do. Parents are stepping up and helping out with things like TEAM Builders, the Carnival, and finding items on TEAM's wish list. I think most of us feel the same way as jonmiller that TEAM works great for some kids and WPS works great for other kids. We all know that Hartley does great work and has great programs. But there was a reason why Waseca parents 7 years ago wanted to start a charter school and it was because they felt their children needed something different. Randy and Cathy, both of you voted with your heart and I am sure TEAM appreciates it. It is unfortunate the rest of the WPS school board was shortsighted in their vote. Their expectation that every one of TEAM's kids would transfer to WPS was faulty considering 8-10 kids don't even live in the WPS district and a TEAM survey that was provided to WPS showing that parents of 20+ students would send their children elsewhere. But in the end a decision was made and we all have to live with it. As a parent I will do my best to ensure that TEAM is successful and continues to be an option for families in Waseca.
By: jonmiller on 2/21/10
randy it doesnt really matter what most people think, if you cant put a name to your post. but it is about team in this one. sense everyone has an opinion , there should be alot of people attending the next ref. meeting, right. keep your head up high, you have taught me alot.
By: Randy_Zimmerman on 2/20/10
Now see, therein lies the problem. Many of you have a hard time even acknowledging that the public schools may be doing something good. I was simply making a factual statement about something our community can be proud of, two of our local school systems being acknowledged by the state for financial responsibility. But rather than seeing that, you would rather fling insults out there; where is the professionalism in that? As Mr. Miller stated, I was one of the board members that voted to keep TEAM in the school district, but maybe you missed that? But if you would rather keep up with the insults, that's your prerogative. I was giving kudos to both.
By: forwhatitsworth on 2/20/10
I cannot believe Randy Zimmerman penned his kudos here. Get yourself out of high school, Mr. Zimmerman and practice professionalism.
By: justamom on 2/20/10
Congratulations TEAM Academy--The efforts being made by Ms Ladwig and TEAM staff are truly a priceless education for the TEAM students. Mr Zimmerman--interesting placement for your comment.
By: jonmiller on 2/20/10
im not really calling randy out, what oscar said is how i feel. We are very lucky to have randy on the board and he knows his stuff. He did support team and i have so much respect for that. I also would like to thank cathy for her vote to. we are very lucky to have these two on the wps school board. Alot (not much) we agree to disagree and thats the great thing about the great country we live in. Its also important to listen to one another and then come to a conclusion. I feel that randy and cathy did this.
By: oscardagrouch on 2/19/10
I agree with Mr. Miller, this is kind of a piece on Team and their future, Randy you come on here and it seems like a knock...I am sure the public schools have a lot of awards and that is great but I think it was kind of a deffinate point to take away from Teams moment. I also think Cathy Hoy was the one board member who said she wasnt willing to gamble with for sure money (Teams payment) to the public school, well it deffinantly may backfire bigtime. So on the next referendum I know or think I know there is a max to ask the taxpayers for, I would say we will deffinantly be looking at that max again, the board just lost another almost $400K if Team succeeds. I think there is still doubt among board members as well as the general public. I am all for it and really really hope Team succeeds for a long time to come. Way to go Jill, I for one think your doing a heck of a job. I dont know the hours or time you have put into this but I think you are pouring everything into this school. Good Luck to you Team!
By: mikemuntean on 2/19/10
It is my understanding that TEAM pays WPS roughly $387,000 a year for shared services and leased space. I do not think that this includes the money from the students who receive free and reduces lunch that is reimbursed from the government which TEAM has 51% of their students who qualify for this program. Plus TEAM will be adding 7th and 8th grade next year which will pull even more students from the public school. So in the long run this choice by the board will end up costing much more. I am sure that when this was voted on the board had no idea what TEAM was capable of and also had no idea that TEAM had so many things already in place just in case this ever happened.
By: jonmiller on 2/19/10
randy are you trying to take away something from this article. I think the school board shot them selves in the foot on this one. My family and i love team academy and very thankful for all they do. To us test scores arent that important. Team doesnt push testing like wps. I can see how much my nieces and nephews have learned without some test score telling me. and team really pushes them to look into colleges. there just something there that you cant get from wps. team might not be for everyone but it works for my family. wps is a good choice for other kids. to have choices is the great thing about waseca. my kids will attend sacred heart, then team , then wps. what three good choices and they all work very well.
By: crusher on 2/19/10
To any board member, how much does the district stand to lose by not sponsoring Team Academy? Team, to my understanding, have taken students from our district, added them (students) to their enrollment and then, in turn, paid our distict for other services such as food service, physical ed., band, choir. etc.... Was this a wise decision not to host them? Just wondering...
By: Randy_Zimmerman on 2/19/10
The Waseca Public Schools business director got the same award, for the 5th year in a row! Congratulations to her as well!
By: onevoice on 2/19/10
WOW! and Congratulations on the award!
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