There will be an information update meeting on the status of chartering Hilltop Elementary School at 6 PM on Thursday, March 12th at the Hilltop Elementary School Media Center. This meeting is for any parent or community member in the Le Sueur-Henderson school district.

The 5-member teaching staff at Hilltop voted this past week to pursue a proposal to charter Hilltop Elementary School beginning with the 2009-10 school year. This vote is the first formal step in working toward a proposal to convert Hilltop Elementary School to a charter school next year. There are a number of other important steps that need to take place before anything is finalized. The teachers are very excited about the possibilities of accessing charter grant dollars to enhance and improve education programs at Hilltop that will eventually attract a waiting list of students who want to attend! The school district is also interested in this option for two reasons: (1) financial -- increasing efficiency of District expenditures and enabling Hilltop to access significant revenues that are currently deteriorating due to declining enrollment and lack of state funding, and (2) we are also interested in maintaining a very close association with Hilltop as its program evolves.

The purpose of this meeting will be for school administration and Hilltop teachers to discuss the rationale for pursuing the chartering proposal and the upcoming timeline for making decisions.

Thank you to EdVisions, the Hillltop teachers/staff, and Dave Johnson for holding tonight's meeting!

The meeting certainly opened my eyes of what could be come of Hilltop as a chartered school. I sensed a lot of positive comments with some concerns that were well justified.

I encourage the LSH School Board, the Hilltop Staff and EdVisions to share meeting minutes and meeting schedules at this forum (Henderson Chatter).

Now is the time to ask more questions, become more informed as parents and community members if we are to support or not support such a venture.

I echo Jeff's comments.

Also, the group wants to move very quickly so that the charter can open for business this fall. Information and decisions will flow fast, so anyone interested in this topic should get involved immediately.

Mike

Attached is a FAQ produced by EdVisions concerning charter schools and a draft timeline that was handed out at the March 12th meeting.

Everyone needs to watch KEYC tonight. Dave Johnson will be on it about the charter at Hilltop. Don't know all the details, but he will be discussing the charter.