The Shawano School Board signed off on the one-year agreement for LEADS Primary Charter School on March 11.
Contracts for LEADS are normally for five years, but the district is only seeking the one-year contract, according to Aaron Manders, principal for both LEADS and Hillcrest Primary School, where the charter school is located.
“This is so we can come back and fine-tune everything and make sure that we are crystal clear on what LEADS stands for, that inquiry-based piece,” Manders said. “Right now, our teachers are actually working with the LEADS board to even come back with a little bit better pneumonic device for LEADS, because no one really knows. We can’t read it off of our heads.”
Manders said the one-year agreement is necessary to help the school and its staff get back on track and make sure everyone is on the same page regarding inquiry-based learning, the hallmark for the charter school that makes it stand out from Hillcrest. He hopes that once the mission is clear, he can return in 2025 with a fresh five-year contract.
“Right now, we’re a little bit fuzzy on that,” Manders said. “We want to give you a (five-year) contract that makes it clear what we want.”
The first contract for LEADS was approved in January 2012, with the school formally opening in the 2012-13 school year.
The agreement caps enrollment at 20 students per grade from 4-year-old kindergarten through second grade, 80 total. The school currently serves 72 students, according to the Shawano School District’s website, although Manders told the school board that the charter school is serving 80 students and has more on a waiting list to get in.
“At our next LEADS board meeting, we will be having a lottery, because we do that completely random and involve the students who could be filling that random spot,” Manders said.
Board member Bobbi Lemerond questioned why there could only be one classroom per grade with the maximum 20 students. Responding to Manders’ report that 21 students applied for that grade, Lemerond suggested that maybe it would be better to have two classes with 10-12 students.
Manders said that he didn’t know if the district could recruit teachers and other staff to establish such a setup.
Manders noted that the district gives preferential treatment to families already in the charter school system if they want their younger children to be enrolled.
“Families, once they’re in, then they get to stay unless they choose to withdraw,” Manders said.
He added that small changes to the agreement generalize that the school will provide testing measures to examine learning growth but do not specify which assessments are used in case the district or state changes the allowed assessments.
Manders noted that some parents have asked if the charter school could be expanded beyond second grade and go through fifth grade, as the district does not have other charter school programs in place.
“We are in the infancy stages on that, but I know they’re interested in trying to grow,” Manders said. “The question is, does it stay at Hillcrest? Does it expand over to (Olga) Brener (Intermediate School)? How do some of those things look?”
Board member John Arens said he believes LEADS has made a difference in children’s lives.
“This year’s seniors, some of them started out in first grade at LEADS, and you can tell the difference,” Arens said. “I do like what I see in that whole process. I can’t imagine what these kids would be like if they were allowed to have that kind of teaching all through Olga Brener, as well.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
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