Daleville Community School Board plans charter school meeting

DALEVILLE — The Daleville Community School Board will have a public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday in the administration office on sponsoring a virtual charter school.

The school board voted on May 23 to proceed with sponsoring Indiana Virtual, a virtual charter school that hopes to start up statewide for the 2011-12 school year, offering classes online for students around the state.

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Daleville to have hearing on sponsoring virtual charter school

DALEVILLE — The Daleville Community School Board will have a public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday, June 13, on the planned sponsorship of a virtual charter school.

The school board voted on May 23 to proceed with sponsoring Indiana Virtual, a virtual charter school that hopes to start up statewide for the 2011-12 school year, offering classes online for students around the state.

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Daleville to sponsor virtual charter school

DALEVILLE — The Daleville Community School Board on May 23 voted to sponsor a virtual charter school.

Thanks in part to Daleville Elementary School Principal David Stashevsky’s outside work as an educational consultant, Daleville officials were approached by Indiana Virtual, a virtual charter school that hopes to start up statewide for the 2011-12 school year. Rather than wait for a new board appointed by the Indiana Department of Education — another recent addition to charter school law — to sponsor it, the virtual school organizers hoped to find a school district as a sponsor.

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Ind. Senate boosts teacher licensing requirement at charter schools

The licensing change was one of more than a dozen amendments to the charter school legislation approved Monday by the Senate. The measure is now eligible for a final Senate vote.

Other approved changes included the creation of a licensing program for charter school teachers that makes any college graduate with a 3.0 grade point average eligible to teach classes at a charter school in the subject they studied.

The Senate also removed a requirement that a school’s teachers consent to the conversion of a traditional public school into a charter school. Instead, only parents and the school board would be required to consent.

Senate Democrats’ proposals to cap the number of students permitted to attend a virtual charter school and limit the universities permitted to sponsor charter schools were voted down.

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Bennett eyes reform for education

• Every student should have the opportunity to attend an excellent school.

• Allow students to graduate early and offer them a college scholarship equal to the amount the state would have spent on the last year of high school.

• Ensure state education dollars follow the needs of students so parents can select the best possible educational options for their children.

• Create an Indiana Charter School Board to authorize new charters across the state.

• Allow private higher education institutions to apply to the State Board of Education to authorize new charters.

• Increase accountability for all charter authorizers. Only let the best open, and close poor performing charters.

• Expand virtual charter schools to reach underserved students and to fill gaps in the traditional system.

• Eliminate caps on charters and help them access safe and appropriate public facilities.

• Grant schools and communities more authority to convert failing schools to charters.

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Official: Charter schools create more competition

About 20 charter schools operate in Indianapolis, most within the IPS district boundaries.

The mayor of Indianapolis and Ball State University are the primary sponsors of charter schools. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels says he wants to expand charter schools.

Indiana also offers two virtual charter schools, in which teachers offer instruction online to students at home. The state is funding a two-year virtual charter school pilot program, approved by the General Assembly last year.

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Second virtual charter enrolling for fall

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Indiana’s second virtual charter school is taking applications for students in first through eighth grades.

Spokeswoman Pat Laystrom says Indiana Connections Academy Virtual Pilot School will serve about 280 students from around the state.

Students receive personalized learning plans but do their work from home. A certified teacher will work with them in live, online classrooms and by phone.

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