A Great Meeting!!!

[Diane Morris]

Folks,

We had a great meeting Saturday night. Lots of ideas and energy!

I -- and perhaps others -- will be sending messages about the meeting, but I wanted to pass on a few important developments.

1) There seemed to be consensus that we should to a middle and high school, rather than just a high school.

2) The group agreed that project-based learning is a good educational framework for the school.

3) Three people -- Laura Kay Berry, Lia McNeilly, and Gina Roussell -- agreed to take on the considerable and vitally important task of creating our education plan. Please let the group know if you are interested in helping them and/or you know a teacher who you think would be willing to help.

4) We are about to start building our board of directors. I will send another message tomorrow detailing what we're looking for in board members, and then I'll need you to let me know if you know anyone who fits the bill.

5) The school needs a better name. Got any ideas? 

6) We need a little bit of money. Once we have a better and final name, we need a real logo (rather than the lame one I made using clip art). I have someone who will give us a deal on creating a logo, but it will still cost about $200. Then, once we have a logo, we'll need to print some materials for when we meet with potential donors and board members. We should also buy our web address, which we can do through WordPress for $18 a year.

If everyone in this group gave $10 or $20, we would be in good shape. Unfortunately, because we are not yet incorporated, we have no way to set up an account for the organization, and your contribution will not be tax-deductible. The money will go to me, and I promise to provide regular accountings of contributions and expenditures. 

There's concern that if we set up an account of any kind, it will be a problem when we create our non-profit. But if you have an idea of a better way to do this, please let us know! 

Otherwise, you can send your contributions to pay PayPal account at diane.e...@gmail.com, or you can mail me a check at 1706 Seabrook Avenue, Cary, NC 27511.

7) The Department of Public Instruction's Office of Charter Schools is holding training sessions on how to complete the charter school application on the afternoon of Nov 29 and the morning of Nov 30. I registered for the Nov 29 training, and my mother, who attended last night's meeting, is planning to attend too. If anyone else is able and willing to attend, let me know.

OK, that's it for right now. More to come!

Diane

[Laura Brain]

Thank so much for this info., Diane! 

I am able to come to the meeting on the 29th; and went ahead and registered myself.

Also, I am willing to help with the educational plan.  Need to get contact information for that group. 

I kind of like the name, but am fine with changing it as well.  I'll see if I can think of anything decent!

--Laura Brain

[Lia McNeilly]

Dynamic Preparatory School? I like Dynamic Community but I am not that creative. I thought of preparatory because that is our hope, anyway.

Lia

[Mary Lou]

Is there already a school that exists here in the U.S. or elsewhere, (specifically a special needs one) that is using a project-based learning model?

Thanks,

Mary Lou

On Sunday, November 18, 2012 6:55:15 PM UTC-5, Diane Morris wrote:

[Diane Morris]

You can find out more about schools that use project-based learning at http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning and www.projectapproach.org. However, as far as I know, there are no special-needs schools that use this approach.

Diane