Today the WSJ covers Madison's Nuestro Mundo charter school and its search for new space. Nuestro Mundo combines (50/50) English language learning students with traditional students to provide a "dual language" program. This enables ELL students to progress in English proficiency and an foreign language immersion program for the traditional students. The data appear to indicate that this program is quite successful and it is popular in Madison.
The Madison School District is looking for more space because the program is crowded into Allis Elementary alongside the traditional elementary program. To that end Madison has contacted us about the possibility of leasing space in the Maywood or Nichols buildings. Nothing has been decided, but I think an appropriate arrangement that provides a financial benefit to the district, additional opportunities to MG students and "keeps the lights on" in one of our unoccupied buildings is certainly worth pursuing.
Two articles on the topic are in today's WSJ - but they aren't available on-line. I'll link to them when I can.
On a personal note - my summer hiatus from writing this blog wasn't intentional. It just happened that way. I have to say its been a big relief to take a break after the intensity of last spring's debates. I'll try and get back in the swing.
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(photo ©2008 Bruce Fritz)
About Me
- Peter Sobol
- My family moved to Monona in 2003 and have been happily ensconsed in the Frost Woods Neighborhood ever since. I have 2 kids who graduated from Mg. I have been serving on the school board since April of 2007. We moved back to the Midwest in 2002 after spending 10 years in California, where I was a Department Director for Maxtor, a Fortune 500 company. In truth we left California largely because of the school situation - chronically underfunded schools did not offer the kind of programs or opportunities we wanted for our children. We picked Monona because our thorough research showed that this was a place we would really like to educate our kids. Our experience has taught us to value the quality schools we have here in Monona, and the importance of careful stewardship to maintain community support for those schools.
5 comments:
Hi Peter,
I think you should blog about how things will work with our teachers and staff now that they no longer have the ability to bargain a contract. Will there be a contract? What are the new work rules? Will seniority still be in place? Will teachers still serve a probationary period after which you cannot discharge them without oodles of documentation, grievances, etc.?
Would renting the space hurt the chances of a Monona Charter school?
The proposal for a charter school in Monona uses space in Winnequah,(this helps keep the costs down.) I don't think leasing space in Maywood or Nichols would have an impact.
Would the arrangement include a partnership where Monona students would have access to Nuestro Mundo?
Either way, I'm all for it if it brings money into the district. However, it would be great if it increased educational opportunities for Monona students as well.
It was my impression that there was not enough room in Winnequah for a charter school.
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