News
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July
2010
Dear Parents and Friends:
In February we communicated to you that Parnassus Preparatory School Board
had voted to delay the opening of the school to fall 2011. This
was due to changes to the Minnesota’s charter school laws that were beyond
Parnassus’, and all MN charter schools, control.
There were a few changes to the law, but two of them had a major
impact for start-up charters:
1) Established charter
school authorizers, such as Friends of Education Parnassus’ authorizer,
had to reapply with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) through a
new and rigorous application process;
2) Parnassus could not
sign a contract with Friends of Education until the application process was
completed and Friends approved. As such, the distribution of federal start
up funds to Parnassus was put on hold.
I am happy to announce that the process has
moved forward and a lot has been accomplished since February:
Friends of Education has been approved as an authorizer by MDE;
Parnassus has signed a contract with Friends of Education; and Parnassus is
on schedule to start receiving funding in August 2010!
Parnassus’ Board was confident that Friends
of Education would be approved with high marks, and they did!
There were 47 authorizers before the new legislation passed. MDE has
approved 6 authorizers for the 2010-2011 academic year. Parnassus
has total support from Friends of Education.
In our February communication to you, we also
stated that Parnassus Board would take the additional time to strengthen
Board development as one of its tasks. Parnassus’ Board members have each
received 10 hours of training provided by MDE approved organizations in the
areas of Board Governance, Finance, and Employment.
In addition, our facility search has restarted;
our fund raising efforts are under way; and we continue with Board
development. Excellence starts at the top. We are back on track!!! We look
forward to additional communication to you regarding our progress in the
coming months.
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Laura Bottenfield
Board Chair
Districted 279 Board Meeting, April
6th
On Monday, April 6th, Greg Friess spoke at the District Board meeting to
express Parnassus' interest in leasing Osseo Elementary. A follow-up letter
detailing the benefits of leasing Osseo Elementary to Parnassus was sent to
the District board members. Leasing Osseo Elementary to Parnassus would
benefit the District, the City of Osseo, and most importantly all the
students on Parnassus' interest list.
Click here for the full letter.
"Osseo hears from charter school interested
in elementary site"
Representatives from Parnassus Preparatory School, a charter school,
gave the council a presentation on their interest in utilizing the former
Osseo Elementary School site.
Click here for the full article.
Resources
Below are some recommended readings regarding classical
education. Dorothy Sayers essay and the Classical Education book
are quick reads and provide excellent explanations of the Trivium, classical
education, and their benefits.
The Lost Tools of
Learning, by Dorothy Sayers: There are many different links to her
essay,
we have included one of them here.
The Well Trained Mind
by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
Classical Education: The movement sweeping America by Gene Edward Veith
and Andrew Kern
Enriching
the Brain: How to maximize every learner's potential by Eric Jensen
The Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
Boards that Make a Difference by John Carver
Below are classical charter schools that have supported us in many ways
and have shared their successes and "lessons learned" allowing
Parnassus to start as an already mature and established school. These schools are also the top schools in Minnesota and in the nation!
Nova
Classical Academy, St. Paul Minnesota
Ridgeview
Classical Schools, Fort Collins, Colorado
A couple articles we found interesting:
Need
a Middle School Education? Go to College, by Dr. Moore
Swimming
without a suit, by Thomas Friedman - New York Times
The
Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools -
McKinsey & Company April 2009