5 Minute Survey for Education - Emerald Charter School Support

For nearly a year, a group of parents has worked to open a charter school in North/Northeast Portland, Emerald Charter School. This school will offer inquiry-based education and community-based learning with a science focus. Emerald will open in 2010 with kindergarten through third grade class levels and each year will add additional grade levels, growing to a K-8 school. As the children grow, the school will grow. We have been awarded Oregon Department of Education grants to apply for Emerald Charter School and then an additional $400,000, once the Portland Public School District approves our application to fund the school. We applied to open Emerald through the Portland Public School District, but PPS has denied our application for three primary reasons: 1) Innovation: The district wants a program that is not offered anywhere else in the district. Elements of Emerald's educational program are offered in select schools in the district; however, there is not one school that offers all of the components : an integrated inquiry-based curriculum that is science focused and community-based with looped multi-grade classrooms in North/Northeast Portland. 2) Location: The district recognizes that schools in N/NE Portland are not meeting the needs of all children, yet they are hesitant to open another charter school in N/NE Portland because they are afraid it will have an adverse impact on neighborhood schools. As a charter school, however, Emerald will be open to all students in the district and will have very little overall impact on any particular neighborhood school. 3) Demand: The district has requested that we gather more information regarding the demographic make-up of the students who would enroll in Emerald and the members of the community who support our efforts.

Please take a few minutes to fill out our survey. You need not have children in school currently, but desire to support educational options for all children in the Portland Public School District.

If you have filled out a survey for us in the past, thank you; please also fill out this survey as well. The Emerald Charter School development team will be resubmitting an application to PPS on January 7. In order to compile our data in time, we need all survey responses by Friday, January 2. Please forward this survey on to individuals you know who seek additional educational options for their children, or to community members who might support Emerald's mission. Link to Emerald Charter School Survey. If you have questions regarding this school or our efforst, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for your time and consideration.