Only two new charter schools have opened in the state in the last six years, although 20 applications were filed during that period. Despite the long odds, Our Piece of the Pie's proposed Path Academy has been approved to provided educational opportunities to students from Windham and surrounding towns.
The Path Academy goal will focus on over-age, under-credited students who have fallen behind in credit accumulation and have therefore fallen behind their original graduating cohort by failing to be promoted from grade-to-grade.
Path Academy students will earn credits at an accelerated pace with mastery-based progression versus “time-in-seat” to achieve credits. With a maximum size of 200 students, the school will integrate technology, project-based learning and extended learning time opportunities to ensure mastery of skills and concepts aligned with the Common Core State Standards.
With Windham’s graduation rate of 62.8% (state average 81.8%) and English Language Learner (ELL) incidence at 26.7% (state average 5.5%), the Path Academy will enhance educational options for struggling students in Windham and the region.
students for the remaining 25%. Targeted sending districts are:
Andover, Ashford, Bozrah, Chaplin, Columbia, Coventry, Franklin, Hampton, Hebron, Lebanon, Mansfield, Marlborough, Norwich, Scotland, Sprague, Tolland, Vernon and Willington.
Transportation
Windham Public Schools will be responsible for providing transportation for Windham students attending Path Academy. With the academy's unique schedule and calendar dedicated bus transportation will be necessary most afternoons and days when the high school is closed Blended bus transportation with Windham High School in the mourning maybe feasible. It is Windham Schools responsibility to provide the necessary arrangements, so Path Academy can operate its extended day/year schedule without delay or restrictions. Sending towns are responsible for transporting their own students to Willimantic. The Path Academy will work with out of district towns to determine busing availability.
Governance
The Path Academy will be run by a board of directors appointed by Our Piece of the Pie.This board will be made up of (up to 11) Windham-area community members, representing any combination of higher education, business, legal, faith-based, and social service communities. Additionally one each of the following: School teacher, a member of the Pathway staff, Path Academy Leader, Academy student, Parent, Chairman of WPS or his designee.
Marketing and Recruitment StrategiesGovernance
The Path Academy will be run by a board of directors appointed by Our Piece of the Pie.This board will be made up of (up to 11) Windham-area community members, representing any combination of higher education, business, legal, faith-based, and social service communities. Additionally one each of the following: School teacher, a member of the Pathway staff, Path Academy Leader, Academy student, Parent, Chairman of WPS or his designee.
Our Piece of the Pie founding members have already developed plans and lines of communication with the host district of Windham . Similar relationships will be formed with all sending districts to ensure high quality service provision for every student.
Path Academy’s marketing and recruitment strategies have been designed to target a diverse student body. The academic program has also been designed to maximize student success for students from diverse backgrounds. In particular, Path Academy has the capacity to attract, enroll, and retain students from the diverse populations of Eastern Ct.
Path Academy will engage in widespread marketing andr ecruitment. The academy will specifically target to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds and who have a:
- History of low academic performance.
- Students who have been recommended by their home district
- Students receiving free or reduced lunches
- ELL students
- Behavioral and social difficulties
- Students with special needs
- Special education students
School Calendar & Hours
Students attending the Path Academy will spend 400 more hour, per year, at their desks then a Windham High student. Path Academy will operate on an extended year calendar. Students will attend school from the first week of August through the third week of June, with intermittent vacations. In addition, students will attend one Enrichment Week in June and another in July, to support their learning and combat the “summer drift” phenomenon.
Path Academy will operate on an extended day schedule, running from 8am to 4pm daily, with the exception of Wednesdays (students leave at 2pm, (teachers stay for professional development). A student’s week will generally consist of several major activities.
Discipline Policies
See pages 150 - 157 of application to state education commissioner
Facilities
Our Piece of the Pie proposes to purchase the former Jillson Square Cinemas and convert the now unoccupied building into a charter school. Purchase price and renovations are estimated to cost $4 million. Our Piece of the Pie will own the building initially and lease it to The Path Academy. As the pie people are a 501(c)(3) they are not liable to pay taxes on the building or contents. The present owner,Suba Group LLC currently pays $13,751.50
on the vacant theater building
For the past two weeks windhamweek has heard rumors that Our Piece of the Pie is in second position to purchase the unoccupied theater. Apparently a national retail chain
has first dibs on the property. We contacted Bob Rath, president and CEO of Our Piece of the Pie. Mr Rath denied and refused to comment on the matter. Since that conversation OPP has looked at two locations on Willimantic's Main Street, one being the former Willimantic Trust Building now owned by ECSU.
So, What's it going to Cost?
$11,700 per student according to OPP's application for a state charter. The state will pick up $9,400 for each seat filled. Federal assistance and foundation grants may add more to the pie. Our Piece of the Pie claim that they don't know what the local contribution will be.
From OPP's information officer: "Funding revenue streams for students are complicated and come from many sources so it’s hard to give a simple answer. We won’t know any more information until we know the individual students."
Original Story; Windham to get Charter School
OPP Aplication to Commissioner of Education
Students attending the Path Academy will spend 400 more hour, per year, at their desks then a Windham High student. Path Academy will operate on an extended year calendar. Students will attend school from the first week of August through the third week of June, with intermittent vacations. In addition, students will attend one Enrichment Week in June and another in July, to support their learning and combat the “summer drift” phenomenon.
Path Academy will operate on an extended day schedule, running from 8am to 4pm daily, with the exception of Wednesdays (students leave at 2pm, (teachers stay for professional development). A student’s week will generally consist of several major activities.
Discipline Policies
See pages 150 - 157 of application to state education commissioner
Facilities
 |
| Bob Rath Facebook photo |
Our Piece of the Pie proposes to purchase the former Jillson Square Cinemas and convert the now unoccupied building into a charter school. Purchase price and renovations are estimated to cost $4 million. Our Piece of the Pie will own the building initially and lease it to The Path Academy. As the pie people are a 501(c)(3) they are not liable to pay taxes on the building or contents. The present owner,Suba Group LLC currently pays $13,751.50
on the vacant theater building
For the past two weeks windhamweek has heard rumors that Our Piece of the Pie is in second position to purchase the unoccupied theater. Apparently a national retail chain
has first dibs on the property. We contacted Bob Rath, president and CEO of Our Piece of the Pie. Mr Rath denied and refused to comment on the matter. Since that conversation OPP has looked at two locations on Willimantic's Main Street, one being the former Willimantic Trust Building now owned by ECSU.
So, What's it going to Cost?
$11,700 per student according to OPP's application for a state charter. The state will pick up $9,400 for each seat filled. Federal assistance and foundation grants may add more to the pie. Our Piece of the Pie claim that they don't know what the local contribution will be.
From OPP's information officer: "Funding revenue streams for students are complicated and come from many sources so it’s hard to give a simple answer. We won’t know any more information until we know the individual students."
Original Story; Windham to get Charter School
OPP Aplication to Commissioner of Education
Two organizations vying to open charter schools in Waterbury and Windham are expected to get final approval this week from the State Board of Education.
“I assume there will be action” Wednesday, State Board of Education Chairman Allan B. Taylor said during an interview.
The expected opening of these new charters defies the odds; only two new charter schools have opened in the state in the previous seven years, although 27 applications were filed.
And the expansion is not likely to end there. The state budget approvedby the General Assembly this week provides $10.2 million to open four new charter schools overseen by the state over the next two school years.
“Obviously this is an area I had a pretty big disagreement with the legislature on,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy told reporters Monday, explaining how he was able to get all the money for new charter schools included in the final adopted budget.
With the two new schools, 450 additional charter school seats would be added to the 6,451 seats in charter schools already available throughout the state -- a 7 percent increase in enrollment.
But Connecticut is still behind the national trend; only 1 percent of public school students in Connecticut attend charter schools, reports the U.S. Department of Education. Nationwide, 3.6 percent of all public school students were enrolled in charters in the 2010-11 school year, the most recent year for which data are available.
It’s not for lack of demand: According to the most recent report by the State Department of Education, charter school enrollment would double if everyone on the waiting list got a seat.
Taylor said growth of charter schools has been restrained because of how they're funded, which is largely with state money.
“That almost inevitably creates limited growth,” Taylor said.
The first school of choice in Waterbury (kind of)
For the last four decades, Children’s Community School, a private, non-parochial school on the east side of Waterbury, has served about 140 students from low-income families. Tuition is $350 a year.
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