By Donnelly Clare

The Stevens Point School Board Monday could approve a proposed Expeditionary Learning Charter School which some are hoping to open in the former Jackson Elementary School building.

The presentation was scheduled for the board’s last meeting on February 3, but was rescheduled because the board didn’t get to that part of it’s meeting agenda until after 11 PM. Jen Zach, a member of the charter school’s governing board, requested the presentation be postponed so Board Members could view the proposal with “fresh minds”.

Zach said during an initial presentation to the board that the school would be administered by a governing body made up of current local public school teachers, UWSP educators and area business professionals.

While all board members have vocally supported the idea behind the charter school, the board is divided on the school’s sustainability over the long term.

Project leaders of the Jackson Middle School for Expeditionary Learning have already secured a $225,000 grant for training and implementing the program. District costs for the first year of the new school program are estimated to be over $980,000.

Project leader Connie Negaard, principal at Ben Franklin Junior High, said the charter school would have room for about 150 students who otherwise aren’t “challenged in traditional classrooms”, and is largely targeted towards pulling homeschooled students back into the public school fold. The type of project- based learning the charter school would use, she said, works best in an environment separate from current school activity, making Jackson the perfect spot.

Jackson Elementary School closed in 2005 during a series of cuts made by the board due to declining enrollment and budget constraints.

Board Member Chris Scott said she “fully supports” the charter school because it’s a new way of learning she thinks could spread throughout the district.

“Something happens in the 6, 7, 8 grades where students fall away,” Scott said. “I’m looking at this and it feels so right.”

Board Members Bob Larsen, Kim Shirek and Lisa Totten say the project isn’t financially sustainable.

“I’m having a hard time understanding how this board can continue to approve projects that may very well go against what is ultimately determined as our end game,” Totten said. “We have cut and limited programs in an interest to balance our budget with direct, negative impacts on our students- all while approving major projects including the Life Skills Center, Plover-Whiting sprinkler system and electrical energy updates. So I ask- if we had no money for the programs we had to cut, how do we have funds available for these major projects?”

Totten and Larsen have also objected to what they see as a lack of community involvement in the planning for the charter school.

Other items on tonight’s school board meeting agenda include an update on the Life Skills Center, the Plover-Whiting Elementary addition and makeup school days.

The Stevens Point School Board meets Monday, 6:30 PM at Bliss Education Center, 1900 Polk Street. The meeting is open to the public.