Sand Ridge student performance high despite disputes

By Jennifer Moody

Albany Democrat-Herald

SODAVILLE - As far as teachers at Sand Ridge Charter School are concerned, the bright yellow and red flag on the bulletin board in the hallway says it all: Oregon Exceptional School.

State Superintendent Susan Castillo sent them the flag in December to acknowledge the "exceptional" rating the K-12 charter school received last fall on its 2006-07 state report card.

The flag is a tangible symbol of daily work in the classrooms, which goes on in spite of ongoing disputes between the school's parent organization, People Involved in Education, and the Lebanon Community School District, which authorized its charter.

Did PIE break its charter by opening a second school in Sweet Home without formally notifying Lebanon?

Did the Lebanon district deliberately ignore letters from PIE suggesting contract language to allow PIE to expand?

Which of the two agencies is right about the amount of paperwork and policies that PIE ought to have?

Teachers at the school say the answers don't really matter to them. All they want is the freedom to concentrate on the work at hand.

"We tend to feel frustrated, I guess, at times," fifth-grade teacher Naomi Villman said. "Nobody's fighting over, 'We're not educating our students.' We're a high-performing school. Nobody's fighting over that."

Performance is indeed high, according to the Oregon Department of Education. Sand Ridge was one of just 157 schools statewide to receive an overall rating of exceptional on the state's 2006-07 report card.

The rating takes into account student performance on annual assessment tests, along with the school's attendance and dropout rates and any expulsions that were related to weapons.

Other mid-valley schools to be rated exceptional for last year include Calapooia Middle, West Albany High and North Albany and Clover Ridge elementary schools in Albany, and Adams and Hoover elementary schools in Corvallis.

Last year, 83 percent of Sand Ridge students met state requirements on reading tests, compared with 74 percent of students in the state and 76 percent of students in the rest of the Lebanon district.

In math, 73 percent of Sand Ridge students met requirements, compared with 68 percent for the state and 70 percent for the district.

Teachers say the unique characteristics of Lebanon's only charter school help their students excel.

All classrooms are limited to 18 students, each with a teacher and a full-time aide. Standard public classrooms often have populations well above 20 and usually share assistant time.

Sand Ridge is open to all students, but families must specifically request enrollment there and provide their own transportation. Families also agree to 50 hours of service per year for the school, which can be met through volunteering, donations or other help.

The school currently has a 45-student waiting list. That also cuts back on potential behavior problems, teachers said, because students know they can be replaced.

"Our kids have a bigger support system," said Julie Jefferson, who teaches middle school social studies and Language Arts. "We don't deal with the behavior issues that (standard) public school teachers face in their classrooms."

Teachers at charter schools have a certain dedication, too, Jefferson said. Sponsoring districts are required to give charter schools only up to 80 percent of the per-student state funding they receive - slightly more for high school programs - so charter school teachers generally are paid less than their standard school counterparts.

It's worth it, Jefferson said. She had good experiences teaching for the Sweet Home School District, but wouldn't trade them for her current 18-student class.

"You don't want an overcrowded, understaffed school," she said.

The Lebanon district has taken Sand Ridge's governing agency, People Involved in Education, to task for what it says are more than two dozen issues of missing paperwork, lack of documentation and failure to communicate.

Officials on both sides say they are resolving the disputes, which are critical to moving forward with language negotiations for the school's new five-year charter, which was approved conceptually in December.

Lebanon Superintendent Jim Robinson has emphasized his support for the charter school and its accomplishments, saying all disputes are with PIE.

Yet Robinson also has maintained Sand Ridge is a separate school, independent of the Lebanon district. The district does not consider Sand Ridge students part of its overall enrollment nor its employees part of the staff.

That irritates Erik Browning, a middle-school science teacher at Sand Ridge, who said he doesn't see why Sand Ridge should be treated differently than, say, Hamilton Creek, his former school of employment.

"We're a regular public school, and we don't receive equitable services," he said. "Why are we not just another school in the district? Why shouldn't we be?"

Sand Ridge

Fast Facts:

Background: Sand Ridge was formerly Brownsville Academy, a private school that had been affiliated with the Central Linn School District. It moved to Lebanon's former Sand Ridge School in 1999 and reopened as Sand Ridge Academy, a private alternative school. It became Sand Ridge Charter School in fall 2002, and the school later relocated to the former Sodaville School building.

Enrollment: Sand Ridge houses 140 students this year in grades K-3 at 2900 South Main Road and 132 students in grades 4-12 at 30581 Sodaville Mountain Home Road. Enrollment is by lottery.

Education: Sand Ridge uses a "Core Knowledge" curriculum, a nationally-recognized curriculum based on the premise that a core of common learning should be taught at each grade.