Homeschool Alliance Update

Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF version

The founders and petitioners of BRIDGES Charter School have, since our inception, envisioned our progressive, Whole Child philosophy in a school that not only benefits classroom based students, but benefits a community of learners.  This belief led us to develop a Homeschool Alliance; a program intended to support families who choose to homeschool their children, yet who want to stay connected to and participate in a larger public schooling community, and who support the educational philosophy of BRIDGES Charter School. We planned to provide a credentialed supervising teacher to consult with families and guide curriculum development, ensuring that children are meeting their academic goals based on California Content Standards. This onsite connection, with a homeschool room for voluntary weekly collaboration, was also intended to enable parents and children, if they choose, to belong to and socialize with the BRIDGES Charter School classroom-based community for special events (Harvest Festival, Art Festival, and more) and social times, such as lunches or picnics. We planned for children to be afforded opportunities to participate in enrichment courses, such as band, music or drama, or possibly core courses in the upper grades, depending on the Charter School's available resources and the Master Agreement set forth between the teacher, parent and child.

During the course of our negotiations with the Conejo Valley Unified School District, we were asked to drop this component of our charter petition because the district wasn't comfortable with the provisions we'd set forth in our petition regarding homeschooling. Because we were intent on working with the CVUSD in a collaborative process, and were told they would deny us should we keep the Homeschool Alliance in, we reluctantly agreed to put this component on hold.   It was hoped, at the time, that by complying with the district's request, and forfeiting this option, we could resume discussion about a plan to add the Homeschool Alliance back in after our authorization by the CVUSD, and after we proved our ability to run a successful classroom based program.

Even with that concession however, the CVUSD chose to deny our petition (read "Why We Couldn't Sign CVUSD's Charter MOU's").  As a result, we have appealed to the Ventura County Board of Education for authorization.  Our original petition, with the Homeschool Alliance component intact, has already been submitted, with a vote for authorization calendared in February.  Although all components of a charter proposal are not guaranteed by an authorizer, or by the resources available once in operation, we are hopeful that the County will approve our Charter in its entirety.  We appreciate the support of the homeschool community as we continue our fight to make BRIDGES Charter School a reality. Stay tuned!