Some teachers they have hired have taken a paycut, it's not more money across the board in every situation I know that. The principal of the new charter school took a pay cut herself, and wanted to make sure that everyone knew they were looking for teachers that were interested in the students. If pay or any other single self serving metric was the primary force drawing them to apply for the charter school, they would not be hired anyways. LOYAL AG, I do hope they can find a way to address pay to get great teachers like your wife. And that is not sarcasm, and I appreciate your input on the matter. I don't know you or your wife, but I'm assuming she is a top notch teacher based on your texags handle alone.

MTTANK said:

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If pay or any other single self serving metric was the primary force drawing them to apply for the charter school, they would not be hired anyways.

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Why not? We are a capitalist society. Why should teachers not try to maximize their pay?

In other fields, if you want the best employees, you have to pay for best. Why not in education?

We are enrolled, and very excited. We asked at least ten million questions at multiple meetings. I was so nervous and against it initially. In the end my wife's intuition was correct, as always. She researched it and said that good charter schools had huge waiting lists and people willing to do anything to get their kids in. Funny enough, we have a friend in the Dallas area considering relocating their family to college station to get in this school. She said they have 4000 people on the waiting list where she lives now! You should contact the admin and ask them the specific questions you have, sure they would help. I did not ask them specific creativity questions unfortunately. Would love to hear the answers you get if you do ask. I thought they were full already, I know a month ago they were close and had a waiting list of 400 already for one of the grades.

Pros for us:

-No rezoning
-Guaranteed continuity for our kids- they will not be split from friends due to ridiculous school feeder patterns, or last second rezoning.
-Aggie founded
-Proven success with their model
-Leadership focused
-All the staff we have interacted with have been nothing short of awesome.
-No unfair practices such as trying to send away "free lunch" students, or draw from only the most wealthy neighborhoods. Its first come first serve, no demographics games.

Cons:

-We absolutely love GP Elementary, still makes me sick we were put in the position to have to look at alternative education options. If we knew the district would not be rezoning us somewhere across town for "comparability" half way through elementary we would possibly stay put.
-Sports- they have them but nothing like the district. No football for example. I know you said you are not concerned about this but its still a con for many.
-No public transportation. For us this did not matter much because our kids were going to be forced to be on a bus for 3 hours a day at some point if they went that route anyway. So in either case we would be driving them, non factor for us because we are able to transport them. For many I could see this being tough though.
-This one is just a fear we have, and probably dumb to most. We are afraid it will not be as fun or exciting of an environment for our kids. GP Elementary was awesome in this aspect, and will be hard to match. Not sure how that ranks for people, but just being honest. Really have no idea either way until school starts.

Just came back from the charter info sessions. Our youngest is very excited about their future at this school. I'll give you my list of pros and cons.

Pros: The founder seems to understand what a leader is about and has life experience to back it up. Taking a high school with 50% graduation rate and vastly improving it shows understanding.

Leadership is a focus. To me it seems not like lip service but truly what is expected. They say it is the backbone of who they are. They give several examples of projects they work on and sound age appropriate.

Language sounds intimidating but yet very exciting. Honestly I hope I pick up some of the Mandarin. Too bad we don't have a k or 1st grader. The way they incorporate the 3 together sound very exciting. Sounds like these students will be prepared for the world not just South Texas when graduating.

Sports didn't seem like just there to check a box but something they embrace trying to win at. They are very proud of their state accomplishments. Also the example of the science behind a kid improving the vertical jump as opposed to just doing it seemed interesting. She said they teach the kid the Science behind how the body works to do it.

Homework expectations. Seemed very reasonable. Seemed age appropriate to us. 10 minutes per grade per day is their goal. I hope no more ridiculous projects for all hours of the night not accomplishing a goal other than to keep kids off the street. I'm so sick of busy work. This is school not child care.

100% high school college acceptance. Wow. Think this speaks for itself. Their high school in DFW just had that.

The ability to expell a student. While this may sound harsh I don't care. When a kid becomes unbearable and holds others back they are not being left behind but dropped off where they belong. Learn to do as you are told or move over. They said they work with kids and families but have no issues with removal if needed.

Security. No open doors. Every visitor has to be buzzed in by the front desk. In today's society this is a plus to me.

True field trips. I believe 7th was several days at Texas historical locations. 8th in DC area. High school China and Spain. To me this says education. Not sure we can afford them but will try as I feel It says we care outside the classroom.

Diversity. This is a word that can be upsetting or make one happy. I see it as very polar in today's society. Some of it is due to force and some of it is political. What I like about this room as you would have to have been blind not to see the ethnic diversity. Economic diversity. Anything you could think of was there and all seemed to have similar goals. This wasn't forced as a free lunch percentage but truly many folks from many backgrounds looking to succeed as a society together no matter where they live or who they are. The goal of success with no entitlement or hurt was refreshing.

An appointed school board not elected. A while back i would have said this wasn't good. My hopes here is one scorned side will not have the ability to launch an attack on the other side for financial gain as we just had happen here in CSISD. I realize this could go either way but after the last couple of months I find it a potential plus.

Finally the principle. I found it refreshing to see her lead and answer questions as one of the crowd. She left no doubt she was in charge but had the persona as I am your leader but still one of you. As our local school district progresses I get the feeling that the arrogance is separating the family from the staff. When she doesn't know she says it. She doesn't seem to show a false control as so many today do. It's ok to be human and she embraces it. I know it is hard to understand this but had you been there she answered 2-3 questions as I don't know but honesty have never asked as I would need much more info than just the answer to that. The way see talks to the students is outstanding. My child had a question for her about the first day. She stated I haven't thought of that yet but great question. I'll think about that and get back with you. She made my kid feel a huge part of the school without ever entering the doors. Her view on mix of faculty was wonderful as well. She is maybe best principle I've heard speak in a long time.

The feel overall was amazing. The premise I like. The leadership I trust. The results seem great. The slow build instead of what they could do is refreshing. They want to grow but not too fast. They will have 18k students and are approved for over 40k if i remember correctly.

Cons: I'm a traditionalist. Not having CS or Bastrop or Amarillo on Jersey seems odd to me. Play for the name on the jesrsey which is usually the community name. IL Of Texas seems off to me but will adjust.

New everything. I hate being the trial but think we will go ahead and be. New admin new teachers. Makes me nervous.

In summary we are excited. I keep asking myself, am I excited to get away from the school situation we just went through or the charter school? Before today I would say I was 50/50. After today I can say 100% I'm excited about the new world afforded to us. We will have one in CSISD and one in ILofTexas. I'm excited for both. Made me feel good our oldest said if she was younger she would maybe like this school. They have been to every meeting with us. We look forward to this new experience. As we know grass is always greener over fence. I know it isn't always waist deep and tasty however. I know there will be let downs but as of now it would have to be a huge let down not to be a huge success.

TLDNR. Been to meetings. Extremely excited. Leadership and foundation seem to be great. Sports doesn't seem to be an afterthought as we felt they may be. 100% college acceptance for this years senior class shows me what I need. Principle of new charter gives me great feeling for success. We feel lucky to be given this opportunity.

Turf96 said:

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Finally the principle. I found it refreshing to see her lead and answer questions as one of the crowd. She left no doubt she was in charge but had the persona as I am your leader but still one of you. As our local school district progresses I get the feeling that the arrogance is separating the family from the staff. When she doesn't know she says it. She doesn't seem to show a false control as so many today do. It's ok to be human and she embraces it. I know it is hard to understand this but had you been there she answered 2-3 questions as I don't know but honesty have never asked as I would need much more info than just the answer to that. The way see talks to the students is outstanding. My child had a question for her about the first day. She stated I haven't thought of that yet but great question. I'll think about that and get back with you. She made my kid feel a huge part of the school without ever entering the doors. Her view on mix of faculty was wonderful as well. She is maybe best principle I've heard speak in a long time.

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I've heard amazing things about the leadership from many friends. Your description could not be in greater contrast to what we've had locally the past several years from district-level leadership (patronizing/arrogance/hostility; disconnected from families, educators/schools).

Best of luck to your family! -- only wish I had children young enough to attend IL and allow them the experience you have described (including NO busy work or silly projects/field trips. Ick!).

News from KBTX regarding the IL school receiving approval to accept students from more districts in the Brazos Valley. Seems like that might be a game changer with respect to southern growth and subdivisions.

Article here: http://www.kbtx.com/content/news/New-charter-school-gets-clearance-to-serve-students-from-31-area-districts-484537421.html

It seems like IL Texas would not have pursued the outlying area if there had been sufficient students enrolled from Bryan ISD and College Station ISD. That said, if they can draw from as far away as Tomball, maybe they can grow their school super fast. I wish them great success.

"100% high school college acceptance. Wow. Think this speaks for itself. Their high school in DFW just had that."

Sounds good but If you think about it much easier to do with selective acceptance of students into the charter school, and lets not forget all of these students have INVOLVED parents which is why they would even be at a charter school.

Many colleges offer automatic acceptance based on GPA and ACT/SAT score combo. SHSU is 3.0 GPA and 19/1010 test score. Every child in this charter school should easily be able to achieve that requirement.

College acceptance should easily be 100%.

InMyOpinion said:

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"100% high school college acceptance. Wow. Think this speaks for itself. Their high school in DFW just had that."

Sounds good but If you think about it much easier to do with selective acceptance of students into the charter school, and lets not forget all of these students have INVOLVED parents which is why they would even be at a charter school.

Many colleges offer automatic acceptance based on GPA and ACT/SAT score combo. SHSU is 3.0 GPA and 19/1010 test score. Every child in this charter school should easily be able to achieve that requirement.

College acceptance should easily be 100%.

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100% college acceptance from students with very involved parents sounds exactly like the kind of school anyone would want their child to go to. I see what you're getting at by trying to down grade all of the good press they've had lately but excitement is only building amongst this community.

Blinn accepts any high school grad...and they accept some without high school diplomas. I don't think that 100% college acceptance is a great hurdle to get over. There are some very good things about IL Texas. I don't think that the 100% college acceptance is one of those things.

Edit to add: Not trying to trash Blinn here. Great way to pick up classes that transfer elsewhere at an economical rate. Great way to transition from hs to college. Great way to gain entry to TAMU or other 4 year university.

The Wow 100% wasn't as much about how hard it is to get in; it is wow that they didn't allow any student to give up or get lazy. You see I manage many college kids from a school that is hard to get into. Very few have what it takes to make it in what I call the real world. In fact one of the things I feel we are failing at in schools is allowing kids to give up. First sigof adversity and I can't do this comes up. Personally I'm sick of that and don't want my kids to even know that is an option. It would take several students to allow 1 to fail and still round up to get to 100 percent. My Wow was more about the fact that they pushed every student to hit a goal.

I actually don't think every student should go to college as we are a society of over educated under qualified people. Don't believe it take some time to tour a college campus. Many phd folks couldn't make it 24 months in their respected fields. I believe we need more trade education at all levels of schools.

No matter your belief, as mine will not align with many, I hope we can agree that 100 % follow through is a good thing. For me 100% in today's society of anything good deserves a Wow.

Yes that is what they are approved to handle in the whole state. They were numbers that were presented at the info session. Don't remember the actual numbers but I believe these to be close.

It wasn't the number that I found interesting but the fact that they had been approved to do so much more but chose to grow within their self so they didn't lose their purpose. In today's society self control on anything is impressive. Controlled growth seems like a great thing to me.

In my opinion public shools trying to overreach their intended purposes are helping move the needle of how we educate our children. As Texas public schools allow their selves to become more political I have seen many more home schooled families. You even have Home school athletic divisions. 4-H and FFA acknowledges hOme school now. I feel this is also the reason you see charter schools catching on so fast.

Much like the past couple of years in politics , of common sense rebirth, I feel you will see this in schools as well. People are tired of an agenda being pressed on their lives. Schools need to educate subjects not political views. If they keep up IL of Texas may need more than 40K slots.

Just looking at one of CSiSD main reasons for the recent rezone, was in their own words, was socioeconomic rebalancing. Not sure why that is even an issue as long as students are performing in the classroom. Didn't know the kind of car you drive or house you live in made you smarter or not. 2 of the top 10 kids in my graduating class were so poor food stamps would have been a raise and we had a wealthy school district. Public schools now put too much emphasis on perceived political issues instead of education. I still like our schools by the way, but think the charter may have a better model of academic education if that is what you desire. Time will tell.