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Thursday, September 9, 1999
By ERIC SERRANO Journal Staff Writer LAFAYETTE -- A child screams, "Yeah!" as the teacher calls an end to recess on a temperate, sun-drenched day -- not exactly the response one would expect to hear from an elementary school student. Especially not on the first day back to school after summer vacation. There wasn't even supposed to be a school operating in the 80-plus-year-old Lafayette school building this year. But, against the odds, a core group of parents and concerned residents in this tiny community of just over 500 have made their hope of keeping a school in town a reality with Wednesday's official opening of the Lafayette Charter School. "We definitely see a future here," Lead Teacher Sheila Howk said, as the school's18 students in grades K-4 headed for quiet time or silent reading after recess. "Teachers have control over what they teach. Parents have more say in what happens. We're really excited about this. I still had first day knots in my stomach, but things are going really well," she said. Howk is the only full-time teacher at the Lafayette "campus", but the school is now allied with the Hutterite community's Starland School as well and employs another two teachers overseeing 20 K-5 students there. "They were a private school that had been having some difficulty, ... falling behind in some of their (learning) outcomes. Our goal is to get help them get caught up on those outcomes," Howk said of the alliance. After a summer of intense planning, Howk, teacher, principal, and administrator for the charter school is glad to get down to business at last. "It was a lot of hard work, but now I get to do what I like best -- teach," she said. Howk is responsible for all of the students at the Lafayette site, aided by Lesa Hartley (serving as both an aide and the school's secretary) and first-year teacher Gwen Jacobs (working part-time as a reading and math teacher). Belinda Bjorklund, a two-year veteran of Starland and Joe Ness, who spent eight years with St. Mary's before signing on with the Lafayette and Starland endeavor, meet with the rest of the staff twice a month to address curriculum and other educational issues, Howk said. "We're all the same district now. Policy is the same at both sites, we share ideas, work out curricular issues," she said. A seven-member panel of the charter school's teachers and parents is slated to be elected to serve as a school board in October. Parental control is a staple of the Lafayette philosophy, Howk said, pointing to the lunch program as a good example. "We don't even have food program here," she said. "(Students) all bring their own lunches and they love it. Parents can have some control over what their kids are eating and they can stock the cupboards and `fridge here if they want." Howk doesn't make an effort to hide her enthusiasm for the Lafayette charter program. "There is just so much we can do," she said. "We get the same kind of student funding, but we don't have to spend any of it on a superintendent, a principle, or a business manager. That's extra money we can spend on the kids for supplies, books, building things." Federal funding, expected later this year will also help the school purchase up-to-date computer equipment, Howk added. A good portion of the costs to get the school started were defrayed by both volunteer help in painting and refurbishing the school building that was auctioned to Tad Ulrich of New Ulm earlier this year, and some good buys through school closing in Sleepy Eye and St. Mary's Elementary in New Ulm. In fact, the school had so much extra materials, planners raised some cash by holding a four-day rummage sale, Howk said. Overall, Howk said, the strongest tenet of the Lafayette and Starland programs -- with its student- teacher ratios of 17-1 -- will be the ability of the staff to tailor learning to the needs of each student. "An individualized learning plan for every student is the focus of this school," she said, and the first week of school will be one of assessing student learning needs. "Students won't necessarily be held to the grade label. Just because they are in the second grade doesn't necessarily mean they read or do math at that level. Students will be held accountable for meeting their levels at the end of the year, but we don't plan to put labels on students just yet," Howk said. Lafayette Charter School will host an open house for parents and others interested in what staff are doing at the school by the end of the month. "We're new and people will want to know what it's like here," Howk said. "We think they'll be pleasantly surprised."
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