I sent a request for a progress update and this is what I received back from Jeff Clark:
Thank you for your recent email. I’m happy to provide you with an update on recent developments that have occurred since the parent meeting at Excel.
As a strong advocate of school choice, NHA is committed to doing whatever we can to continue to make school choice a reality for families who desire it. As such, I have met with both Kevin Konarska, the KISD superintendent, and Ron Koehler, assistant superintendent, to maintain a dialogue about this matter. While I don’t anticipate there will be a reversal of the decision related to school of choice admissions, we have agreed to keep each other informed if we learn of any NHA student who has received a seat in their school of choice, but have been denied release from GRPS. I have not yet heard of this occurring with any of our students, but am confident that if it were to happen, KISD is committed to working on our behalf to arrive at a resolution.
Additionally, further progress has been made to support the statement I made in May about the strong likelihood of a charter high school opening in Grand Rapids within the next few years. A local group of individuals, in partnership with University Prep in Detroit, have submitted an application to Grand Valley State University to open a charter high school in Grand Rapids for the 2008-2009 school year. My understanding is that GVSU is currently reviewing the application and intends to announce a decision sometime this month. While this school would not be affiliated with NHA, it would represent an option for parents who would like to continue their child’s charter school education through high school.
Finally, we continue to explore additional charter high school providers. Most recently, we have met with an organization that meets several of the key criteria we are looking for in this type of partner, including operating multiple charter high schools with impressive academic results. We have enjoyed a positive dialogue with them and have extended an invitation to bring them to Grand Rapids to learn more about NHA. My hope is this visit will occur sometime this summer. I will let you know once it is scheduled as I would welcome your assistance in rounding up a group of parents to meet with their representatives to express parent interest in a high school.
These are the three primary developments since our meeting. Please feel free to follow up if you have any questions. I appreciate your ongoing support and hope you and your family are enjoying your summer.
Best Regards,
Jeff Clark
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2 comments:
Below are a couple of website that relate to UPA
http://www.uprep.com/
http://www.greatschools.net/modperl/browse_school/mi/5567
Is there a vehicle, other than word of mouth, we can use to inform other parents about this blog and the issues it discusses? Obviously, we need to reach the parents of students in the Grand Rapids Public School District most, so getting word out to NHA schools that have a large number of students from that district would be nice. Any suggestions?
Because we don't attend Excel, I came upon this very late in the process and am still fighting to get my child out of GRPS and into EK for high school.
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