Document text
Ashland School District restricts home-school center admissions Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Home schoolers Sulaiman Shelton, 9, and Melodie Chouard, 9, try to muscle their way around the classroom during a lesson in friction at the Willow Wind Community Learning Center in Ashland. By TONY BOOM ASHLAND - Ashland School District's home schooling support center is so popular that the district is restricting new admissions while developing an admissions policy to emphasize service to home schoolers. "We are really feeling pretty full," said Debra Schaeffer Pew, coordinator of Willow Wind Community Learning Center. No new students were admitted after classes began in fall 2001 until earlier this month. All home-schooled students who wanted to get in for spring semester, which began in early February, were accepted. But students who were also in public schools or taking any private classes were not admitted. "We are using a pretty narrow definition while we wait for the district to give us direction," said Pew. "We're trying to serve the people that have the least support." The equivalent of a little more than 100 full-time students now attend the school. When it opened in fall 2000 the figure was 89. A total of 238 students actually take classes. They attend from a few up to 21.5 hours of instruction per week. The center is designed to augment home schooling. An admissions proposal developed by the center's parents council was presented to the school board last week. The board directed district Superintendent Juli Di Chiro to draft a policy based on the recommendations. Major tenets in the proposal include continued support of home-schooling families, priority in admission for siblings and continued access for students from throughout the Rogue Valley, not just those within the Ashland district. New enrollees would be limited to no more than eight hours a week of paid instruction elsewhere. Some parents have used the center to supplement part-time, private schooling. Students at the center presently taking more than eight-hours of outside instruction would be "grandfathered" into the program. There are now 21 students taking more than eight hours of outside classes. One center parent said the eight-hour limit was generous. In Oakland, Calif., where she previously lived, any paid instruction resulted in loss of home schooling status, said Margaret Gandy. A parent sent an e-mail to the district saying it had an obligation to serve all students, said board chairwoman Terry Littleton. The parent thought it was unfair to serve just certain categories "It makes sense," said Littleton of the eight-hour limit. "We've got more enrollment than we can handle. It was really designed to serve the home schoolers." Littleton said she leans toward accepting the regulations as presented. Board members Amy Amrhein and Chuck Keil said they'd need to see a developed policy before they could support the proposals. "We really haven't had a chance to study it or take any public input," said Keil. Ashland School District spent $865,000 in September 2000 to purchase the former Waldorf School site. Critics said the operation might harm other district schools. But the center puts money into the district's general fund. District officials budgeted $441,000 this year for center operations and debt payment. They projected the equivalent of 94 full-time student who bring in state support of $5,000 per student. That level would return $29,000 to the district. Business manager Loren Luman expects the operation will exceed that amount. Reach Ashland bureau reporter Tony Boom at 482-4651, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.