Parents Consider Starting Charter School Some In Plummer/Worley Area Unhappy With Discipline, Parental Involvement

A group of parents is talking about starting a charter school in the Plummer/Worley area, saying the schools there don’t provide a quality education.

“We have a number of people who are not satisfied with what is happening in the Plummer/Worley School District,” said Amandus Wolff, a parent and spokesman for the group. “A charter school is one of the options we are considering.”

The group has spoken to the Plummer/Worley School Board at the past two meetings to discuss the possibility of starting a charter school.

Charter schools have caught on in the Panhandle since state legislation allowing them took effect in 1998. There are two charter schools in Moscow and one in Coeur d’Alene.

Two others are proposed in the Lake Pend Oreille School District in Bonner County. Statewide, there are eight charter schools, offering different approaches to education than those taken by public schools.

Both Wolff and school district officials stressed that the group is in the preliminary stage and has not submitted anything in writing.

“We really don’t have any details other than that they wanted to let us know that they are looking into it,” said Connie Johnson, chairwoman of the school board.

Wolff said his group has been meeting weekly to discuss options. He said the next step is for his group to become a nonprofit organization. The parents also have considered forming a home-schooling cooperative or creating a private school, he said.

The group was motivated by what Wolff said is an inadequate level of discipline in the Plummer/Worley district and a lack of parental involvement.

“We’re looking at the alternatives available so we as parents can better control the education of our children,” Wolff said.

If the group did propose a charter school, he said, it would be for kindergarten through 12th grade and would hope to enroll between 70 and 100 students.

George Asan, superintendent of the district, said he understands the parents’ concerns about the lack of parental involvement. Parents tend to be involved at the elementary level, but not in middle or high school, he said. But, he said, the school district is doing its best to provide a quality education.

“My impression is that there will always be people in the community who have a rub with the school. As a result, there are some who will take that tack,” he said.

Still, Asan said, the district will do everything it can to assist the group. Charter schools have to be approved by the districts in which they reside.

“We’ll cooperate,” Asan said. “In the meantime, the public schools will continue to do the best they can. We will continue to strive for individual achievement and student success no matter what happens.”