Looking back at our first year, 2020-2021

Navigating the System

During the 2020-2021 school year, we hosted three family and educator workshops led by Yordanos Gebreamlak of the Governor’s Office of the Education Ombuds (OEO). These workshops ensured that families and educators were better informed about student rights and the special education and Section 504 plan processes.

Later in the school year, our founding Chair and President Carla Rogenmuser advocated for charter families to have more access to state agencies who can assist with charter school family concerns and complaints.

After discussion, Commission staff began to ask the charter schools they authorize to include information about OEO and the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Office of Equity & Civil Rights in student handbooks. They check on this requirement during Quarterly School Reviews.

Amplifying Family Voice

In April, we took the opportunity to advocate for including charter family and educator voices in the selection of the next Washington State Charter School Commission’s (the Commission) Executive Director by consulting on and signing this letter alongside other community and charter school leaders and Washington Charter School Association (WA Charters) leadership.

Our founding Vice-Chair Emily McLeod read part of the letter during the time for public comment during the Commission’s next public meeting. Rekha Bhatt of WA Charters, and Travis Franklin of Spokane International Academy, also read selected parts of the letter.

These efforts resulted in the Commission sending out a survey to various groups of stakeholders, including families, to find four common qualities important to the community to use in their search.

What’s Next

We are proud of our accomplishments during the 2020-2021 school year and aimed to work on the following goals during the 2021-2022 school year:

• Supporting families in advocating for student and teacher health and wellbeing.

• Directly supporting families in navigating the special education evaluation and implementation process.

• Creating the conditions for excellent family and teacher partnerships across the sector statewide.

• Building bridges between charter school communities, the Commission, and charter families.