In the fall of 1998, The Children’s Museum/Museo de los Ninos, in partnership with the San Diego City Schools, opened the Museum School. Located in the heart of downtown San Diego, and currently in its 7^th year of operation, our school’s students come from neighborhoods throughout San Diego and represent the diversity of our city. The Museum School will operate as a single charter school, and is currently located within the San Diego Unified School District’s boundary at 211 Maple Street, San Diego, CA 92103. The Museum School has plans to return to its former downtown location within the San Diego Children’s Museum at 200 West Island Street, San Diego CA 92101, again this location would be within the boundary of SDUSD.

The school originally was designed to serve children in 3^rd through 5^th grade. At the end of our second year, our parents and our 5^th grade students petitioned us to expand to 6^th grade. We did add a 6th grade beginning in the 2000-2001 school year. The Museum School currently has an enrollment of 80 students and reserves the right to have a maximum of 240 students.

The Museum School is structured around the following components: a small school setting; a school culture based on mutual trust, respect and accountability; a pedagogy based on contextualized, applied learning in heterogeneous groupings; and academically rigorous instruction that meets state standards.

Pursuant to California charter school law and the San Diego City Schools’ Charter School Policy and Guidelines, this document addresses the sixteen required charter elements mandated by Education Code 47605 and the additional six requirements outlined in Section 2, Guideline 5 of the district’s Charter School Policy and Guidelines. It also contains the required affirmations as mandated by Education Code 47604 and 47605 and set forth in Section 2, Guideline 3 of the district’s Charter School Policy and Guidelines.

We understand, and continue to experience, the challenges and complexities of designing, opening, and successfully operating a charter school. At the Museum School, we are proud of our accomplishments thus far. We have full enrollment, high attendance, significant parent involvement, and a solid relationship with our district; our charter was unanimously renewed in February 2000. Our low faculty and staff turnover indicate high teacher and staff satisfaction. Most importantly, we have high student satisfaction and achievement, as indicated by student attitudes, internal multiple assessment measures, and our STAR data and API results — our 2004 API is 825.

We have utilized the lessons we have learned at the Museum School to take this opportunity to revise our school's charter. Many laws have changed since our first renewal, and the new requirements have provided us a chance to outline the success of our small school. Undoubtedly we will meet new and different challenges as we endeavor to meet the specific needs of future students and families. However, we are confident that with the advice, input, and creative thinking of our educational and organizational partners, our families, and our faculty, staff and students, the Museum School will continue to serve its students well.

Element 1. Educational Program: "The educational program of the school, designed, among other things, to describe what the school intends to accomplish, to identify those whom the school is attempting to educate, what it means to be an "educated person" in the 21^st century and how learning best occurs. The goals identified in that program shall include the objective of enabling students to become self-motivated, competent and lifelong learners."

The students of the Museum School come from neighborhoods throughout San Diego, and reflect the diversity of the city (The current School Accountability Report Card indicates a profile of 23.1% African American, 6.2% Asian, 26. 2% Hispanic, 1.5% Filipino, and 43.1% White). Family income varies broadly, and most of our students come from single-parent families or have both parents working. Due to the nature of the curriculum described below, the Museum School serves students from 3^rd grade to 6^th grade, and predicts this will be the case through the term of this charter.

• School Culture: Our children come to us from areas throughout the city, and all bring a variety of expectations and learned behavior from their previous schools. Many of our kids come to us due to problems of one sort or another at their previous schools, with expectations and learned behaviors that are often negative. Our challenge is to turn that around, to create a school culture that is supportive, mutually respectful, nurturing, and therefore conducive to learning.
• Academic Achievement: As with every school, our children come to us with a wide range of learning styles, academic competence, and behavioral skills. Our challenge is to cultivate a learning environment that effectively addresses the variety of learning styles and behavioral skills that every student brings to school, and provide a strong academic program which students can be successful at.
• Social-emotional growth: While academic achievement is imperative, it is also a fact that children cannot optimally attend to academic challenges when they are immersed in social/emotional turmoil. We feel that to ignore or downplay those needs is, first of all, indefensible on a human level, and on a practical level, very clearly works against academic success, regardless of the quality of instruction and curriculum. Our challenge is to effectively attend to the enormous social/emotional needs of so many of our students, and in effect educate the "whole" child.

• A number of major studies have identified the following benefits of small schools: higher student achievement; better attendance; higher graduation rates; fewer discipline problems; safer environment; higher achievement for females, children of color, lower income children, and special needs students; greater parent involvement and satisfaction; greater teacher satisfaction due to shared vision, effective professional development, and greater input; more effective governance; stronger interpersonal relationships among students, teachers, and administrators; and greater sense of belonging (Meier 1996; Anne E. Casey Foundation 2001; Cotton 1996; Robertson 2001; Nathan and Febey 2001; Viadero 2001).

• A major multi-state research study, the Matthew Project, has recently produced definitive evidence that school size significantly and consistently affects the academic achievement of children from low-income families. This study, building on research initially conducted in California, replicated the early results in six additional states (AK, CA, GA, OH, MT, TX, WV), which represent the variation in ethnicity, locale, poverty, region, and school district organization present in schools across the United States.

As the second largest school district in California and the eighth largest district in the United States, with an overall poverty rate of 57.3%, the San Diego City School District provides an ideal setting to implement a smaller schools model.

The Museum School currently has a maximum enrollment of 80 students, and as of this date has 79 students enrolled. While this remains an ideal for the current program and facility, the Museum School reserves the right to increase this maximum number for future years.

The major benefits we experience every day from being a small school are:

At the Museum School we have been successful in building a school culture based on mutual trust, respect, and accountability.

A number of research studies and several other successful school models directly address issues of school culture and are compatible with the insight we have gained, and continue to gain everyday, at the Museum School.

According to these studies and our own experience, school cultures that increase student achievement and overall school quality include the following elements:

• Emotional caring and intellectual challenge. Academic success is strongly related to a student’s social competence and adaptability to various environments (Phi Delta Kappan, 12/01).

• Positive relationships among students and among students and teachers are more likely to result in engaged students achieving at higher levels (Scales and Leffert 1999).

• Students are known well. And to be known and acknowledged by others is essential to human psychological well-being and to learning (Ayers, et al. 2000).

• Everyone belongs. The closer our youth come to adulthood, the less they belong to communities that include responsible adults, and the more stuck they are in peer-only subcultures. In small schools, every kid is known, every kid belongs to a community that includes many adults. Those close knit relationships allow teachers and other role-models to pass on the "habits of heart and mind" that define an educated person, not just through lesson plans, but through the daily give-and-take of sustaining a community (Meier, 1996, 2000).

A number of successful schools exhibit features of the culture described above, and perhaps not surprisingly most are also small schools. They include: the Mission Hill School in Boston; Chicago Public Schools’ model small schools; New York’s New Village Schools; the Search Institute’s Freshman Academy; Department of Defense schools; certain Comer model schools; and International High School in Long Island City.

Drawing on our experience at the Museum School, along with what we learn from our ongoing research and from visiting other model schools, we will continue to build a school culture that will value and nurture its students, staff, and parents and effectively address both the academic and social-emotional needs of our school community.

The Museum School is committed to helping our students be successful, lifelong learners. For us, that includes:

• meeting state content standards through a rigorous, cognitively challenging curriculum for every child;

• addressing the variety of learning styles and varying levels of academic and social-emotional growth that exist in every group of students through contextualized applied learning and a combination of carefully constructed heterogeneous groupings (mixed-aged, mixed-ability, and developmental) for appropriate academic, community service, and project-based tasks;
• using what we know works best from both traditional education (e.g., the district’s balanced literacy approach) and progressive education (e.g., experiential learning, heterogeneous groupings, multiple intelligence, collaborative learning);
• developing a learning community based on shared responsibility, high expectations, and genuine learning partnerships between students, staff, parents, and community; and
• consistently working with students to be self-directed in both their academic pursuits and their behavior.

These elements are the basis for our curriculum at the Museum School, and are proving to be successful. Our children enjoy school and are learning, as evidenced through our own multiple measures of assessment and the state’s STAR tests.

The following have been identified as solid educational principles for all students:

• Humanizing learning environments where students receive academically rigorous instruction.

• Access to a high-quality, relevant, and interesting curriculum that treats the students’ language and culture as resources, conveys high expectations, presents available options for their lives, demands student investment in learning, and engages parents and the community in the education of their children.

• Pedagogical approaches that empower students and encourage them to assume greater control over setting their own learning goals and to collaborate actively with each other in achieving these goals.

• The understanding that the high literacy goals of schools are best achieved in everyday, culturally meaningful contexts. This contextualization utilizes students’ funds of knowledge and skills as a sound foundation for new knowledge.

• Heterogeneous, cooperative learning teams, where English learners can interact with fluent English speakers in a supportive and affirming context, in order to negotiate meaning of the content. Because all students engage in oral practice and utilize interpersonal skills, all students benefit.

• Curriculum programs that are intellectually stimulating and highly interactive, emphasizing cognitively complex academic content, student problem-solving, and discovery learning through thematic experiences across the curriculum. This approach is likely to provide the social setting for natural language acquisition to take place, simultaneously with academic and cognitive development. Collaborative interaction in which meaning is negotiated with peers is central to the language acquisition process, both for oral and written language development.

Summary. We have identified in this section the students that the Museum School will serve, and the philosophical/research base for our vision.

Both the research described above and our direct experience at the Museum School guides and shapes our vision. The important factors that contribute to the academic and social-emotional success of the Museum School students will continue to drive our educational program: small school; lengthened school day; variety of heterogeneous groupings; collaborative learning; contextualized, experiential, project-based curriculum; high expectations; high levels of faculty involvement in which the teaching staff is a major stakeholder in the decision making process; full inclusion for special needs students; and a supportive school culture where every teacher knows and meaningfully interacts with every student.

We will create an academic environment based on the factors and models described above, modifying them when necessary to best meet the academic, social and emotional needs of our students and our school community. Working every day with our students, our staff, our parents and community, and our advisory partners, we will aspire to create the conditions that will result in high achievement for all of our students.

The continued educational plan is based on our current Museum School model and the research cited in the previous section. The plan we present here is a basic framework; our small-school structure will allow us to assess the needs of our students on a daily basis and make the appropriate adjustments to most effectively help our students reach their full potential.

The Museum School will follow the San Diego City Schools’ year round schedule, and will have an extended school day.

• The formal instructional day will run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., thereby exceeding the required number of instructional minutes set forth in Education Code 46201.

• Before-school and after-school programs (7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., respectively) will be provided by the Museum School’s current 6 to 6 partners, the Mission Valley YMCA.

California state content standards for grades 3-6 will be directly addressed through a variety of rigorous and innovative curriculum structures that are consistent with our research and our Museum School experience:

• Language arts and math will be presented in developmental groupings, where students will be able to work at their own academic level, regardless of their chronological grade level. Language arts will directly address English Language Arts standards, along with the state’s ELD (English Language Development) standards. Language arts classes will be structured in a way that reflect the collaborative thinking and input of reading and language arts specialists, our teachers, and administrative staff. We intend to include student presentations, by language arts classes, for parents and student peers. Math classes will directly address the state’s math standards; our teachers will review current best practices, and in consultation with district math specialists, will decide on a math program which will best meet the needs of our students.

• Other curriculum areas and their attendant standards will be addressed through "Departments" and "Personal Learning Plans." "Departments" were created at the Museum School to serve as a vehicle for contextual, experiential applied learning in small groups. Museum School Departments will consist of groups of approximately 12 to 14 students each, and will be heterogeneously grouped — mixed age, gender, and ability. Each year the content of the departments may change according to the needs and interests of the students, and available resources (e.g., the Museum School departments last year were Ecology, Photography/Autobiography, Community Service, Evolution, Aerospace, and Cooking/Nutrition). Every 5 weeks we will have "Department Presentations" during which each student in each department will present to the entire school community (students, staff, parents, invited guests) what they have learned and accomplished. Presentations will be evaluated using an explicit rubric created collaboratively by the teachers and students. The students will then remain in their same grouping and rotate into the next department. At the end of approximately 30 weeks, every student will have experienced each Department. Along with learning the specific academic content addressed in each Department, they will have practiced setting goals, meeting deadlines, working collaboratively in small groups, becoming self-directed, and in a very real sense, learning "how to learn" — that is, how to set a goal, and then how to access, process, and present the relevant information.

• Each week will also include "Rotations," during which small groups of approximately 12 to 14 students will rotate through additional classes such as art, music, dance, P.E., movement, computer, language development, and additional language arts classes. The art, music, dance, and P.E. classes will be taught by school partners (e.g., the Center for World Music will teach gamelan, Children’s Museum artists will teach art) or contracted subject matter experts, giving our core teachers additional time to work with small groups of students, or do curriculum planning.

• Special needs students will be fully included in all aspects of the Museum School. We will exercise Option 1 (district delivery of special education services), and will base our full inclusion model on the successful model currently in place. The Museum School will comply with IDEA child search/find requirements through assessment measures and a Student Study Team in order to exhaust all general education alternatives before a referral for special education evaluation is made. The school will also provide staff development regarding the identification of children with disabilities.
• The Museum School’s curriculum will follow a developmental model, which allows flexibility for student achievement in the classroom. While there is no certified GATE program at the Museum School, the school will operate on the principles outlined by the District for GATE students, in which "modifications of depth, complexity, acceleration and novelty are applied to core curriculum commensurate to student ability." It is our belief that all students are gifted and can learn best when given a variety of opportunities. GATE students, like all our students, will learn through a multi-age, developmental program that challenges students to reach their highest potential. Progress will be measured along a continuum, so that students engage a "learning process" where learning is continuous. Students will work with subject matter experts and professional artists where they can expand the scope of their educational experiences and foster life changing relationships. They will learn through innovative teacher-designed curriculum, which is in-depth, thematic, and inter-disciplinary. Gifted students will have the opportunity to work at their own pace within this framework.

• As a small school, the Museum School has the opportunity to focus on the needs of individual students. Teachers will meet regularly to identify students performing below grade level and other at-risk students. Through careful discussion, these "at-risk" students will enter into a Student Study Team process where the needs of the child will be explored with parents and other resource specialists. Teachers and other staff will collaborate to design and implement interventions and support strategies, and make modifications to the students' schedule and learning program. Close monitoring of the student’s progress will take place, and adjustments will be made where necessary. After-school reading and math "clubs," taught by our language arts and math teachers, will take place as necessary. These clubs will provide more intensive assistance to students who are struggling with reading, writing, language, or math. Because the staff works as a team, each adult will share responsibility for each child’s' improvement.

• English Language Learners will be identified using CELDT testing language assessments and district records. Each teacher at the Museum School is CLAD certified and will employ teaching strategies, which allow for tremendous use of practical language. Apprentice- style classes in a multi-age setting will provide opportunities where sometimes students are the novice, and sometimes the mentor. Students will have authentic experiences for English language acquisition and development. In "Departments", students will work together in small multi-age teams of 12-14 learners to plan, research, and organize ideas into a group presentation. These types of situations will provide valuable practice for English language learners.

• At the Museum School, teachers, aides, and administrator meet every morning from 8:30 to 9:00 to discuss the daily schedule, student progress, and general school operations——to keep everyone apprised of how the school is doing and able to make informed decisions towards improvement or change. Teachers will have planning time to develop curriculum, plan activities, and gather resources for their courses, and also time to devote to other school responsibilities since a small staff requires teachers to wear several hats. The staff will also meet as necessary on minimum days to discuss curriculum and implementation. Staff development will take place through appropriate district and other professional offerings, consultation with literacy and bi-literacy experts, and release time for teachers to observe best practices at other schools.

Element 2. Student Outcomes: "The measurable student outcomes identified for use by the charter school. ‘Student outcomes’ means the extent to which all students of the school demonstrate that they have attained the skills, knowledge, and attitudes specified as goals in the school’s educational program."

The Museum School students, through the variety of learning experiences described in the previous section, will address and meet the academic standards adopted by the State Board of Education and applicable to charter schools.

Students will specifically address state standards by:

• Engaging in rigorous, standards based curriculum in language arts, math, science (within departments), and the arts.
• Incorporating standards into their Personal Learning Plans.

• Demonstrating student improvement on the state’s standardized tests that compares favorably with district schools that have similar student populations and meets the state’s API accountability targets and the federal Annual Yearly Progress.

Students will demonstrate their increasing ability to be self-directed learners (an essential skill for the 21^st century) by participating successfully in both Departments and Personal Learning Plan projects. Successful participation includes:

• Learning to set goals, and then accessing, processing, and presenting the information necessary for fulfilling those goals

• Demonstrating the above skills through regular participation in Department presentations, and by completing and presenting the specified number of Personal Leaning Plan projects each year.

Students will demonstrate an increased engagement in their own education and an increased love of learning through higher attendance and lower suspension and dropout rates than the district average for similar students.

The Museum School shall set student performance objectives which are consistent with state accountability targets as defined by the California Academic Performance Index (API), federal accountability targets as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and district accountability targets as identified in the district’s "Accountability Framework".

Element 3. Assessment: "The method by which student progress in meeting those student outcomes is to be measured."

Assessment at the Museum School will consist of state mandated tests, district assessment instruments, and on-going internally developed assessments.

• Museum School students will take, as required by charter school law, the state mandated STAR tests. These tests will be used to see how our students are progressing according to state standards, and to help us analyze where our students are doing well, and where we need to focus more attention.

• CELDT, as mandated by the state, will be used for initial assessment and re-designation of all English learners.

• SABE will be used as an additional indicator of the academic literacy of our bilingual students.

• District assessment instruments that are relevant to our curriculum, such as the ARI (Analytical Reading Inventory), will be implemented to help assess and guide literacy instruction.

• Internal assessment measures will include: classroom language arts presentations and language arts portfolios; Department presentations; Personal Learning Plan presentations; and regular math assessments. Specific and explicit rubrics will be developed and/or honed for Language Arts presentations, Department presentations, and PLP presentations.

Element 4. Governance: "The governance structure of the school, including but not limited to the process to be followed by the school to ensure parent/guardian involvement."

The Museum School will operate as an arm-of-the-district public school. The school also intends to be part of the district SELPA, and exercise Option 1 for district delivery of special education services as outlined under Element 1. The school will make facilities available to the district as needed for the delivery of special education services and will comply with the search child/find provisions of the state and federal IDEA legislation.

Formal Governing Board. The Museum School governance is site-based and follows a consensus model. Operation and fiscal accountability of the school will be monitored and guided by a formal governing board. This board will consist of the Children’s Museum’s executive director, one parent (elected by the School Site Council), the school Teacher/Director, and 2 teachers (chosen informally by the teachers). Parent and teacher representatives shall serve for a one-year term. The governing board will meet at least quarterly, and minutes will be kept for each meeting.

School Site Council. The day to day operations of the school will be guided by the School Site Council, which is advisory to the formal governing board and the school staff, and consists of parents, the Teacher/Director, the teachers, and any interested community members. The School Site Council will meet monthly, discuss current issues pertaining to student achievement and school activities, finances, special events, and any issues parents, teachers, the principal, or students submit for the agenda. All parents are invited to School Site Council meetings. Parent-led committees will be created, when deemed necessary, to effectively implement council decisions. An executive committee consisting of one elected parent from each homeroom will assist the Teacher/Director in creating monthly agendas, taking minutes at the meetings, and working with parents’ committees as necessary.

The Ralph M. Brown Act guarantees the public’s right to attend and participate in meetings of local legislative bodies. While legal representatives (e.g. Attorney General’s office, Sacramento district Attorney’s office, private attorneys) are unclear as to whether governing boards of charter schools count as "local legislative bodies" as defined by the law, the Museum School’s formal governing board meetings will be open to the public and will conform to the Brown Act.

Element 5. Employee Qualifications: "The qualifications to be met by individuals to be employed by the school, including the credentials held by the teachers of the school."

As required by law, the teachers at the Museum School will hold a Commission on Teacher Credentialing certificate, permit, or other document equivalent to that which a teacher in other public schools would be required to hold. These documents will be maintained on file at the school and will be available for inspection by the district. The school will comply with the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) as they apply to charter schools for highly qualified teachers.

Within the provisions of the law, the Museum School reserves the right to recruit, interview and hire anyone at anytime who has the best qualifications, and fits in with the school’s philosophy, to fill any of its position vacancies, including administrators, teachers, and support staff.

As an arm of the district school, the Museum School may also recruit qualified teachers holding a district contract. Teachers recruited from the district, holding district contracts, will not be penalized for working at the charter. Teachers with district contracts will retain all rights and status accorded to a district teacher, accrual of tenure, and right to return to the district without penalty.

As provided by law, the Museum School will exercise flexibility with regard to non-compulsory coursework and the hiring of professional experts, and teaching artists to offer stimulating, exciting educational experiences and broaden our students’ educational horizons.

The Museum School may avail itself of any and all credentialing methods approved by the State of California, as needed. This includes the development of or participation in a charter intern program consistent with standards established by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

The Museum School will be an "arm of the district," and will advertise for staff through the district and also through local media. The Museum School currently receives more qualified applications for teachers than positions available, and we expect the same results for the future. The Museum School governing board retains the right to make final personnel decisions regarding the hiring of the school Teacher/Director, and then in consultation with the Teacher/Director, all other school faculty, and staff.

Element 6. Health and Safety: "The procedures that the school will follow to ensure the health and safety of students and staff. These procedures shall include the requirement that each school employee furnish the school with a criminal record summary as described in Education Code 44237. The procedures shall also address safe housing and employee clearance for tuberculosis."

The Museum School will require that each school employee furnish the school with a criminal record summary as described in Education Code 44237.

The School will conduct initial and ongoing tuberculosis screenings of employees as required by law.

The School will contract with the district or outside vendors to provide needed service for nursing, student health screening and nutrition programs.

Working with the district, the Museum School will assure that its facilities comply with applicable state building codes, the Americans for Disabilities Act (ADA) and other applicable fire, health and structural safety requirements, and will maintain on file records documenting such compliance.

The School will maintain a copy of facility inspections on file and ready for inspection.

The School will develop and maintain safety and disaster plans appropriate to its site and ready for inspection.

Element 7. Racial and Ethnic Balance: "The means by which the school will achieve a racial and ethnic balance among its students that is reflective of the general population residing within the district’s territorial jurisdiction."

The Museum School considers pupils for admission without regard to ethnicity, race, or national origin.

The Museum School will strive to achieve a racial and ethnic balance and diversity that meets the intent of Element 7 through the following measures, and will do so as a standard yearly recruitment process:

• Partner with the district to provide general information about the school and notice of application periods in all publications the district provides for such purposes.
• Publish general information about the school and notice of application periods on the websites of the Museum School, and the Children’s Museum, and in the Children’s Museum’s newsletters and press releases.
• Participate in community presentations annually for the purpose of community and regional outreach efforts.
• Use websites, neighborhood flyers, print media, and radio to disseminate general information about the school and notice of application periods.

As an arm-of-the-district, the Museum School will maintain an accurate accounting of the ethnic and racial balance of students enrolled in the school through the district’s pupil accounting system.

Element 8. Admissions Requirements: "Admission requirements if applicable."

The Museum School will admit all pupils who wish to attend as called for in Education Code 47605. Pupils will be considered for admissions without regard to ethnicity, national origin, gender or disability. All admissions procedures and criteria of the Museum School, to the best of its knowledge, are and will remain consistent with non-discrimination statutes.

The Museum School will endeavor to accommodate all students who apply for admission. If more students apply than can be admitted, first priority for admissions will be given to existing students and their siblings. Second priority will be for students domiciled within the boundaries of the district. Third priority will be for other students permitted by law. The Museum School shall receive out of district San Diego County residents if they can benefit from existing resources available at the school. Children of Museum School employees and board members will be considered in the same category as siblings for admission purposes.

The Museum School will establish a 90 day open enrollment period, during the months of March through May each year.

During this enrollment period, parents will be invited to attend at least one of two scheduled "Parent Nights" during which the Museum School principal and staff take time to discuss all aspects of the school’s philosophy and structure with the parents of prospective students, and answer any questions they might have. The purpose of these meetings is to give parents the information they need to make an informed choice about whether the Museum School is the kind of school they want for their child. If, at the conclusion of the Parent Night, parents do indeed decide they would like their child to attend the Museum School, they confirm their application at that time. At the conclusion of the 90 day open enrollment period, all confirmed applicants are accepted unless the number of applicants exceeds the number of available spaces. Should applicants exceed capacity in any grade, admission will be granted to first priority students and the remainder shall be subject to a random public lottery, using the following rules and procedures, which will be communicated to all interested parties at their request:

1. The school will enlist the services of an outside agency or auditor (preferably the Charter School Consortium) to monitor and verify the fair execution of all activities related to holding the lottery.
2. The lottery will take place within 5days of closing the open enrollment period.
3. The lottery will take place on the school’s campus in a facility large enough to allow all interested parties to observe the drawing, or at another public venue near the school large enough to accommodate all interested parties.
4. The lottery will take place on a weekday evening or other time when most interested parties who wish to attend may do so.
5. The number of available openings, by grade level, will be available prior to the lottery to all interested parties upon request.
6. Lottery pools will be established for each priority of applicants at each grade level.
7. The ballots shall be drawn by a representative of the outside agency or auditor confirming the results of the lottery (see (a) above).
8. The drawing shall continue until all names are drawn. Those individuals whose names are drawn after all spaces have been filled will be placed on a waiting list in the order drawn.
9. When an opening becomes available, the family with the highest rank on the applicable waiting list will be notified in writing and shall have 5 business days from the date of postage to respond. The school will also attempt on at least two separate occasions to contact the family by phone. Those families not responding within the 5-day period will forfeit their right to enroll their student in the school for that school year.
10. The outside organization or agency verifying the fair execution of the lottery shall confirm in writing the lottery was conducted fairly, and the school shall keep on record copies of that confirmation.

Notice of the open enrollment periods and the dates and times of the attendant Parent Nights will be advertised in the appropriate recruitment materials, advertisements and forums mentioned in Element 7.

Element 9. Financial Audits: "The manner in which annual, independent financial audits shall be conducted. These audits shall employ generally accepted accounting principles, and the manner in which audit exceptions and deficiencies shall be resolved to the satisfaction of the Board."

The Museum School will contract with an independent auditor for an annual financial audit that will be produced according to generally accepted accounting practices. The Museum School will submit a copy of the audit to the district by December 15 of each year.

In the event of any audit exception or deficiency, the school will report in writing to the district in a timely fashion and to the mutual satisfaction of the district and the school, the manner in which the school has or intends to resolve the exception or deficiency noted in the audit.

The Museum School will furthermore adhere to financial reporting requirements described in Guideline 5, Additional Requirement 4 of the San Diego City Schools Charter School Policy and Guidelines.

Element 10. Student Expulsions: "The procedure by which students can be suspended or expelled and a description of any appeal process."

The Museum School believes that student suspension or expulsion is antithetical to educational efficacy, and will therefore seek to avoid suspension or expulsion through a variety of interventions. However, if it is absolutely unavoidable, the school will adhere to the suspension and expulsion policy established by the SDUSD board of Education.

Element 11. Retirement Programs Offered to Employees: "The manner by which staff members of the charter schools will be covered by the State Teachers’ Retirement System, the Public Employees’ Retirement System or federal social security."

The Museum School’s certificated teachers will participate in the State Teachers’ Retirement System. The school may elect to participate in the Public Employees Retirement system as well. The Museum School uses the district’s payroll service, and will therefore be coordinated with the district to provide any or all of the above programs accurately and appropriately.

Element 12. Attendance Alternatives: "The public school attendance alternatives for students residing within the district who choose not to attend charter schools."

The Museum School is a school of choice. Students choosing not to attend the Museum School may attend other public schools within their home school district. The Museum School will provide information about attendance alternatives to all parents and/or students who inquire about those alternatives, and additionally will refer them to the appropriate district resource to assure accurate information concerning the district’s policy for intra-district attendance.

Element 13. Employee Rights: "A description of the rights of any district employee upon leaving district employment to work in a charter school, and any rights of return to the district after employment at a charter school."

Leave and return rights for employees who were previously San Diego Unified School District employees will be specified in applicable District policies, procedures, or collective bargaining agreements, if any, addressing this issue with respect to charter schools that are not operated as nonprofit public benefit corporations under Education Code section 47604.

Persons employed to work at the Museum School charter school in the first instance (persons who were not previously District employees) will be employed at will. Other conditions of employment, including wages and benefits will be as specified in the employment contract with the employee. These employees do not acquire tenure or other employment rights with the District.

The rights of a district employee upon leaving a position in the district to work at the Museum School, and the rights of return to the district after employment at the school, will be as specified in district policies, procedures or collective bargaining agreements addressing this issue.

As the Museum School is an arm of the district charter school, any employee of the district who comes to work for the Museum School shall retain all the same rights and status as a regular school employee. Teachers shall retain the right to return to a district school, and the teacher will continue to accrue tenure and all employment rights within the San Diego Unified School District.

Element 14. Dispute Procedures: "The procedures to be followed by the charter school and the board to resolve disputes relating to charter provisions."

In the event of a dispute between the Museum School and SDUSD regarding the terms of this charter or any other issue regarding the school and district relationship, both parties agree to apprise the other, in writing, of the specific disputed issue(s). In the event the initiating party believes the dispute relates to an issue that could potentially lead to revocation of the charter, this shall be specifically noted in the written dispute statement. Within 30 days of sending written correspondence, or longer if both parties agree, a charter school representative, a district representative, or their designees, shall meet and confer in an attempt to resolve the dispute. If this joint meeting fails to resolve the dispute, the charter representative and the district representative shall meet again within 15 days, or longer if both parties agree, to identify a neutral, third-party mediator to assist in dispute resolution. The format of the third-party mediation process shall be developed jointly by the representatives and shall incorporate informal rules of evidence and procedure unless both parties agree otherwise. The finding or recommendation of any arbiter shall be non-binding, unless the governing authorities of the school and district jointly agree to bind themselves. Unless jointly agreed, the process involving the assistance of a third-party mediator shall conclude within 45 days. All mediation and/or arbitration costs, and all other costs associated with dispute resolution shall be shared equally by the charter school and the district.

In the event the third-party mediation process does not result in resolution of the dispute, both parties agree to continue good faith negotiations. If the matter cannot be mutually resolved, the charter school shall be given a reasonable period of time to correct the violation, unless the district indicates in writing the violation constitutes a severe and imminent threat to the health and safety of the school’s pupils. SDUSD reserves the right to take any action it deems appropriate and the school reserves the right to seek legal redress for any such actions under the law. In addition, the dispute is not required to be referred to mediation in those cases where the district determines the violation constitutes a severe and imminent threat to the health and safety of the school’s pupils.

Because the Museum School’s operations are built in every respect on a fully collaborative model, any internal dispute will be first informally addressed by all involved parties. If a satisfactory resolution is not achieved, the dispute will be mediated by the Children’s Museum’s executive director according to the policies and processes for airing and resolving disputes adopted by the Museum School’s governing board.

Element 15. Employer Status and Collective Bargaining: "A declaration as to whether or not the charter school shall be deemed the exclusive public school employer for collective bargaining purposes."

The Museum School elects not to be deemed the exclusive public school employer for collective bargaining. However, employees are not restricted from professional affiliation, and the school reserves the right to revisit the issue annually according to collective wishes of the faculty.

Should the charter cease operation, all charter school assets shall be delivered to the District. The charter will comply with all portions of EC 47605(b)(5)(P), including the requirement that there shall be "a final audit of the school to determine the disposition of all assets and liabilities of the charter school, including plans for disposing of any net assets and for the maintenance and transfer of public records". Further, the school will notify parents, students, the California Department of Education, districts affected by the closure, and the San Diego County Office of Education.

Additional Requirement 1. Operation and Effects of School: As mandated by Education Code 47605, charter petitioners "shall be required to provide information regarding the proposed operation and potential effects of the school, including, but not limited to, the facilities to be utilized by the school, the manner in which administrative services of the school are to be provided and the potential civil liability effects, if any, upon the school and upon the district."

The Museum School currently operates in the former Temple Beth School of Religion, located at 211 Maple Street, San Diego, CA 92103. The Museum School’s rent is funded by the Children’s Museum of San Diego, which leases the site from its current owner, the Ohr Shalom Congregation. The Museum School will move to the new Children’s Museum site to be located in downtown San Diego.

The school agrees to notify the district at least 30 days in advance of occupancy of every site to be leased, purchased, or controlled by the school for instructional purposes.

As an "arm of the district," the Museum School will work closely with the district to assure efficient and effective management and delivery of administrative services. The Museum School will continue to purchase services from the district that will facilitate effective teaching and learning, and assure effective school operations (e.g. pupil accounting, payroll, budget, appropriate staff development). Specific details will be negotiated through an annual memorandum of understanding (MOU), separate from this charter, that establishes the specific financial and service relationship between the school and the district.

In addition to purchasing appropriate financial services from the district, the school will hire a school finance expert to manage the school’s fiscal/business matters, and furthermore, will meet regularly with a Children’s Museum board member to review the school’s ongoing finances and financial projections.

Additional Requirement 2. Provision of Financial Statements: "The petitioners shall be required to provide financial statements that include a proposed first-year operational budget, including startup costs, and cash-flow and financial projections for the first 3 years of operation.

Please see Appendix A.

Additional Requirement 3. Responding to Inquiries: The petitioners shall provide assurance that "the charter school will promptly respond to all reasonable inquiries, including inquiries regarding its financial records."

The Museum School will promptly respond to all reasonable inquires, including inquiries regarding its financial records. If the inquiry requires a special report that is not an existing record nor a record required by applicable law, this charter or the school’s annual MOU, then the district will assist the school with the actual cost of producing such a report.

Additional Requirement 4. Reporting Requirements: The petitioners shall assure the charter school will adhere to the district’s reporting requirements. Note: Petitioners may reference the written assurance previously provided in Element 9.

The Museum School shall:

1. Provide the following reports as required by law:

1. CBEDS
2. ADA reports J18/19
3. Budget J210 (preliminaries and final)
4. SARC, using either the district’s format or the school’s own format
5. Copies of annual, independent financial audits (please see Element 9).
6. In accord with Education Code section 47604.33, each charter school shall annually prepare and submit the following reports to the district and the county superintendent of schools

1. On or before July 1, a preliminary budget.
2. On or before December 15, an interim financial report. This report shall reflect changes through October 31.
3. On or before March 15, a second interim financial report. This report shall reflect changes through January 31.
4. On or before September 15, a final unaudited report for the full prior year.

2. Provide the following reports as required by the district:

1. Monthly statements of accounts
2. Annual reconciliation of the J210 with financial audits
3. Copies of test results reports for all state mandated assessments

Changes in reporting requirements may be incorporated by reference into the school’s charter when the school and district update their MOU.

The Museum School will comply with the policy and procedures as set forth in the San Diego Unified School District Charter School Policy and Guidelines, sign an annual Memorandum of Understanding between the school and the San Diego Unified School District, follow audit guidelines as set forth as policy by the Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District, and follow the District’s internal accountability process as outlined in the District Accountability Framework.

Additional Requirement 6. Term of the Charter: The petitioners will state, within legal limits, a term for the charter requested and will justify why that length of time is appropriate.

Consistent with charter school law, the Museum School requests a renewal of a charter term of five years. There is general consensus that five years is a reasonable amount of time to implement and evaluate the immediate efficacy and potential long-term promise of a school’s instructional program.

The petitioners anticipate that the civil liability effects of the operations of the Museum School on the District will be minimal. The charter document states that the District shall be properly indemnified against civil liability claims arising from the school's actions and operations, actions of its employees, and/or from actions of the school's governance board. Petitioner warrants that the charter school agrees to indemnify, hold harmless, and defend the District, its officers, agents and employees from all claims, losses or damages to person or property arising from the negligent or intentional acts or omissions of the charter school, its governing board, officers, agents, employees or students.

The Museum School shall be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices and all other operations, shall not charge tuition, and shall not discriminate against a pupil on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, gender or disability.

Admission to the Museum School shall not be determined according to the place of residence of the pupil, or of his or her parent or guardian, within this state, except that any existing public school converting partially or entirely to a charter school under this part shall adopt and maintain a policy giving admission preference to pupils who reside within the former attendance area of that public school.