THE DALLES — In the Dec. 16 virtual meeting, the North Wasco County District 21 School Board voted to end the Riverbend Community School Charter in a “mutual agreement” between the NSCSD school board and the Riverbend Community School.
The decision comes nearly four months after the Aug. 26 school board meeting in which the charter agreement was approved for a three-year renewal, effective Sept. 1, 2021, through June 30, 2024. In the August meeting, board members had expressed concern for the long-term viability of the charter school’s presented financial plan, even discussing whether or not to shorten the term to two or even a single year renewal, before coming to the decision that the parameters of the agreement, as well as the potential effect on matters such as grant approval odds, made the three-year term the most sensible option.
In the August meeting, board directors Brian Stevens and Rebecca Thistethwaite had expressed concern that there was not enough information to make personal, informed decisions on the topic, with Thistewaite suggesting a one-month extension to allow the Riverbend Executive Director Dr. Stacey Shaw to answer the board member’s questions, as Shaw had not been present at the Aug. 26 meeting. Ultimately, the board was required to make a vote on the agreement, as they had already voted on a two-month extension to allow for public hearing on the charter renewal process, according to the June 17 board action request, and the renewal was approved with six votes and one abstention.
According to the superintendent’s report in the Dec. 16 school board meeting, the school board was allowed to terminate the agreement “pursuant to section 11 of the charter agreement, which permits termination of the charter on mutual agreement of the charter school and district.”
“In October, we were informed that there were some key members of the Riverbend staff who departed,” said Superintendent Carolyn Bernal. “The director and their fiscal person had departed from the Riverbend staff, and consequently at that time, Miss Flath and I were informed that the Riverbend charter was in some financial trouble, and so, upon closer examination, it appeared that the Riverbend charter was not going to be financially viable.”
According to Bernal, after she and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Kara Flath discussed potential solutions, they reached out to the existing Riverbend staff to gather their input, and told the board that they engaged in “multiple meetings and conversations” to determine next steps and future plans. When recommending the action for termination, Bernal shared that Riverbend had already made the vote to close the charter.
“They’ve already taken that action,” she said.
Bernal stated that one of her main goals had been to keep Riverbend classes going on uninterrupted for the rest of the school year so as to not disrupt Riverbend student’s learning.
“It was very important to me that students and families of the Riverbend Charter school were not left just out on their own, and that they weren’t dropped or that their education was not disrupted abruptly or unnecessarily,” Bernal said. “I want to make it clear that the goal this year is to ensure that the program itself, as it currently stands, there’s no disruption for the kids and families this entire year,” said Bernal.
In an effort to meet this goal, Bernal said the district intended to hire Riverbend teachers as staff. “We would like to hire four project-based teachers for the remainder of this school year … we did encourage the Riverbend teachers to apply,” said Bernal, “and I have confirmed with Mr. Schimel today that they were all offered those positions and they all have accepted, so they will be staying on this year.”
Besides the existing staff, it was stated that a project-based math teacher would be hired along with the existing staff, while a part-time secretary has already been hired on to provide administrative support.
Outside of keeping the school open for the rest of the academic year, Bernal stated that her other goal was to determine how to keep the program-based learning option available in the school district. “I’m recommending that we hire a Director of Educational Success and Innovative Programming,” she said. “The goal of that is to have somebody who can begin to build programing for the future … not just for high school, but really for K-12 programing,” said Bernal.
“I recognize that comprehensive schooling isn’t necessarily for all learners, and we need to really be thinking outside of the box at how we begin to build other programs that are good for all kids, and for all learners,” said Bernal. “What is going on at Riverbend with the project-based learning is some incredible stuff … I want to see that kind of programing continue in our district.”
Director Dawn Rasmussen commented regarding her disappointment on the outcome of the charter. “I had previously been a School-to-Career director, and I have seen how some kids just need that extra hand, they just need a different kind of educational format, different learning style,” Rasmussen said. “And it’s just very tragic, and I just have to say I’m furious at, not our district, but the leadership that has failed the students. I can’t imagine what the students are going through … we have an obligation to serve those students and give them that extra hand, because all students deserve to learn.”
“This carries us into the future, in a broader way, impacting more schools than just the high school,” said Director John Nelson about the hiring of a director of Educational Success and Innovative Programming, and the goal of expanding the project-based learning option beyond high school level, “it can do nothing but good for the whole learning experience of D21.”
“Having a student up there, and being on the parent side up there, being able to retain the staff up there and continue this the rest of the year is a great deal, because those poor teachers up there are burnt out,” said Director David Jones. “There’s a lot of excitement in what’s to come.”
“If it’s anything that stood out of this pandemic, is we learned a great deal about the differences and different styles that children learn in,” said Board Chair Jose Aparicio. “Be it virtual, in person, and I think the more we can have these offerings, the more successful we can have kids be in our district, so I’m super appreciative of this moving forward.”
With a motion made by Nelson, seconded by Thistlethwaite, the board unanimously passed the motion to end the Riverbend Community School Charter.
The entire Dec. 16 meeting is available to view of the District 21 Media Channel on YouTube.
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