Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter School

A Different Kind of Public School

February 2010 -- Letter from the Chair

 

Dear Friends,

The Board of the Friends of the Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter School has voted, with great regret, to suspend our plans to create a public charter school for Calvert County. The current state of the economy, and the opposition to change within the public school system, make this a difficult, if not impossible, time to build an alternative school.

As you all know, the Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter School generated a great deal of excitement in the Calvert County community and beyond. We were delighted to partner with local cultural institutions such as the Calvert Marine Museum and Jefferson Patterson Park.  Hundreds of parents, teachers, and local business leaders attended our community meetings, signed petitions and helped to build the vision for an alternative public school.

Together, we inspired important community conversations about public education. Our middle school curriculum, which features hands-on, discovery-based learning, was hailed as “outstanding” by educators and academic advisors across the region.  Working with the creative team at HKT Architects, we designed a 16-acre school campus that would become a living laboratory, where students would learn from field research outdoors as well as in the classroom.

The great accomplishment of the charter school movement has been to spark innovation, providing alternative road maps for education – because we know that one style of schooling does not fit all young minds. The Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter School was envisioned as a school where education is rigorous and yet flexible, and where imagination and self-directed learning are encouraged. There is ample research demonstrating that this is the way students learn best.  

Despite public support for a charter school, and acclaim for our school curriculum, the county Board of Education denied our application for a charter.  They subsequently ignored a state order to cooperate with us to facilitate quick approval of our charter application. Calvert County’s charter school policy continues to be one of the most restrictive in Maryland.

The tide is changing, however. Across our community, teachers, parents and students now recognize that a strong public school system must embrace alternative approaches to learning. Thank you for your help, your hard work, and your courage in making that message heard, loudly and clearly. Please don’t stop speaking out!  In a different time, and in a kinder political and economic climate, I am sure that public charter schools will thrive in Calvert County. 

All the best to you and your kids in 2010,

Karen S. Mittelman

Chair

Friends of the Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter School

The Bay Arts & Sciences Public Charter School is a community...

  • Where parents and teachers are deeply involved in children’s education;
  • Where learning takes place in an atmosphere of support and trust;
  • Where students graduate knowing that they have a responsibility to make a difference in the world.

Our Mission

To provide an exceptional public education in an environment that supports creativity, imagination and self-directed learning and offers students meaningful connections to the Chesapeake Bay and the wider community in which they live.

Anticipated Opening Grades 6-9 in August 2011

We are planning for 2 classrooms of approximately 18 students each for each grade.

Grades 10-12 will be added in subsequent years.

There will be an application process and if we receive more requests for admission than we have seats, we will hold a lottery as mandated by Maryland State law.

We Need Your Help!

You can help support our charter school by:

Preliminary Design for Our School

Take a look at what we're working towards:

Preliminary Building Facility Design