Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School announced Monday its Founding Donors campaign to raise $30,000 through 150 donors for the school year.
Information provided in the board packet estimated student expenses for one semester add up to $5,000, one virtual reality station costs $1,000, one chromebook costs $300, textbooks for one student costs $500 for the entire year, supplies for the entire year cost $100, field lessons for hands-on learning cost $50 and a library book costs $25.
Executive director Amanda Johnson said the campaign launched on Tuesday as part of “Giving Tuesday,” which occurs the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. It’s a movement to create an international day of charitable giving at the beginning of the Christmas and holiday season.
Postcards will be sent to potential donors and the school’s website clarksdalecollegiate.org and social media will also be used to reach people.
“The $30,000, we just thought it was a reasonable amount to contribute and to raise,” Johnson said. “We thought between the board’s networks and their efforts, $30,000 was a reasonable amount.”
Johnson said the goal of having 150 donors came because that was the target amount of students to enroll in Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School this year.
The school is in its first year and has kindergarteners through second-graders and will eventually go all the way up to the eighth grade.
It would take an average of 150 donors giving $200 apiece to reach the $30,000 goal.
“We really need to build a list of prospects,” said board member Billy Crews. “That’s really our challenge now. Some of us know more Clarksdale people than others. Then, we have folks who have transplants from Clarksdale who are elsewhere now. We really need, for lots of reasons over time, to build a base of supporters and contact information.”
“Billy, can I help you with that list,” asked board member Chuck Rutledge.
“Absolutely,” replied Crews. “All of us can help with that list.”
“There has been a core group of people interested in having a charter school in Clarksdale for a long time,” Rutledge said. “I think we can start there and go from there.”
Crews and Rutledge agreed to work on a short list of donors and hope that will lead to a longer list.
Neville Vanderburg, the pastor of St Paul's United Methodist Church – where the charter school is located - and First United Methodist Church, pledged to have six donors from his churches.
In other news:
* Johnson reported the curriculum assessments as of Monday.
Of the three internal reading assessments during the first part of the year, Johnson said second-graders showed the most improvement in the school.
A total of 19 percent of second-graders tested above grade level for the first and second assessments, but it went up to 49 percent for the third assessment.
The internal math assessments varied.
A total of 92 percent of kindergarteners were at the top level in the first assessment and it went down to 81 percent in the third assessment.
First-graders went from 37 to 60 percent at the top levels in the first two assessments, while second-graders went down from 52 to 34 percent.
Johnson was not worried about the decreasing numbers.
“The math is a little bit different because it’s different skills on each assessment and so we typically don’t look at it the same way,” she said.
The reading and math assessments for the Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress measured the students against their peers across the country.
Thirteen percent of the school’s kindergarteners and second-graders were in the top tier for reading, while 17 percent of first-graders were in the top tier.
Thirteen percent of kindergarteners were in the top tier for math, 10 percent of first-graders were in the top tier, while six percent of the second-graders were in the top tier.
The next curriculum assessment will be Dec. 10-14.
* Fourth Sector Solutions provided its monthly balance sheet as of Oct. 31.
The cash balance was $134,000 of assets, the Federal Accounts Receivable had $289,000, the state and local accounts receivable had $51,000, and there were $71,000 in prepaid expenses.
In liabilities and equity, there was $32,000 in accounts payable, the accrued expenses were $5,500 in office support, $3,300 in estimated FY19 audit feed, $2,500 in copier expenses and $3,000 in phone services and the equity was $463,000.
