Sheckler Reports From Silver Lake

WooHoo! From today's Warsaw (IN) Times-Union. For more information, contact Chris Sheckler any Monday evening from 6-8:50 p.m. in Philathea 10.

Charter School Survey Planned At Silver Lake

John Christian Sheckler
Correspondent

SILVER LAKE - Starting later this week, Silver Lake residents can expect to receive mail from the Silver Lake Education Foundation.

The foundation's committee hopes to send out a survey by the end of the week seeking comment about a proposed Silver Lake charter school, said Victoria Owens, president of the committee.

The survey is the latest of the committee's attempts to elicit local opinion on the possibility of a charter school. The committee has been meeting since November and has encouraged the public to attend its meetings every other Monday.

Some community members opined about the proposal at the committee's meeting Monday evening.

Kathy Lokotar, a Silver Lake mother of three, fought the 2003 closing of Silver Lake school and still misses it.

"It's really hurt the community, not having a small school here," she said.

The Silver Lake school provided a place for people to come together, said Lokotar.

"When we lost the school here, we lost the community center, basically," she said.

Lokotar's children, like all Silver Lake students, must ride a bus or drive to Warsaw for school each morning.

The committee hopes to provide a choice for parents who want an alternative to Warsaw Community Schools. According to Owens, the goal is not to undermine local public schools, but simply to provide a choice.

"I think a charter school offers many more options than a public school," said Lokotar, who is also a committee member.

"We really need to have the community involved in this," said Owens Monday. She said that although all the committee's meetings have been open to the public, it's been hard to get the word out.

The application for starting a charter school, which goes through Ball State University, requires that the committee assess local demand for the school. The committee wants to achieve that with the survey.

Then, they can start figuring out other details.

While the school would at first enroll only students in kindergarten through sixth grade, the committee's long-term vision includes expanding the school to include all grades within seven years of its opening.

According to Ball State, a charter school needs at least 250 students to be viable long-term, said Rick Kerlin, committee vice-president.

The former Silver Lake school building, which is owned by Michael Baur, would serve as the home of the new charter school.

Some questions were raised Monday about the capacity of the building, but Kerlin said the building could accommodate at least 250.

"We just want to see education back in our town," said Gale Owens, president of the Silver Lake town council.

She said she is seeking permission to use the city council's drop-box for completed surveys. In the meantime, surveys should be returned to the Silver Lake Education Foundation, 407 N. Elm St.

For more information, call Owens at 260-352-2543, or e-mail owensvictoria@rocketmail.com