Blog

The 2020-21 school year is upon us, and the state’s 12 charter public schools are fully launched and serving students remotely, including three new schools to the sector: Catalyst Public School: Bremerton, Lumen High School in Spokane, and Impact | Salish Sea Elementary south of Seattle. Last spring, we witnessed a nationwide scramble to keep … Read More

“Our school very fluidly moved into virtual school,” said Ayanna L. Gore, Executive Director at Summit Sierra. “Being a school that’s already one-to-one computers, our curriculum already being online and having a platform, we had the tools available and we spent a lot of time supporting our students socially, emotionally and academically.”’ Free, public, and … Read More

BREMERTON — This wasn’t how Amanda Gardner and Tatiana Epanchin pictured opening Kitsap County’s first charter school. Catalyst Public Schools will launch its inaugural year on Sept. 8 with all remote learning, a move that all other public schools in Kitsap and North Mason counties have adopted to curb transmission of COVID-19 on the advice of public … Read More

Founding Summit Summit Public Schools was founded 17 years ago by a passionate group of parents who believed that zip codes and test scores should not determine who is ‘successful’ after high school. Established first in California, Summit has grown to include three charter public schools in Washington – high schools Summit Olympus in Tacoma … Read More

Spring of 2020 was hard on communities the world over. But with COVID-19 shuttering schools, children bore a unique burden – to manage much of their learning independently.  When Impact Public Schools – an elementary charter public school network headquartered in Tukwila – began adaptive programs for their scholars to learn at home, they were … Read More

“Our school very fluidly moved into virtual school,” said Ayanna L. Gore, Executive Director at Summit Sierra. “Being a school that’s already one-to-one computers, our curriculum already being online and having a platform, we had the tools available and we spent a lot of time supporting our students socially, emotionally and academically.”’ Free, public, and … Read More

Dr. John Scott joined the Washington State Charter Schools Association (WA Charters) Team in June 2020 as the organization’s first Chief Equity Officer. In the interview, below, Dr. Scott reflects on his own anti-racism journey and what he envisions for the role in the months and years ahead. WA Charters (WAC): Hi, John! It’s so … Read More

(Updated September 11, 2020) In the wake of recent racism-fueled violence – violence that echoes centuries of racist action across the nation and in Washington state – WA Charters is working to put together a list of anti-racist resources that may be helpful to our staff, community, networks, and sector. Resources will be updated regularly. … Read More

As our nation has a collective reckoning with its systemic racism, The Washington State Charter Schools Association remains committed to achieving educational equity for students across Washington state and unequivocally supports the Black Lives Matter movement and the racial justice reforms that it demands.  Equity in education has always been at the center of our … Read More