By Amy Sienicki
 
November 6, 2009
 
WOLF CREEK, Ore. - Parents and community members have proposed opening a charter school in Wolf Creek.
 
This comes after Wolf Creek Elementary School closed in June for financial reasons. The idea is to have a K-8 charter school, called Sunny Wolf Charter School, in the old Wolf Creek Elementary School building. The charter would be centered around a service based curriculum.
 
However, a charter school needs to get approval from the Three Rivers School District before it opens. On Friday a copy of the proposal was given to the school district district a copy of the grant proposal to help open the school. The proposal has also been sent to the Oregon Department of Education for review.
 
Charter schools are funded by the state and through grants. They have to be approved by the district they are in, but are run separately from the public school system.
 
"When you take a school out of a community, you really take the community out of itself... when the school is lost," Wolf Creek Resident Marcy Quist said.
 
Most of the students who attended Wolf Creek now go to Manzanita Elementary School in the Three Rivers School District. Some of them now go to school in Glendale.
 
Three Rivers School District Superintendent Dan Huber-Kantola says it will have two challenges. One is simply finding a good base of students to attend the school. The other will be maintaining the school building.