School History
The idea of the school began in 1998 with a group of community members, including Kindergarten Teacher Susan Whittlesey. During the years that followed, the school’s charter was drafted and submitted to the Butte County Office of Education. Our charter was approved in August of 2001 by the Butte County Office of Education (BCOE) and the Blue Oak Charter School was born!
In accordance with state law, Butte County Office of Education provides oversight services to Blue Oak Charter School. They oversee our finances and overall educational program. While Blue Oak Charter School first started as a dependent school of Butte County Office of Education, in 2002-2003 the Blue Oak Charter School became independent from Butte County Office of Education and established itself as an independent non-profit organization. BCOE still provides oversight services but we are now as independent as we can be! Every five years our charter is presented to BCOE for renewal. Renewal is based largely on student test scores and proper fiscal management. We were successfully renewed in 2006 for an additional five years and are up for renewal again in 2011.
Our original school in the first year consisted of one class of Kindergartners, Teacher Susan, an aide, a part-time director and the Charter Council. Each year, our school has seen one additional grade added and our staff has grown. In 2006-2007, we added a second Kindergarten to accommodate the demand.
Our school's success and popularity continued. In Spring of 2009, Blue Oak answered the community's demand for Public Waldorf Education by adding two more Kindergarten classes and additional classes in grades 1-3. We also moved our Moss Avenue location to 450 W. East Avenue. In the summer of 2009, we converted the existing building into a school in just over 2 months. This facility is over 48,000 square feet.
The summer of 2010 witnessed the first graduating class of Blue Oak students from 8th grade, many of whom had attended from their first day of Kindergarten with Teacher Susan. Also, Blue Oak parents ambitiously and tirelessly transformed a vast parking lot into a playground! An additional 4th grade class was added for 2010-2011 and additional 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes are planned for the next four years to complete double classes for each of the grades.
Blue Oak Charter School is now serving our educational community from Kindergarten through Eighth Grade with over 350 children. We have sixteen teachers, seven instructional assistants, executive director, assistant director, business manager, enrollment clerk, attendance clerk, receptionist, part time after school program aides, and talented specialty teachers supporting our faculty and children with academic support, violin, music, Spanish, woodworking and games.
Blue Oak Charter School is one of approximately 23 public Waldorf methods schools in California. There are 700 Waldorf Schools (mostly private) throughout the world from Japan to Brazil and from Russia to New Zealand, including over 200 in the United States. Waldorf schools have primarily been only available to those who can afford private tuition; however with the hard work of our founding members and the support of charter schools in Butte County we are offering a first rate education, tuition free!
We look forward toward another great year, working to preserve our school culture while steadily growing our Blue Oak family.