Every child enters our world asking questions. Who am I? Who are we? What is my place in the world? Children respond to these questions with a capacity that is unique to humans, a rich imagination with the ability to reflect and wonder. Children are fortunate, and their communities are blessed when adults listen, pay attention, and create responsive environments that support the innate desire of children to make meaning and find purpose in their lives. When schools support children to uncover, recognize and develop their potential, the entire community is strengthened.

The mission of Opal Charter School is to strengthen public education by provoking fresh ideas concerning places where people, creativity, and learning thrive. Oregon’s Public Charter School Legislation Act of 1999 was designed to strengthen the K-12 public education system by creating opportunities to innovate, rethink, and explore new ways of educating children within the public system.

The values that guide our work:

• Opal School is based on the belief that education must provide opportunities for ALL children to participate fully in creating and shaping their own lives, and to contribute fully to the quality of life around them. 
• At Opal, all children contribute from who they are. Every child brings a particular uniqueness that is made visible by the group. It is our intention to support the uniqueness of both the individual and the group.
• We carry a deep respect for differences, however they may be expressed, and a belief that listening, dialogue, and exchange open doors to unimagined possibilities
• We hold the view that quality academic practice happens when people form relationships with one another, the environment, the academic disciplines, and the content of their own research.
• We value the rights of children, families, and educators to participate together in forming and shaping environments that are rich with opportunity, challenge, and choice.

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