A Teacher-Led School

Chrysalis is one of the few teacher-led schools in the country. Rather than teachers being contracted employees under the direction of an administration, we function as a teachers’ co-op. Teachers run the school. This includes hiring staff to handle the administrative needs of the school. Teachers have far greater creative autonomy than in most schools. This is important because it creates personal ownership; we are responsible for creating a school that families want to enroll in. Though this model of school organization is not readily apparent to most visitors, it is fundamental to Chrysalis. Many educational reformers believe it has power to improve public education within our country. For more information on this, go to the Education Evolving website and check out some of their videos on this topic.

Chrysalis received preliminary accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. To read excerpts from their report, click here.

What is a Charter School?

To read our charter, click here. (requires Adobe Reader)

Chrysalis is a chartered public school sponsored by the Shasta County Board of Education. We are part of the free public school system. There is no tuition or discrimination. Charter schools are given freedom from many regulations in return for achieving the goals set forth in their charter. Charter schools create a greater diversity of options for parents seeking a specific kind of public education for their child.
A charter school is given freedom from many educational regulations in return for achieving goals set forth in the school's charter. At Chrysalis, we have used this regulatory freedom to create school governance where as much administrative and budgetary decision-making is given to the teachers with feedback from the families. As a result, our governance is an important ingredient in what makes Chrysalis distinctive.

To see our School Accountability Report Card (SARC), click here. (requires Adobe Reader)