At UAPCS’ fall retreat a couple weeks ago, I was amazed to hear how much optimism and energy is flowing in charter land. COVID is stretching our abilities and limits in ways no one anticipated, and yet we are coping and learning and growing and getting better. It’s amazing to see so many of us rethink our schools and instruction and curriculum, almost from the ground up. But what is emerging, I hope, is more effective use of technologies, better learning platforms, and more individualized instruction. Thank you for all your hard work!

In this issue of “Charterology,” we are honoring the recipients of UAPCS’ annual “Circle of Excellence” awards. So many of you are doing so much great work, it’s wonderful to recognize even a small sampling of what you’re doing.

We are also providing a little primer on how COVID and Utah’s Open and Public Meetings law interacts. The basic requirements remain the same, but their application for virtual meetings requires a little creativity. We’ll walk through a couple of options.

Finally, this year UAPCS distributed a survey to every candidate for the Legislature, Governor, Congress, State Board of Education and other statewide offices. The survey asked candidates to describe their perspectives on several key education issues. Roughly 1/3 of the statewide candidates responded, and their answers indicate strong support across the state and across the political spectrum for charter schools, for providing more flexibility in education. We will describe some of those findings in this issue of Charterology.

We are teaching and leading in challenging times. Make sure to cherish the successes you see, and don’t dwell too long on shortcomings. We all can and will do better, and these experiences will make us better educators, and our students will succeed!