THANKS to all 728 of you who attended the Fourth Annual Texas Charter School Conference in Austin. Commissioner of Education Jim Nelson was very pleased to see so many Texas charter school leaders in attendance.

CONTENT MASTERY MANUAL If you accidentally picked up the trainer's manual for the Content Mastery training at the charter school conference in Austin, please call Barbara Graham at 281-692-9531. The manual included the road map for setting up a content mastery program and the transparencies for the presentation.

CHARTER SCHOOL ORIENTATIONS The TEA Charter Schools Division Office will conduct charter school orientation sessions on May 3 & 4 and June 7 & 8. Charter schools opening this fall are strongly encouraged to attend one of the sessions. Both programs are also open to existing schools. An agenda will be available soon and will resemble that of past orientation sessions. Please contact Kirsten Christophersen at the Charter Schools Division at (512) 463-9575 to register. Please RSVP by Wednesday, April 25th for the May orientation and by Wednesday, May 30th for the June session. There is no charge.