--- title: "Through CARSNet, Epicenter is Assisting Small Authorizers in California — Epicenter" description: "The Charter Authorizers Regional Support Network (CARSNet) is a project of the Alameda County Office of Education. CARSNet is funded by a U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program National Leadership Activities Grant, which was awarded in March 2015. CARSNet has a three-year grant and their mission is to train and support charter authorizers in […]" image: "https://control.epicenternow.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2016-11-08-at-11.44.56-AM.png" --- [Skip to content](#main-content) ![screen-shot-2016-11-08-at-11-44-56-am](https://control.epicenternow.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2016-11-08-at-11.44.56-AM.png) The Charter Authorizers Regional Support Network (CARSNet) is a project of the Alameda County Office of Education. CARSNet is funded by a U.S. Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program National Leadership Activities Grant, which was awarded in March 2015. CARSNet has a three-year grant and their mission is to train and support charter authorizers in California that have six or fewer schools. CARSNet is one and a half years into their grant, and one of the resources they provide their authorizers is Epicenter. An authorizer must complete a three-day “boot camp” or a “master” class, and once they complete either, they are provided free access to Epicenter until 2019. The boot camp is intense, and it takes participants through the life cycle and legal aspects of a charter school, and demonstrates the skills necessary to be a strong authorizer, including interviewing charter applicants and presenting in front of a board. “We are excited to give folks who go to our boot camp or master class free access to Epicenter,” said Gail Greely, Director of CARSNet. “If your job is to monitor two active charter schools, you do not want to be wasting your time sending emails, tracking down a financial report, or working with an Excel spreadsheet to try to understand how a school’s enrollment demographic changed from year to year. That’s why we included Epicenter. We want people spending time on what matters—analyzing results, not inputting data.” By gathering authorizers together and working with them, CARSNet’s long-term goal is to help authorizers make better decisions and promote better schools. But the immediate challenge is to reach out to authorizers that charter six or fewer schools. In California, two-thirds of authorizers charter only one or two schools. The CARSNet grant focuses on reaching out to these small authorizers. “We are excited to offer Epicenter to our colleagues because we know it will make them more efficient,” Greely said. “It will be great to see how our authorizers are using Epicenter.” Gail Greely is the Director of CARSNet. Previously, she was the Director of the Charter Schools Office within the Alameda County Office of Education, which is a moderate-size authorizer in California. Before that she was Director of the Charter Schools Office of the Oakland Unified School District for two years. She was also an elected school board member for eight years in the City of Alameda. Greely is also an attorney with a background in energy and education. [Back to Blog](/blog/) ## More from Epicenter [![](/cdn-cgi/image/width=768,format=auto,fit=scale-down,quality=70/https://control.epicenternow.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Epicenter-Website-Tiles-916.png) September 30, 2026 What’s New: 2026 Fall Release Epicenter’s latest updates are here. Enhancements are focused on making information easier to find, keeping important work visible, and streamlining everyday tasks across the platform. These updates reflect our continued focus on supporting the real work of authorizers, management organizations, and schools with practical technology and a dedicated support team. Here’s What’s New… FEATURES FOR […]](/blog/whats-new-2026-fall-release/)[![](/cdn-cgi/image/width=768,format=auto,fit=scale-down,quality=70/https://control.epicenternow.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Epicenter-AI-scaled.jpg) July 29, 2026 Enable AI in Your Epicenter Ready to bring AI-powered summaries, document insights, and intelligent search to your Epicenter experience? Complete the form below to request Epicenter AI for your organization. Once we receive your request, we’ll contact your organization’s Executive Director (or designated leader) to review and approve activation, along with the appropriate permissions and setup. We’ll guide you through […]](/blog/enable-ai-in-your-epicenter/)[![](/cdn-cgi/image/width=768,format=auto,fit=scale-down,quality=70/https://control.epicenternow.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-20-at-1.58.20 PM.png) February 25, 2026 Arc Changers in Action: Relationships Matter! See how Grand Valley State University and ​Flint Cultural Center Academy work together to advance education. Learn more!](/blog/arc-changers-in-action-relationships-matter/) ### Ready for a Better Way to Work? [Book a Demo](/demo/)[Talk to Our Team](/contact/) See how Epicenter can help your team reduce complexity, strengthen coordination, and move forward with greater clarity and confidence. ** ## Schedule a Conversation ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://epicenternow.org/#/schema.org/Organization/epicenter","name":"Epicenter","legalName":"The Institute for Excellence in Education","alternateName":"Epicenter Now","url":"https://epicenternow.org","description":"Web-based platform for charter authorizers, schools, and management organizations — operations, compliance, documents, governance, and charter lifecycle.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://epicenternow.org/Epicenter%20Logo-10.svg","contentUrl":"https://epicenternow.org/Epicenter%20Logo-10.svg"},"image":"https://epicenternow.org/Epicenter%20Logo-10.svg","parentOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"National Charter Schools Institute","url":"https://charterinstitute.org/"},"sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/company/epicenternow/?viewAsMember=true","https://www.facebook.com/EpicenterSoftware","https://www.instagram.com/nationalcharterschools/"],"contactPoint":[{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","telephone":"+1-855-889-1624","email":"Support@EpicenterNow.org","areaServed":"US","availableLanguage":["English"]}],"publishingPrinciples":"https://epicenternow.org/privacy-policy/","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https://epicenternow.org/#/schema.org/Organization/epicenter"},"knowsAbout":["Charter school authorization","Charter school compliance","Board governance","Document management","School performance reporting"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://epicenternow.org/#/schema.org/WebSite","url":"https://epicenternow.org/","name":"Epicenter","publisher":{"@id":"https://epicenternow.org/#/schema.org/Organization/epicenter"},"description":"Epicenter aligns authorizers, schools, and management organizations with shared workflows and transparent reporting."},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://epicenternow.org/blog/carsnet-small-authorizers/#primaryimage","url":"https://control.epicenternow.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2016-11-08-at-11.44.56-AM.png","contentUrl":"https://control.epicenternow.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Screen-Shot-2016-11-08-at-11.44.56-AM.png","width":2048,"height":774,"caption":"Through CARSNet, Epicenter is Assisting Small Authorizers in California"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://epicenternow.org/blog/carsnet-small-authorizers/","url":"https://epicenternow.org/blog/carsnet-small-authorizers/","name":"Through CARSNet, Epicenter is Assisting Small Authorizers in California","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://epicenternow.org/#/schema.org/WebSite"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://epicenternow.org/blog/carsnet-small-authorizers/"]}],"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://epicenternow.org/blog/carsnet-small-authorizers/#breadcrumb"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://epicenternow.org/blog/carsnet-small-authorizers/#primaryimage"},"description":"The Charter Authorizers Regional Support Network (CARSNet) is a project of the Alameda County Office of Education. 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An authorizer must complete a three-day “boot camp” or a “master” class, and once they complete either, they are provided free access to Epicenter until 2019. The boot camp is intense, and it takes participants through the life cycle and legal aspects of a charter school, and demonstrates the skills necessary to be a strong authorizer, including interviewing charter applicants and presenting in front of a board. “We are excited to give folks who go to our boot camp or master class free access to Epicenter,” said Gail Greely, Director of CARSNet. “If your job is to monitor two active charter schools, you do not want to be wasting your time sending emails, tracking down a financial report, or working with an Excel spreadsheet to try to understand how a school’s enrollment demographic changed from year to year. That’s why we included Epicenter. We want people spending time on what matters—analyzing results, not inputting data.” By gathering authorizers together and working with them, CARSNet’s long-term goal is to help authorizers make better decisions and promote better schools. But the immediate challenge is to reach out to authorizers that charter six or fewer schools. In California, two-thirds of authorizers charter only one or two schools. The CARSNet grant focuses on reaching out to these small authorizers. “We are excited to offer Epicenter to our colleagues because we know it will make them more efficient,” Greely said. “It will be great to see how our authorizers are using Epicenter.” Gail Greely is the Director of CARSNet. Previously, she was the Director of the Charter Schools Office within the Alameda County Office of Education, which is a moderate-size authorizer in California. Before that she was Director of the Charter Schools Office of the Oakland Unified School District for two years. She was also an elected school board member for eight years in the City of Alameda. Greely is also an attorney with a background in energy and education."}]} ```