School District officials are reviewing the background of a company with $13.1 million in contracts to run three alternative schools, after a city councilman raised concerns about the firm's ties to treatment centers at which five students died. The company, Camelot Schools of Pennsylvania, also had ties to Brien N. Gardiner, founder of the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, who had been under federal investigation when he committed suicide yesterday.
We are not targeting a specific religion or a specific culture or background," said board member Michelle Alkhatib. "We're nonsectarian, nonreligious." Several Arabic and Hebrew-focused charter schools have popped up across the country in recent years. Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the nonpartisan First Amendment Center, said that with such schools, leaders must be vigilant and careful not to choose language texts that promote any sort of religion
Ideological loyalty and shamelessness are requisites for charter school supporters. In New York public schools outperform charter school, yet Klein truns the bad news into a plus. How, by attributing the improvement of pubic schools to the competition that charter schools bring? Here is the Daily News take on these results. Charter School third- through eighth-graders scored big Friday. A whopping 77.4% passed state reading exams. But they didn't improve as much as public school students this year. "The reforms are continuing to take hold," said Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, attributing the public schools' success in part to competition with charter schools. "Anybody knows who's ever raced, you run faster if you're racing against someone else."
Legal battle in Philadelphia. A lawyer for a charter school operator, who sued The Inquirer four months ago for libel, offered to withdraw a subpoena for the newspaper's chief executive officer, Brian P. Tierney, on the condition that Tierney guarantee positive coverage for the school, Tierney testified yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The defamation lawsuit by the operator of Charter School Management Inc. - that alleged that failed business talks between him and Tierney motivated December articles that raised questions about the company's use of public funds - was one of 15 legal actions against Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. stayed yesterday for 60 days by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jean K. FitzSimon.
What is a charter school, again? Three months before it is slated to open, the Hebrew Language Academy, New York City’s first Hebrew charter school, is scrambling to find a location for next September amid fears that the Brooklyn neighborhood in which it was to be located may not be as welcoming as organizers had hoped.
Only of boys; only for girls. Illinois has two single-gender charter schools: Young Women’s Leadership Charter School and Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men.
Urban Prep opened in 2006, and Young Women’s Leadership was approved in 1999 and opened in 2000.
The Chicago Public School DOES NOT recocognize charter school teachers as public employees. Although Chicago Public Schools oversee these charters they contend the issue is a private labor dispute. "It should be treated that way and we will respect that process," district spokeswoman Monique Bond said in an e-mail.
Finally, the report from the Colorado D of Ed! An investigative report released Friday by the Colorado Department of Education shows trends of racial and religious discrimination, sexual and physical assault, bullying of students and parents, drug and alcohol use, and threats against staff and students at The Classical Academy charter school.
In Colorado Springs, Colorado parents are still waiting for a report on a charter school. The parent's complaint asks the CDE to look into six general areas. Failed to take appropriate corrective action in responding to and halting a pattern of racial and religious discrimination, sexual and physical assault, bullying of students and parents, drug and alcohol use, and threats against staff and students. Failed to acknowledge and halt a pattern of cover-ups and retaliation by TCA staff in response to complaints lodged by TCA students and parents. Failed to exercise appropriate oversight and show good faith when investigating reporter improprieties. Failed to eliminate conflict of interest.Failed to demonstrate financial transparency and implement adequate financial controls. Failed to demonstrate adequate accountability, maintain open records and provide the public with access to documents and information.
After hurricane Kathrina, charter school proliferated in New Orleans, so companies came to make business organizing them. A third for-profit school management company loses a New Orleans charter school contract. That leaves 2 of 5 such companies still running charter schools in the city.And a school run by 1 of the two remaining companies, is 100 students short of its enrollment goal. The New Orleans charter Schools Foundation decided this spring against renewing its contract with The Leona Group, which has run the New Orleans Free Academy and McDonogh City Park Academy since 2006.
While leaders of the charter movement praise the changes, most agree that the state-run Recovery School District cannot oversee New Orleans schools forever -- yet none has outlined a clear vision for a return to local control. Meanwhile, as displayed by last month's Baton Rouge outpouring from about 45 people, some local advocates increasingly allege that state school leaders have shut out the community's voice in the fate of their own public schools.
This article shows how the unnecessary bussiness nature of charter schools deals with issues that public schools, because are only places for education, didn't have to. Julia Sigalovsky, lead founder of the school, which opened in 2005, was the executive director until April 2008, when the board voted not to reappoint her to the top position. Since then, she had served as executive development director, responsible mainly for public relations, fundraising and community outreach. Tuesday night, the board voted 6-2 not to renew her contract.
Three local charter schools, including two that are widely acclaimed, face a potential exodus of teachers and others who are fearful of losing generous Los Angeles Unified School District health benefits.
This unexpected dilemma is being forced on school staffs at Granada Hills High, Palisades High and Pacoima Elementary. They must either leave those campuses or surrender lifetime health benefits they have earned through L.A. Unified. Citing long-term worries over the cost of benefits for retirees, district officials issued an ultimatum in mid-April. Non-teaching employees have until Friday to leave the charters or lose their retiree health benefits. Teachers have until May 15.
Two-thirds of the teachers at an Inver Grove Heights charter school that has been sued for allegedly promoting Islam are not properly licensed, according to a report from state officials. Officials at the Minnesota Department of Education have said they will withhold state aid to Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) that could total nearly $1 million if the public school can't show that it's following teacher-licensing laws.
Imagine that instead of becoming charter schools, they could become part of the public school system. So dire is the Brooklyn Diocese’s financial situation that Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio and Mayor Bloomberg have agreed to draw up a plan to convert some of the threatened Catholic schools into publicly funded charter schools. If this pilot program works, it could expand to other Catholic schools in the city. It resembles a similar arrangement made last year in Washington, D.C., where seven Catholic schools facing closure (despite benefiting from federally funded vouchers that paid full tuition for a significant number of students) were converted into taxpayer-funded charters
Charter schools have brought an unnecessary legal complication to America's public education system. Where are we going with these laws? The Tulsa School District argued that the law forming charter schools violates a constitutional ban on special laws regulating the management of public schools. Attorneys also argued the district was losing state funding to charter schools. The school district sued the state Education Department in December 2007. The Education Department was later dismissed from the case, and the Oklahoma Charter School Association was allowed to intervene.
For those who thinks that charter schools are efficient, problem-free environments that concentrate in providing education, read this article: It contains a tale of financial problems, nepotism, and conflict of interests. This charter school has it all! Coleman's husband, West Valley City Councilman Joel Coleman, and West Valley City Manager Wayne Pyle are on Monticello's board. State investigators argued that "the presence of Joel Coleman on the board that oversees the employment of his spouse appears to have compromised the board's ability to appropriately assess human-resource issues and the provision of services at the school."
Virtual Charter Schools have a load of real political problems. So, what is a charter school again, please? Proponents of online charter schools turned out in force a third time Wednesday to testify against Senate Bill 767, which would restrict operations of virtual schools under the state charter law.
This is an article that presents a succesful story of a charter school in Pensacola, Florida. Assuming that it is true, read it and ask yourselves, what do they do that public schools cannot duplicate? For the past seven years, Pensacola Beach Elementary School Principal Jeff Castleberry has been a sort of circus performer, walking a tightrope of finances, balancing the state regulations against the needs of his students, taming the weather, and being flexible enough to work with a board of directors while being strong enough to withstand criticism.
Read about this meeting in Pennsylvania. Valley Academy founder Aprilaurie Whitley, Chief Financial Officer Stanley B. Warner and Philadelphia attorney Robert W. O’Donnell, a former state representative who helped write Pennsylvania’s charter school law, spent most of the forum responding to questions about Valley Academy’s petition drive and pre-enrollment process as well as how the curriculum will differ from Hazleton Area’s course offerings. The barrage of questions created a few contentious moments at an otherwise orderly hearing
In Chicago, teachers from charter schools are trying to unionize. It is a fight he has not won, and union leaders call it typical of an age-old workers' struggle. But Ly's effort benefits from an alliance between teachers at charter schools, like him, and those at traditional public schools, like most of the 32,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union. "Dividing and conquering organized labor is a centuries-old practice," Ly said yesterday at the Teachers Union meeting. "We must not let them divide us
In Baltimore, they mention a list of problems such as gangs and violence. But what are they doing to solve these problems? Reorganizing or moving schools (some of which are labeled as failing) as if that was the cause of the problem.Many speakers pointed to the potential for escalated gang violence when moving students to neighborhoods across gang lines.
The panel also addressed taxpayer-funded charter schools, emphasizing that as public institutions, they must follow the same rules in terms of religious liberty as regular public schools. The panel was referring to a case in Minnesota where a charter school advertised itself as a “Muslim school” that ostensibly taught religion as part of its curriculum. Haynes said that when religious schools take public funding, they lose their religious identity.
I have wrestled for sometime now with the idea of using this news: Charter schools are supposed to be these ideal places where teaching and learning is supposed to be maximized. A case such as this requires education officials to consider what policies and practices may have been overlooked. Focusing solely on bullies and victims is rarely enough. How can schools build a critical mass of students who are willing to come to the aid of a targeted student and stand against their peers? The family of a dead 11-year-old boy deserves to know
Praise charter, demean public schools, don't mind offering providing education to all students.Some parents have defended Keaton, but statistics show that he is having trouble attracting students from within the school’s catchment area. Only 27 percent of the kindergarten-age students who live in the school’s zone attend. And next year, the school will have only two kindergarten classes, down from three this year
In what way the new charter laws in Ohio benefit public education? The proponents want the district to serve as the nonprofit sponsor that the privately run, publicly funded charter schools must have under Ohio law. As sponsor, the district would receive a small percentage of the charters' state money and could count the schools' achievement test scores as its own.
If only that was the only area of need!One area where the studies (in Minnesota after 17 years)agree is this: Many charter schools need better oversight and governance.
In Daytona 2 Flagler charter schools have until summer to clean up act. The board's decision came after it heard a report from a charter review committee that cited problems with the schools' operations, including frequent turnover of school administration, the infrequent meeting of their governing board and an inability to hand in financial reports and other important documents on time.
Another conflict of interest issue. "I believe in choice and competition," Lederman said Sunday, comparing schools to restaurants which must improve their offerings when they compete and comparing pre-1993 public schools to "a monopoly, Soviet-style."
Parents of Germantown Settlement students told to find new schools. Parents of the Germantown Settlement Charter School are told to find another school for next year due to financial and academic trouble. Is this the way to solve public education problems?
Read this interesting case in South Carolina about unintended consequences when dealing with scholarships destined to public schools. Attorney Tom Traxler, who represented the school district of Greensville ,South Carolina, in a hearing in January, said the question was whether Sirrine would have wanted his money to go to a charter school system "that is in competition" with the district. Why do we need this aggravation caused for charter schools?
Charter schools create new legal and economic problems for districts. In Charleston County, South Carolina, the schools district has obligation to support a charter school that has no building. The district contends the local law conflicts with the state law, and the lawsuit could have financial implications for the district's obligation to charter schools.
Lacking due rights is just one of the complications of teaching in a charter school. How easy would it be if every teacher had the same rights! Rivera spent a decade teaching in the district, he lost his seniority with L.A. Unified because of his foray into the charter world. Because the district lays off teachers based on the amount of time they've worked for the school system, Rivera is now in danger of losing his job, and the Algebra Project might stall before it even begins.
Charter_school_sues_parents.Several parents at the Agora Cyber Charter School in Devon who asked questions about the school's finances have been sued by the founder and her management company.
Students expelled from RSD charter schools in New Orleans disappear in state records Would you believe there are records dissapearing in this charter schools? What is the accountability for that?
Parents fear Coney Island schools will suffer when a charter school opens this fall.Schools have declining enrollment, but a charter school is going to open nevertheless. Is anyone thinking that charter schools provide an educational alternative to parents and loyal competition to public schools. Reality in indicates differently.
In Delaware, according to a letter sent to faculty this week, the 12-member board has been working since February 2008 to address "repeated allegations of sexual harassment, . . . l" regarding Russo. Charter school's founder in trouble. In a public school system, any applicant has to go through a basic routine investigation. Charter schools don't require such things for their employees. . .or their founders. This is one of the unintended consequences of charter schools being freed from the constraints and regulatios public schools have in place. Are these regulations that inconvenient after all?
A man who co-founded two North County charter schools and also served as the principal of a private school . . . plead not guilty to charges that he repeatedly molested a child for six years. Another charter school founder in trouble. This time this person has a carreer in private schools. Charter schools were supposed to be a better version of public schools, an ideal model for efficiency and results for having more committed teachers, and strong leaders.
Convenience at at what price? "It's a complex issue because it's a new entity," Buckley said. "We want to make sure it's fair. We want to make sure students have access to it. But at the same time we want to make sure no one's making an obscene amount of profit off it."
Why haven't public schools advocates used these same arguments? Like its students, Crittenton has odds to beat. Perhaps the most challenging is proving its value -- that the school is worth the state money it gets and that its students are more likely to succeed
State school board votes to shut Uphams Charter by June 30. He disagreed with conclusions by a state evaluation team last fall that the school failed to meet several conditions imposed two years earlier, and he railed against the state for relying too much on state standardized test scores to determine a school's fate.
The school is a home-school program with some staff members who oversee independent study plans. A former Dehesa Charter School teacher, in a lawsuit that was scheduled to go to trial in San Diego this week, claims school officials retaliated against her because she refused to go along with a plan to falsify records to get more state funding.
Years and years of problems since the charter school started, and now the school district is going to spend money to help it. The two entities existed in separate spheres in the following years, rarely acknowledging each other’s presence because, both said, they believed that was what the other wanted.
An Oregon Department of Education investigation raised tensions in 2004, after a parent complained a Sand Ridge administrator was improperly expressing his personal religious views. The state intervened again in 2008, telling PIE it was concerned about licensing and registration at the charter school and asking Lebanon to exercise greater oversight or risk losing state funds
Read how this charter school can be closed and opened with a different name. What is going on here? Life Skills Center, the troubled Lakeland charter school that helps dropouts pass the FCAT and receive a high school diploma, faces problems again.