#ANOTHERDAYANOTHERCHARTERSCHOOLSCANDAL
WSAZ Investigates | Charter school concerns
The West Virginia Professional Charter School Board could approve the state’s first charter schools during a meeting Wednesday morning.
The Board is currently considering seven applications from companies looking to open new virtual and in-person education choices.
Three of the proposals have been submitted by for-profit company ACCEL Schools, which said it currently operates more than 50 schools across the country with more than 23,000 students, according to the company’s website.
However, our WSAZ Investigation found many of the company’s schools receive failing grades and spend a lot less each year per student than their public school counterparts, according to the Ohio School Report Card.
School board members quit, students transfer over reports of teacher bullying at Pansophia
All but one member of a West Michigan school board has resigned amid allegations that two teachers used foul language at school and called students names at Pansophia Academy, a charter school in Coldwater, Michigan.
“You shouldn’t be called skank by anybody,” Amy Short said. Her daughter told her a teacher and coach used the term to refer to a group of high school girls. It was a joke, the teacher later told Short’s daughter, Amy Short said.
Leaders mum on reasons behind Nevada charter school change
A North Las Vegas charter school is rebranding and ending its relationship with its Arizona-based management company, but the motivation behind the changes is unclear.
American Leadership Academy opened the doors of its North Las Vegas campus near Ann Road and 5th Street for the 2017-18 school year. When the new school year begins next week, the K-8 school will be known as Freedom Classical Academy. Beyond the aesthetics of its new name, sentinel logo and uniforms, the management companies running the school are also changing.
New rules will aim to make charter schools more inclusive
Last year, the charter school board approved American Leadership Academy – Summerlin, only to have the school come back with an amendment to change their name to Signature Preparatory Academy and open in Henderson instead. Guinasso noted the school came to the board only after they’d already purchased property in Henderson. The relocation altered expansion plans being researched and set by Clark County School District, which expected the new school to be built in Summerlin.
Guinasso characterized the change as the school “asking for forgiveness rather than permission.”
East Valley charter gives teachers raise; refuses to let public comment on budget
A growing East Valley charter school chain will give its teachers a 13 percent raise for the coming school year, but their pay still lags traditional public schools.
American Leadership Academy’s five-member board on Thursday unanimously approved the pay increase, but refused to allow the public to comment on its $71 million budget.
At least three people had planned to address the board on its spending plan.
WECT Investigates: Culture of retaliation, mismanagement alleged at troubled charter school
A lawsuit filed in New Hanover County Superior Court alleges a charter school has not only skirted federal law, but retaliated against those who pushed back against school leadership.
In recent weeks, the board at Coastal Preparatory Academy (CPA) parted ways with the leader of its lower school, Jamie Getz, who figures prominently in the lawsuit and other complaints from parents and teachers to state agencies.
Wilmington charter school suspends use of seclusion room after illegal usage
The Cape Fear Center for Inquiry suspended use of its seclusion room last fall after the family of a seven-year-old student filed a grievance against the public charter school. The school admitted that the room — and its policies for the room — did not meet minimum state standards.
IDEA Public Schools had pilot on the payroll
IDEA Public Schools had a pilot on the payroll in 2019 and 2020.
The pilot — Flyder DeCastro, 49, of McAllen — worked for IPS Enterprises, a nonprofit organization created and controlled by IDEA.
More public schools are on the chopping block in Granville County
A former school board member said last November that the district is in a “death spiral” because of the strong presence of charters such as Oxford Preparatory School and Falls Lake Academy, which account for most of the district’s enrollment losses. But in addition to losing students to charters in Granville County, the district also loses them to charters in neighboring Durham, Franklin, Vance and Wake counties. There are 37 charters in the region.
Charter schools force painful public school closings
Critics of the plan to close or merge several St. Paul public schools argue that making the move without significant community engagement risks alienating the families the City is trying to get to stay.
In a bid to combat declining enrollment and competition from charter schools, Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) officials created Envision SPPS, a proposal to close or merge 11 schools by next fall.
New Texas charter schools regularly overpromise on student enrollment, data shows
Of the 19 schools approved since 2017 that have opened, 18 fell short of their enrollment projections, and 14 were at least 20 percent lower than they estimated. In eight cases, actual enrollment was at least 60 percent less than the number projected.