#ANOTHERDAYANOTHERCHARTERSCHOOLSCANDAL
Charter school board members file lawsuit claiming ‘abuse of power’ at Collier County charter school
A Southwest Florida charter school is fighting back against what it calls years of “abuse of power.” Two school board members filed a lawsuit against 11 separate parties, including the wife of a prominent elected official. In total, the suit lays out 18 counts, including conspiracy, racketeering, and libel. It also demands damages in an amount to be established at trial. Once the defendants are served, they have 21 days to respond to the lawsuit.
Low enrollment forces closure of cyberschool
A drop in enrollment has forced the SusQ-Cyber Charter School to shut down its online high school.
‘I feel lost’: Families at two Philly charters scramble to find new schools after closure plans were announced
Gwendolyn Mills’ grandchildren were supposed to start eighth and third grades Monday at Daroff Charter School. When she found out Friday their school was shutting down, she felt adrift.
“What am I supposed to do? It’s a few days before school starts,” said Mills, who has had students enrolled at the charter formerly managed by Universal Companies Inc. for eight years. Daroff and Bluford Charter School, run by a single board of trustees, struck deals Friday with the Philadelphia school board to close — Daroff immediately, and Bluford at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
2 Philly charter schools delay start of classes, 1 could close before then
Two neighboring West Philadelphia charter schools will start the school year at least a week later than planned, and one could close permanently before then.
Daroff and Bluford charter schools notified families Wednesday night that classes would no longer resume the week of Aug. 29.
After troubles in IPS, Ignite charter school rebrands
Single-digit proficiency rates. Plummeting attendance. A work environment described in a former employee’s lawsuit as “one big mess.”
Ignite Achievement Academy came to and left Indianapolis Public Schools within just four years under challenging circumstances. Some low test scores from Elder Diggs School 42 — the traditional school Ignite took over — dropped even lower on Ignite’s watch, while attendance fell below the district average and staff retention rates became the worst in the district.
Polygamy charter school ordered to remove entire school board
In a dramatic move, the Utah State Charter School Board ordered Vanguard Academy to replace all seven members of its school board. In addition, the USBE will appoint a temporary director to work with the current director.
Vanguard is affiliated with the Kingston polygamist group, known as “The Order.” In a 2020 investigation, Crisis in the Classroom revealed the school regularly hires Kingston-connected businesses and pays them with taxpayer dollars.
NC charter school managed by national for-profit firm cited for failure to serve students with disabilities
Cardinal is managed by Florida-based Charter Schools USA. The for-profit firm manages more than 90 schools in five states, including nine schools in North Carolina. Dave Machado, the former director of North Carolina’s Office of Charter Schools, resigned last month to become state director for Charter Schools USA, Inc.
Federal and state policies give little wiggle room when it comes to IEPs. The education plans ensure students with disabilities receive the specialized instruction and related services they require. Per state policy, IEPs must be “implemented as written at the beginning and throughout each school year.”
Orange County Classical Academy can’t open doors on first day of school
The Orange County Classical Academy won’t be allowed to open its doors for its first day back to school Thursday, forcing hundreds of students to independent studies.
The public charter school known as OCCA failed to get fire hydrants installed in time to kick off the school year, according to city officials.
Tennessee showdown: Governor’s big plan for right-wing charter schools sparks fierce backlash
The mailers arrived last week: four-page glossy brochures containing excerpted articles from The Federalist and USA Today, telling Tennesseans they’d been misled about Hillsdale College. They followed the previous week’s text message campaign, when voters across the state began receiving political spam attributed to Hillsdale chief marketing officer Bill Gray, insisting that people throughout the Volunteer State were clamoring for Hillsdale to open K-12 charter schools, and directing them to a recently-built website where they could learn “the truth” about Hillsdale’s work in Tennessee.
Our Views: Louisiana charter schools must serve everyone, including low-income students
Louisiana has moved strongly in the direction of charter schools, but too often, these public schools aren’t sufficiently serving students of all income levels.
Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack issued a report last week showing that 18.5% of authorized charter schools are not enrolling enough children from economically disadvantaged homes. Waguespack looked at 108 charter schools serving almost 66,000 students and found that more than 1 in 5 schools failed to meet admission rules aimed at ensuring full access at least once during the past six years.
Student at Massachusetts charter school receives uniform violation for hijab
A Massachusetts charter school where an eighth grade student was written up for a uniform infraction for wearing a hijab says it understands its “handling of the situation came across as insensitive.”
A family member of the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School student posted on social media a picture of the “School Uniform Compliance Form” the student received from a teacher for the hijab on Thursday. In the description of the infraction, the headscarf worn by Muslim women was misspelled as “jihab.”
School District has ‘serious concerns’ about two Philly charters
With days to go before students return, two Philadelphia charters have double-digit teacher vacancies and no apparent management structure — and School District officials have taken the unprecedented step of inviting families whose children attend the schools to enroll elsewhere.
Texas Charter School Execs Approved $15 Million to Lease Private Jet While Under Investigation
New details published by the Houston Chronicle’s Edward McKinley show board members of Texas’ largest private charter school system voted to spend millions of dollars on leasing a private jet for business travel despite an ongoing state investigation into the organization for alleged misuse of public funds.
Proposal to change HISD’s policy on charters sparks opposition
Parents, education advocates and a group of Houston elected officials including three Houston ISD trustees on Monday blasted a proposal by other school board members that would change the district’s policy surrounding charters, calling the measure dangerous to public schools and imploring it be taken off an agenda days before its first reading.
Poor Quality Charter School Applications Are Common
One of the main reasons many charter school applications are rejected repeatedly by public school boards across the country is because they are poorly-written and low quality in many ways.
Such applications are often full of spelling mistakes, overly-ambitious claims, vague details, incomplete responses, many blank boxes, incorrect information, and more.