#ANOTHERDAYANOTHERCHARTERSCHOOLSCANDAL
Paulo Freire Charter School staff picket, file labor charges
Unionized staff at the Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School will picket Saturday in front of their school amid uncertainty over the coming school year after management’s decision to let go of over half of the school’s teachers this summer.
Organizers with the school’s staff union are set to protest in front of the school against school’s board of trustees. It will be the second time the union pickets in front of the building after dozens marched in front of the school in June over the mass nonrenewal that month of all 13 teacher contracts that expired this year — an action they say represents a pattern of targeting union activists.
Appeals court gives mixed ruling on N.C. charter school’s rule requiring girls to wear skirts
Charter Day School, a public charter school in Leland, North Carolina, that serves elementary and middle school students, was sued in 2016 by parents who objected to the dress code. The rules required girls to wear skirts, jumpers or skorts, except on gym days.
In 2019, a federal judge ruled that the dress code was unconstitutional because the charter school should be considered a state actor and that the rule violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Brunswick Co. health orders charter school to come into compliance with COVID-19 quarantine protocols after 67 positive cases
Charter Day School officials say they “intend to comply” with quarantine and health requirements after the Brunswick County Health Department issued a control measure against the school last week following dozens of positive COVID-19 cases.
As of Monday, health services has been notified of 67 cases of COVID-19 related to a cluster at the Leland charter school.
Can Idaho’s charter schools diversify?
The overall lack of diversity in charters took center stage in 2016, when the Idaho Public Charter School Commission shared with the State Board of Education a clearcut finding: On average, charters underserve the state’s minority and poor students.
Data from an annual statewide report revealed lower average numbers of these and other student subgroups at the state’s then 36 commission-authorized charters compared to their surrounding school districts.
Sale of Mount Clemens charter school on hold
The pending sale of a charter school in Mount Clemens is apparently on hold as city officials seek additional information about the proposed purchase.
City documents show a nonprofit corporation known as Campus Partners 1 intends to purchase Prevail Academy on Cass Avenue through a $15 million bond issue. The school is currently owned by National Heritage Academies.
New Orleans schools start next week, but 84% of the school buses aren’t licensed
The issue is more than just paperwork, however. Starting in late 2018, WWL found that dozens of small companies hired by charter schools were operating unsafe school buses, employing uncertified drivers and, at times, using uninsured buses to transport public schoolchildren in New Orleans.
Hernando School board working to save “BEST” charter school
Parents send their children to the BEST Academy in Hernando County for the middle school years (grades 6, 7 and 8) because of the small classes, focus on STEM and the family environment.
But since former Principal Andre Buford fell ill and the charter school’s board had to take over, the school is in a financial struggle, according to a recent review. The contract is up in the 2022-2023 school year.
An annual review, reported to the board during the July 20 school board workshop, found some “alarming things,” including “repeat offenses” from prior years, according to Lisa Cropley, the school district’s executive director of student support services.
The rise and fall of the country’s fifth charter school
It was once called a “beat the odds” school. It achieved higher math scores than any other school with such a high percentage of students in poverty in the Twin Cities. It represented the promise of charter schools to provide high-quality education to students of color.
But in less than a decade, proficiency in reading and math plummeted, school directors came and left with alarming regularity, and eventually the organization overseeing the school decided the best way to fix it was to shut it down.
Teachers and Staff at Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School Call for Removal of CEO
Teachers and staff at Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, a top-tier school serving D.C.’s adult immigrant population, have recently pressed their board of trustees to remove the school’s CEO, Allison Kokkoros.
In a letter sent to the board earlier this month, unnamed employees writing collectively under the banner of “CR Strong” said that under Kokkoros’ leadership, “school growth and innovation has stalled. The culture is steeped in toxicity and pain.”
Don’t Let the Rhetoric Fool You—Understand How Charter Schools Often Aren’t Public
He would be suspended, multiple times in a week, over and over,” an attorney who represents charter school students in Boston said of his client, a six-year-old with ADHD. The student’s school, while not directly rejecting his enrollment because of his mental health disorder, made it difficult for him to attend classes.
This is a trend that we found in charter schools across the country: Although they rarely decline to accept a student, they can, and sometimes do, use a variety of means—such as suspensions, application hurdles, and minimum GPAs—to limit access to their classrooms.
Forensic audit sheds light on allegedly phony background checks by former school official
A forensic investigation into suspicious employee background checks by the Dryades YMCA, which runs James M. Singleton Charter School, specifically names the organization’s former CFO and outlines the process — including an apparent template for producing fake background checks — allegedly used to craft fraudulent background checks.
Former CFO Catrina Reed left the embattled organization in March along with its CEO, amid investigations by the NOLA Public Schools district and the New Orleans Police Department into how Singleton administrators were conducting employee background checks, which are required for school employees under state law.
State officials: Charter school’s ‘grossly inadequate’ financial practices may be illegal and unethical
An embattled Ammon charter school may have intentionally misused public funds, and its former director may have violated several principles of the Code of Ethics for Public Educators, according to a new report from the Idaho Public Charter School Commission.
The 11-page report, dated July 2 and obtained by Idaho EdNews through a public records request, details a range of issues uncovered during the commission’s months-long investigation of Monticello Montessori Charter School.
Indiana suing virtual charter schools accused of defrauding the state for more than $150M
A consortium of virtual schools accused of defrauding the state of Indiana out of millions of dollars are now being sued, as state officials seek to recoup more than $150 million they say was either wrongly obtained or misspent by the schools.
Attorney General Todd Rokita filed the lawsuit against Indiana Virtual School, Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy, Indiana Virtual Educational Foundation and several other related entities and individuals in Hamilton County Superior Court Thursday.
Deposed Lusher principal accused school’s CEO of undermining efforts to heal racial tensions
Seven months before Steven Corbett got a job overseeing Audubon Charter Schools, the former high school principal at Lusher Charter School penned a detailed letter to Lusher’s board of directors asking for an investigation into allegedly discriminatory and retaliatory behavior on the part of longtime CEO Kathy Riedlinger.
Governor McKee, Providence Mayor Elorza clash over location of Achievement First charter
Mayor Jorge Elorza went on the offensive Wednesday, accusing the governor of caving in to the Providence Teachers Union during contract negotiations.
Gov. Dan McKee said Tuesday that he didn’t agree with Elorza’s decision to sign a one-year agreement allowing Achievement First to put a new charter school in Fortes Elementary School.