- Keeping funds from D.C. charter schools challenged [Sela PCS mentioned]
- D.C.'s only all-boy public school to close [Septima Clark PCS and Achievement Prep PCS mentioned]
- More questions regarding the merger of Septima Clark with Achievement Prep [Septima Clark PCS, Achievement Prep PCS, and Thurgood Marshall PCS mentioned]
Keeping funds from D.C. charter schools challenged [Sela PCS mentioned]
The Washington Times
By Deborah Simmons
February 17, 2013
At least two D.C. Council members say they would not support efforts by the chairman of the Committee on Education to deliberately withhold funds from public charter schools in order to slow their growth amid rising demand.
Council member David A. Catania, the new chairman of the education panel, relayed his concerns at an oversight hearing Jan. 23, when he said the growing charter movement is fast approaching an “irreversible tipping point” in the next year or two.
Last week, the at-large independent expressed further frustration, saying a “momentary pause” is needed on new charters and suggested that perhaps charters’ facility funds be withheld to discourage new growth.
“I would not support that,” said Tommy Wells, Ward 6 Democrat and education panel member who is weighing a 2014 run for mayor.
Jim Graham, Democrat representing Ward 1, home to more than a dozen charters, said withholding the $3,000 per-pupil facilities allotment for charters would create a disparity among public school students.
“We can’t do that,” Mr. Graham said. “It’s very important that there be equity in the dual system. We cannot afford to do anything less than equal.”
He also said that charters have long faced “a huge problem with facilities” and that the city needs to do a “better job of making school facilities available to charters.”
“The need for thoughtful and strategic planning is obvious,” said Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools. “We need to plan together and with all the parties at the table to establish responsible planning.”
As for facilities, Ms. Edelin said city officials should look at the “cost effectiveness of funding the renovation of some of these big old [school] buildings,” which could be retrofitted as mixed-use facilities to include schooling, commercial ventures and city services.
Regarding funding, she said, “Taxpayer funds by law must follow the child in the District of Columbia, and legislators should not disrupt the flow of those funds in order to slow down the growth of the charter school sector, which parents are clearly choosing.”
The Public Charter School Board, the city’s chartering authority, has approved charters for several new schools to open in the fall, including Sela, a bilingual English-Hebrew school. In addition, one organization wants to open a Montessori school and another wants to open at least eight new charters in the coming years.
Mr. Graham, who is not a member of the education committee but would have a vote in the Committee of the Whole should Mr. Catania’s frustration become a legislative proposal, said he, too, is on the same page as Ms. Edelin regarding strategic planning.
“Charters currently educate 43 percent of D.C. students,” said Mr. Graham. “What are we going to do when its 50-50 or 60-40? It’s just so long we can ignore it.”
D.C.'s only all-boy public school to close [Septima Clark PCS and Achievement Prep PCS mentioned]
The Washington Examiner
By Rachel Baye
February 18, 2013
The District's only all-boys public school plans to close at the end of the school year, sparking concerns among parents about what will become of the school's 230 students.
Septima Clark Public Charter School, a second-tier school in Ward 8 with students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, plans to close and consolidate with the top-tier Achievement Preparatory Academy. If the Public Charter School Board approves the deal, Achievement Prep would take over Septima Clark's finances and offer seats immediately to all Septima Clark students who will be at least 5 years old by Oct. 31.
Though Achievement Prep currently offers only grades four through eight, the school plans to expand as part of the merger to offer kindergarten through third grade in the coming school year and two years of pre-kindergarten the following year. The roughly 40 students who won't meet the age deadline for kindergarten will have to find another school for next year.
The proposal is scheduled to go before the Public Charter School Board Tuesday night.
The decision to close Septima Clark stems from the school's poor academic performance, said school board Chairman James Costan.
When the school began considering a change in April, it was in the bottom tier of public charter schools following low scores on the District's standardized tests. Although the school was upgraded to Tier 2 in October -- earning recognition from the Office of the State Superintendent for Education for the greatest improvement of any charter school in a single year -- the performance was still not where the school's leaders wanted it to be.
"We were monitoring how we were doing on the internal turnaround, and the prospects weren't very encouraging," Costan said.
The school will lose its building at the end of the year and has been having trouble securing a permanent location as a result of its poor academic performance, he said.
But school founder Jenny DuFresne, who resigned as head of the school on Jan. 31 as a result of the proposed deal, has accused the board of concealing its efforts to close the school until the last minute and of giving up on the school without exhausting every option.
"This has been not handled in a way that I think has really taken into consideration what parents chose for their sons," she said.
Septima Clark parents have expressed fears that the change would hurt students' chances for success.
Many students arrive at the all-boys school after struggling in multiple coed schools, said Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools.
"African-American males, because there's such a lack of positive imagery out there, they don't feel as much security as
their white American counterparts," said Andre Johnson, whose 4-year-old son is in pre-kindergarten at Septima Clark. "You're not going to be able to counter that in an environment where you have boys and girls."
More questions regarding the merger of Septima Clark with Achievement Prep [Septima Clark PCS, Achievement Prep PCS, and Thurgood Marshall PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
February 19, 2013
Last week I wrote about the proposed merger between Septima Clark PCS and Achievement Preparatory Academy PCS, and I brought up some issues regarding the plan. Since that time more questions have arisen.
The D.C. Public Charter School Board's supporting documentation for the planned merger states that “in an effort to avoid the likelihood of closure, the Septima Clark Board of Trustees set out to find an option for better serving its current students.” However, there has never been a suggestion that Septima Clark PCS be closed. The school received an unconditional five year continuance from the PCSB in December 2011. As I mentioned in my last article, Septima Clark students experienced tremendous academic gains on the 2012 DC CAS examination. Reading and math scores increased by 17 percent, making this the highest ranking charter for improvement in results for last year, and the third highest school for academic growth of all public schools in the District. The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) designated Septima Clark a Reward School because of these distinctions.
In 2011 Septima Clark was graded as a PCSB Performance Management Framework Tier 3 school and this year was rated as a low Tier 2. While the PMF provides the public with a convenient way for judging the quality of a charter, we have to remember it plays a much larger role. The central notion behind the PMF was to identify areas where schools need to improve, and then use the public classifications as a powerful incentive for them to change. It appears that the administrators and staff of Septima Clark reacted perfectly appropriately to this challenge. Instead of being closed, this success story involving a high proportion of special education and low income students should be celebrated.
Septima Clark has not secured a permanent facility, which is a chronic problem among charters. The school’s PCSB 2011 to 2012 annual report reveals that the Tier 3 designation has “had a chilling effect” on the ability to receive financing and locate a home. However, this charter has a number of things going for it that others do not. It has an overwhelmingly attractive mission as the only all boys school in the nation’s capital. This mission has allowed almost $2 million to be raised from individuals, corporations, and foundations. The school has also secured a $1 million OSSE City Build loan. It has been able to put aside an additional $400,000 toward the future site.
I have studied the charter school facility hunt for over a decade and I know how hard it is. But I find it hard to imagine that with this financial foundation and the assistance of an organization like Building Hope this conundrum could not be solved.
Unfortunately other concerns surrounding the merger of these two charters eventually led to the resignation of the Septima Clark’s Head of School and founder. Here is part of a letter Jenny DuFresne wrote to PCSB Chairman Brian Jones wrote on January 31, 2013, the day she stepped down from her position as Head of School:
“Conflict of Interest Agreements are standard protocol for all Boards of Trustees. It is prudent for Boards of Trustees involved in a merger/turnaround process to provide the PCSB updated Conflict of Interest Agreements, specific to financial interests or other possible material gains for sitting board members of either school. Certification that no conflicts of interest relative to individual board member(s) financial gain in facilitating or profiting from a merger is imperative to assure internal and external stakeholders that Board deliberations are fair and impartial. In the case of SCPCS, individual board members and/or their companies received financial compensation exceeding $50,000. Perception of a fair, transparent, and impartial process for mergers/turnaround is critical for the charter movement and the possible increased tempo of charter mergers supported by the PCSB, charter management organizations, or private, for-profit firms.”
She, together with some of the school’s parents, was troubled because in April, 2012, as the supporting documentation to the merger explains, Ten Square was engaged to conduct a Septima board retreat. Ten Square is led by Thurgood Marshal Academy PCS co-founder Josh Kern. According to Ms. DuFresne, the meeting was originally planned to discuss the facility issue. Instead, she recalled, the agenda was revised to entail a discussion on the steps to take in order to move the school’s PMF score from Tier 3 to Tier 2. Options included merging the school with Achievement Prep, conduct a complete turnaround, or continue as is without outside interference.
As it turned out, the Septima Clark Head of School informed me that the session focused almost singularly on the first alternative. Mr. Kern facilitated the retreat during the time that he served on the Achievement Prep Board, which according to the Ten Square official was from January to June, 2012.
Ms. DuFresne said she became frustrated with the lack of transparency regarding the merger decision. So on January 2, 2013, when she remembers her board of directors presenting her with a severance agreement she said essentially dictated that she could champion the joining of Septima Clark with Achievement Prep to stakeholders or leave, she eventually elected to remove herself from her position.
Ms. DuFresne wrote again to Mr. Jones just last Friday. She had been asked to sign a letter asking OSSE to transfer Septima Clark’s City Build grant over to Achievement Prep. Remember that the official merger has not yet occurred. She thought the request was odd. “It is unclear why Shantell Wright, Head of School, Achievement Preparatory Academy, has signed a letter that primarily related to the management of Septima Clark’s federal entitlement funds and federally-funded competitive grants.”
The PCSB hearing on the merger is scheduled for tonight.