Turkish-Americans Lead 100 Charter Schools in the U.S.

About 100 charter schools in 25 states have been questioned for their link to Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish peace advocate. The schools emphasize math and science and generally outperform their counterparts.

Some of the schools have been criticized for influencing students to accept Islam ideals and philosophies as a result of the school being "Gulen-inspired." Gulen claims no connection with any of the schools.

Fethullah Gulen promotes peace and communication between Turkey and Western cultures. Since 1999 Gulen has lived in the United States. Earlier this summer, Gulen critized Turkish involvement in the flotilla that attempted to deliver aid to Israel's Gaza Strip. Gulen said the Turkish aid group should have sought permission from Israeli leaders before attempting to deliver aid.

The Lotus School for Excellence in Aurora was founded by a group of individuals with connections to Turkey. The school originally opened as a secondary school and is adding an elementary school for this school year. Their grand opening celebration will be later this week where they have expanded their campus by taking over more of the church facility they occupy.

Last year Lotus leaders submitted new charter school applications in the St. Vrain Valley School District and Jefferson County School District. They later withdrew their application from St. Vrain, but appealed the charter denial out of Jeffco to the State Board of Education. Lotus lost that appeal.

A significant portion of the appeal hearing centered on the school's academic achievement data, which was mixed with some small gains. According to this year's Growth Model data, Lotus made Adequate Growth in reading, but not in math or writing.

Lotus plans to submit at least one more charter school application this fall.

Advisory Committee for Charter School Institute Charter Schools Meets

Yesterday was the first meeting of the advisory committee established by SB10-111, sponsored by Sen. Keith King. King is an administrator at Colorado Springs Early College, a CSI school. It was the second day of school for King so he joined the group via the telephone for a portion of the meeting.

Patricia Hayes chaired the meeting. Hayes is a board member of the Charter School Institute, former CU Regent and former State Board of Education member. About a dozen people attended the meeting, reflecting the representative required by SB 111.

The purpose of the committee is to make recommendation to the next legislative session's Education committee members about CSI schools becoming their own LEA. In addition to this potentially impacting Special Education, there is also a potential impact on federal entitlement funds, the Carl Perkins Act and gifted and talented programs. The committee discussed what would be studied by the committee and what would not.

The questions raised centered on what problem was the committee attempting to solve? Since the delivery of Special Education services is distinctly different for CSI schools and district charter schools, the "problem" to solve was quite different. CSI schools must conduct their own Special Ed services and do not have liability coverage through CSI. District charter schools deliver Sped services via a contract with their district (using a variety of different models) and their district has ultimate liability.

Sen. King noted that his interest for the work of the committee was not so much about Special Education, but rather what other programs might be different if administered by the charter school, instead of CSI. He noted a few federal programs, but then also recognized that with increased responsibility comes increased accountability, which may include paperwork and bureaucracy. King carried another bill this session that allows charter schools to form cooperatives with CSI. His other bill allows even district charter schools to seek federal grants through CSI.

It was generally agreed that if there was a better way for delivering Special Education services to CSI schools or there was a more efficient way to operate, the committee's report should uncover those options. The committee will conduct research on what other state's have done and consult nationally recognized groups such as the National Assn of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

The committee will meet monthly throughout the fall. For more information, contact the Charter School Institute.

DPS in the Money

Denver Public Schools is one of 49 grant applicants selected to receive an Investing in Innovation (i3) federal grant provided they can come up with matching funds from the private sector. I3 grants are a new grant program, funded by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, designed to encourage improving academic achievement in high needs areas to close the achievement gap.

DPS plans to use the money, up to 25 million, to improve literacy skills in middle school students through a partnership with the Bueno Center at CU Boulder and Padres and Jovenes Unidos.

Guam Approves It's First Charter School

Guam will have its first charter school a year from now. Guam will receive federal startup and implementation grant funds to support the formation of new charter schools.

Forty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have charter school laws.

Liberty Common School Leases New Building

Liberty Common School is expanding as they grow out their program through twelth grade. The secondary school will be located in the old Pioneer School of Expeditionary Learning building near Drake and Lemay in Fort Collins.

Bob Schaffer, Director of Secondary Instruction for Liberty Common School and also the Chair of the State Board of Education, is excited about the proximity of the new building to the existing LCS campus and the fact that minimal renovation needed to be done in order to use it for a secondary school.

The LCS K-8 program will also expand to build up enough of a student base to support the high school. There are two charter schools in the Poudre School District: Liberty Common School and Ridgeview Classical Schools. Additionally, a Charter School Institute-sponsored K-8 operates in Fort Collins, Northern Colorado Academy of Art & Knowledge.

Networking

Last winter the Jefferson County charter schools got together to discuss something that came up and affected each of them. More than 20 people attended the meeting, representing the 13 operating charter schools and two that were approved to open. From that meeting, the board presidents began meeting every other month to discuss relevant issues.

Tonight the "President's Council" met and discussed topics such as bonding requirements, foundations, the Transparency Act, budgeting issues and principal evaluation instruments. The group values being able to discuss issues that they are currently addressing and getting feedback from others. One charter school leader is with a school that hasn't even opened yet and another's school was 15 years old.

This type of networking has led to state-level meetings for board presidents. The state President's Council will meet quarterly next school year with two of the meetings being webinars. There will also be a President's Handbook written to address the questions board president's have, such as, "If the board is going to discuss an individual employee in executive session do I have to invite that employee in to executive session?" The handbook could also be viewed as a second level of board training, above the online board training modules available here.

And Then There Was One

Denver Venture School and Envision Leadership Prep decided to merge after both schools suffered from a lack of enrollment. The Denver Public Schools board voted unanimously to allow the two charter schools to merge beginning in August. Currently each school serves about 100 students and leases DPS facility space. The schools are anticipating an exponential increase in students with the merged school, which will be called Venture Prep.

Connect Students Go the Distance

Connect Charter School in Pueblo will be sending 22 students to the National Science Olympiad in Champagne, Illinois later this month. The students will be competing in earth science, biology, physics, technology and chemistry.

Connect was the first charter school in the state to get approved back in 1993. They're authorized by Pueblo 70 School District. The school's students have consistently scored in the top middle schools in the state.

Roman New COO of Cesar Chavez School Network

The board of the Cesar Chavez School Network announced they've hired Dr. Henry Roman as their new COO. The position has been vacant since last October when Dr. Lawrence Hernandez, the school's founder, was terminated. Dr. Roman was formerly the Superintendent of Pueblo 60 City Schools, the charter school's authorizer.

Yesterday the CCSN board also met with Cary Kennedy, the state Treasurer, regarding their bond payments. The high school bond is held by the elementary school and there is question as to whether or not the school will be able to make bond payments in the future.

The Cesar Chavez Academy-Denver school operates autonomously with their own governing board and currently only purchases business services from the Network. As noted by the CCA-Denver principal, Ryan Lucas, the fairness of this year's charges and services is being questioned by the CCA-Denver charter school governing board.

Rocky Mountain Classical Academy

The Falcon 49 Board of Education gave the Rocky Mountain Classical Academy a one-year probationary contract last week. The troubled charter school has been in a financial bind since it failed to set aside its TABOR reserve. Charter school board members now say they've trimmed non-teaching staff positions by six and have gaine expert financial advice that is more encouraging for next year.

Rocky Mounain Classical Academy is a K-12 school ending its fourth year of operation and is located along the east side of Colorado Springs, just north of the airport. Last spring the charter school released its executive director and school founder after information about the financial situation were uncovered.

More Incriminating Evidence Against Cesar Chavez School Network

Today CDE released a statement about the findings of the MGT financial audit of the troubled Cesar Chavez School Network (CCSN). At one time the CCSN had six schools under their network, but that is now down to three: Cesar Chavez Academy-Pueblo, Dolores Huerta Prep HS and Cesar Chavez Academy-Denver. The two charter schools in Colorado Springs merged and became Scholars to Leaders while the online school, GOAL Academy, operates out of the Pueblo mall.

Last summer it came out that the CEO, Lawrence Hernandez, made $250,000 a year. Today's financial audit revealed the amount was actually $340,000 for a one-year period. Similar salary increases were found for the CFO, Jason Guerrero, and Lawrence's wife, Annette. The study revealed Guerrero made $321,000 and Anette Hernandez made $200,000. Additionally, the Hernandez's daughter's cell phone and hair salon expenses were charged to school accounts. Twenty-six credit cards were used by CCSN staff for a total of more than $400,000 in one year, most without proper records.

The 193 page MGT report also details that the Hernandez's had 20 relatives working for them before changes were made last fall and the Hernandez's were terminated. Numerous conflicts of interest issues were also identified. Including a corporation Dr. Hernandez established and paid himself to operate an alternative teacher licensing program.

I'll be posting more on this report in the following days.

Update: Another Pueblo Chieftain piece.

Thomas MacLaren Charter School in the News

The Thomas MacLaren Charter School in Colorado Springs got some much-deserved recognition by their local newspaper yesterday. The new charter school, authorized by the state Charter School Institute, is just finishing up its first year of operation.

Thomas MacLaren was a well-known architect in Colorado Springs when the city was getting established. The charter school has several architectural renderings of his work on display.

The school uses the classical approach to education with an emphasis on the fine arts. Classical education centers on discussion as the primary methodology. The theory is based on the motion that through the discussion of primary texts, the student delves into deeper meaning and asks a higher level of question.

Vote Early--Vote Often--For DSST

The Denver School of Science & Technology (DSST) is competing with five other schools in the country for the right to have President Obama speak at their graduation ceremonies. You can vote for DSST by going here. One vote for each computer IP address.

You can also follow DSST on Facebook at: DSST Public Schools

Denver School of Science & Technology One of Six Finalists to Have Pres. Obama Speak at Graduation Ceremony

From Bill Kurtz, the Principal of Denver School of Science and Technology in Denver:

Dear Friends,

I am thrilled to share with you that DSST has been selected by the White House as one of six finalists in a national competition to have President Obama speak at our high school graduation ceremony in May. You can read more about this in the press release that was issued by the White House this afternoon (please see below).

1,000 high schools applied for this honor. The application was 3 parts: Academic results, Student essays, and a Video. You can watch the video and read application materials here:
http://www.scienceandtech.org/

Later this month, DSST along with the other 5 finalist schools will be featured on the White House website for voting by the public to determine the top 3 schools. Then President Obama himself will choose the winner from the top 3. We will have more information about this process in the weeks ahead.

We are very proud of our students, parents, teachers, and staff for their achievements! Our continued academic success is what has made this great honor possible. We are very grateful for the support of our board and you, our community and friends, for your continued belief in our mission and model. Thank you and we will continue to update you as the story unfolds.


THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2010


President Obama, Department of Education Announce Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge Finalists Six Public High Schools Selected to Compete for Presidential Commencement Address

WASHINGTON – The White House and the Department of Education announced today the six high schools selected as finalists for the first annual Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge. The Commencement Challenge, launched in late February, invited the nation’s public high schools to submit applications showing their dedication to providing students with an excellent education that will prepare them to graduate ready for college and career choices. Applications were judged based on the schools performance, four essay questions and supplemental data. The six finalists were selected for their dedication to academic excellence and for showing how they are helping prepare students to graduate college and career ready, and prepared to meet the President’s goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.

Finalists:
· Blue Valley Northwest High School (Overland Park, Kansas)
· Clark Montessori Junior High and High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
· Denver School of Science and Technology (Denver, Colorado)
· Environmental Charter High School (Lawndale, California)
· Kalamazoo Central High School (Kalamazoo, Michigan)
· MAST Academy (Miami, Florida)

“I thank all of the schools that submitted applications for the first Commencement Challenge and I congratulate the six finalists for demonstrating effective approaches to teaching, learning and preparing students to graduate ready for college and a career,” said President Obama. “The quality of the applications we received is a testament to the exciting work happening in schools throughout the country, and I look forward to visiting and speaking at the winning school later this spring.”

“These six schools represent just a few of the stories of success that are happening all across the country,” said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “We won’t accomplish the President’s national goal of leading the world in college completion by 2020 without the hard work and dedication of the school leaders, teachers and students exemplified by our six final high schools.”
Over the next few weeks, each school’s students will work with The Get Schooled Foundation, which includes Viacom and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation among its founding partners, to create a short video highlighting how the school best fulfills the Challenge’s criteria. The six videos, along with portions of each school’s written application, will be featured on the White House website in the coming weeks and the public will have an opportunity to vote for the three schools they think best meet the President’s goal. The President will select a national winner from these three finalists and will visit the winning high school to deliver the commencement later this spring.

Watch a video of the schools being notified of their selection on Thursday, April 8, 2010.

Update: Denver Post article

Imagine That!

Parents at a charter school in Nevada that is managed by Imagine Schools, Inc. are upset by their lack of decision-making authority.

Imagine founder and president, Dennis Bakke, caught media attention last fall when a private memo to company executives was released. The memo was critical of charter school board members who would question Imagine's decisions. Bakke said, "Before selecting board members we need to go over the voting process and our expectations that they will go along with Imagine unless the board member is convinced that we are doing something illegal."

Many charter school authorizers across the nation have expressed concern when a management company comes in to a state and selects board members for a new charter school. Then Imagine writes the application and shepherds it through the approval process. Imagine also has a branch of its company that owns the facilities built for new charter schools while the school pays a lease indefinitely.

The parents involved in the Nevada charter school said they didn't have authority to make necessary budget cuts because Imagine made those decisions. This is a difficult situation for parents who believe their child is getting a good education at the charter school, but have questions about the management of the school. The contractual or legal scenarios at these schools means the parents would be left with a charter-school-on-paper-only if the management company walked. All the assets belong to the management company. Some management companies don't even disclose their financial expenditures to the governing board of the charter school.

How can charter school authorizers and developing charter school board members avoid problems with a management company after the school is operating? In Colorado, there is a "ESP Provisions" attachment to the state's new sample contract language that lists numerous provisions that the charter board and the company should address prior to the charter contract being signed with the charter authorizer. Authorizers in Colorado want an assurance that the company can be "fired" for not fulfilling its obligations and that the governing board will still have a school should that happen. One of the ways this is accomplished, is by the assurance both the charter board and the management company will have separate legal counsel when negotiating the performance agreement for the company.