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Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Struggling Charter Schools: What To Do?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spent all day yesterday at Atlanta Public Schools headquarters observing a hearing to determine whether a long-troubled charter campus should finally be shut down.
Remember Achieve Academy of Atlanta? This was the charter school that opened as a Knowledge Is Power Program campus four years ago, but lost its affiliation with the high-profile national group last year after KIPP officials found serious financial mismanagement there.
Supporters of the fledgling charter school successfully sued last summer to keep the campus open, and it’s continued to limp along ever since without KIPP’s backing. According to state test reports Achieve’s attorney sent me earlier this week, the campus had just 36 students who spent the entire academic year there. Others apparently came and went daily.
Principal David Morgan seemed dejected after sitting through nine hours of testimony; much of it about how Achieve had not been able to maintain basic business practices — including paying teachers and bills on time, if at all.
A state official testified that the school had not contributed to all of its teachers’ retirement funds. The school’s landlord reported that Achieve hadn’t paid its rent for four months.
In addition to financial problems, one Atlanta official and several former Achieve employees told the hearing officer that basic academic requirements were not met, either. Some classes didn’t have textbooks. Students weren’t in school for 180 days. And algebra courses, demanding reading assignments and field trips —- all part of the promised academic program —- were never completed or provided.
Morgan’s defense? Of those 36 pupils who spent the entire year at Achieve, 33 met or exceeded the state standard in reading/English language arts, and 34 did so in math. Better percentages, Morgan’s quick to point out, than most of Atlanta’s middle schools.
“We have an underserved population that is doing phenomenal,” he told me.
So, should Achieve be shuttered because it can’t run an orderly campus or are those test scores reason enough to save the school?
UPDATE: As expected, Atlanta Board of Education members have agreed to shut down Achieve. Now they’ll ask the State Board of Education to approve the closure. I wouldn’t be surprised if the school is able to save itself once more. Stay tuned, this could get interesting.
