February Board of Ed: charter schools

new applicants conclusion
Riley: has expanded charters and has closed charters
"have one of the strongest charter school sectors in the country"
decision made on

1. faithfulness to charter
2. academic program success
3. organizational viability

three prospectuses over the summer: invited two for full review
Equity Lab in Lawrence withdrew
Wildflower in Haverhill not recommending "at this time" due to concerns about governance and special education
is invited to a detailed debrief
"no new charters going forward" as the only one remaining as of February 1 did not meet criteria
some believe Q2 did not allow for further expansion; did not reverse current law
Sagan wants to talk about Wildflower, what worked and didn't work
staff notes that they had not been invited to submit a final application last year; this year they were
composition of applicant group has changed; it is not the same applicant group as last year
only two remaining members from prior group
Chuang: none of the area of evidence are tied to Montessori model; charter is awarded to Board of Trustees
insistence on the founding group apart from management organization
need to see that group has capacity to operate school and oversee contract
far fewer applicants who are able to put forward applications
"we now know more about what does lead to success and what does not"
West: so you don't think we've created a process by which an implict requirement is three years of work with the Department
Chuang: no, but we won't lower the standards
Peyser: trustees don't have sufficient capacity to manage the school
"at one level that's a...straightforward thing to solve"
model of distributive one room schoolhouses where the teachers are highly empowered
"is there something about that in particular...that makes this particularly problematic? Or is it that just need to get their model in order?"
Chuang one of the most attractive parts of application
because of unique model, clarity of board and management is that much more important
teacher leadership all the way down to the classroom level

Chelsea campus of Excel Academy
recommended for 56 seats
Stewart: looking at financial information; explain the unqualified audit opinions
projected cash flow looks to be on the rise, cash balance
Chuang: long track record of managing their funding well, are in middle of building
Doherty: speak in opposition
notes letter written to Board from Chelsea superintendent Mary Bourque
"I close with this plea that now is not the time to expand Excel Academy. It will only hurt our students more than they have been hurt these past few difficult years...by diverting additional funds."
Doherty: there is no other district in the state that faces the challenges that Chelsea does
McKenna: think it's encouraging that the school's suspension rate has gone down
concern continues to be the suspension rate
was taken aback by discipline system; students given a particular color shirt to wear which is "humiliating"
"for a whole school to allow that, to think that is okay, that's startling"
know some kids at Excel, high school needs to beef up guidance to students applying to college
"when we see these sorts of things happening in classroom, that it's a red light that says 'professional development, professional development'"
restorative justices, good professional development programs
"it makes me nervous here...'in class restitution'...maybe they've created a new name for it"
"needs to spend more time on professional development for their teachers and supporting them in their efforts"
Riley: thanks McKenna for her comments
schools are always looking to improve
eyes would never glaze over at anything (Doherty) would say
doing good things for kids
Morton: dilemma placed in every time a charter is placed before them
"children who have to stay in public schools...have no choice"
"finding some other source of funding for charter schools"
"it's getting pretty close to that moment when I vote against anything...and I think that moment is today"
Sagan: the funding issue has been before the Legislature
"many difficult and, I would say, false narratives...have never gotten an answer of what districts have done with" tuition reimbursement
Morton "we cannot just sit by and let the issue hang there a cloud...we have a mortal imperative to push the issue"
Peyser: there's no difference from a student moving from one district to the next
"minority of funding comes from district"
"personally feel that those are taxpayers in Chelsea, and they have a right to those funds as well"
note that this is no way constitutional
"if we can't vote for an incremental increase, then I don't think we understand what we are here for"
Moriarty " will vote for this transfer"
hits "those least like to take that blow"
Stewart: "Mr. Chair, I don't think 'holding students hostage' helpful language...20 years on, it is time to take on the funding"
Chelsea has 14 charter schools to which to currently pays out over $14M...this will put it over $15M
"we have to hold the equity of all students in our decision making"
Sagan says his language was accurate, thinks would be turning back on all those families
Doherty: questions Sagan's perspective of the mission of the Board
if we think the decision is going to help 56 students and potentially hurt 6000 students, then we are within the mission of the Board to do that
vote is 7-4 (Stewart, Doherty, McKenna, Morton opposed)

Paulo Friere Charter
recommendation to continue with probation with additional conditions
Moriarty: had this been a recommendation to close, I would have voted in favor of that, too
"We can't have this."
"have to have the support of a fully committed" board
10-1 (Morton opposed)

Riley says there is good progress on New Bedford
"hopeful" that MOU will be put together and approved