Charter Requests Weren’t ‘Innovative’

STATE BOARD MEMBER SPEAKS ABOUT RECENT VOTES

By Brett Bennett

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Print item

SPRINGDALE — New charter school requests coming before Arkansas State Board of Education should demonstrate innovation in education, board member Brenda Gullett said Tuesday.

“I hold them to that when they go to the State Board,” Gullett, of Fayetteville, said at a luncheon for Northwest Arkansas Senior Democrats.

Too often, the groups presenting the requests act like they woke up one day and decided to form a school, she said.

Gullett’s speech follows a Nov. 9 meeting where the board denied requests for open enrollment charter schools in Springdale and Fayetteville.

The Springdale proposal involved the Dove School of Excellence, which operates four charter schools in Oklahoma. The Fayetteville request involved the Prism Education Center.

Gullett said she objected to Dove’s plan to outsource services for students who speak English as a second language. The school’s representatives claimed they wanted to reach out to Hispanic students, yet they sponsor an annual trip to Turkey because many teachers are Turkish, Gullett said.

“You say you want to attract Hispanic students, and you want to outsource ESL,” she said.

Gullett visited Springdale’s Harp Elementary School, which met standards for adequate yearly progress with ESL students, before the meeting. That helped convince her Springdale’s services were sufficient for their students.

While Prism’s proposal showed more forethought than some, Gullett said, its leadership lacked school work experience. They could not demonstrate Prism would be better than the local district.

Gullett said she also finds it disturbing many charter schools requests want to outsource special education and ESL services. Many also claim they want to help poor students, but they want a waiver on providing bus transportation, she said.

State law puts a cap on 24 open-enrollment charter schools in the state, Gullett noted. Eighteen have been approved.

Gullett said the cap prompts her to be selective when screening the charter applications.

Before the Nov. 9 meeting, administrators from both Springdale and Fayetteville called her, and she suggested they send their top leaders to oppose the proposals.

Both districts’ superintendents attended, along with some local school board members.

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

Falcon says...

I think it would be good for NWANews.com to investigate the otherside of the story and do an interview with Dove School of Excellence and Prism. I find Ms. Gullett's comments to be onesided and typical of a bureaucrat.

November 18, 2009 at 8:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

fatherof3 says...

Fayetteville is in desperate need of options and alternatives to its delusional public school system. It is to our own detriment that people like Ms. Gullett are given influence and gate keeper status for charter schools. Rather than acting as an objective judge of charter proposals Gullet has been a rubber stamp for the powers that be, maintaining the status quo for school systems where children are getting left behind and school boards are asking for millions of dollars to maintain business as usual. If the next generation is to maintain its standing in the world our education system is going to have to start thinking outside of the box. Unfortunately, bureaucrats like Gullett hold the keys to that coffin known as the public school system.

November 18, 2009 at 8:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )