Seven organizations applied to the Arkansas Department of Education to open new, publicly funded charter schools in 2015-16 in places that include Little Rock, Forrest City and Springdale.
Proposals also call for a new school in Redfield and in North Little Rock, and two schools in Bentonville.
One of the Bentonville schools would actually be an online education program that would serve students in kindergarten through 12th grade statewide while in their homes.
Two of the other proposed schools -- the one in Little Rock and one in Springdale -- would feature a "Montessori Method" of instruction that is more often used in private-school settings.
"We have a mixture of very new, innovative programs and some very solid performing programs," Scott Smith, executive director of the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, said Tuesday about the latest round of applications for the publicly funded but independently operated schools.
Smith's nonprofit membership center provides technical assistance and training to charter schools and rural school districts in the areas of law, finance, management, technology, teaching and learning.
"It's interesting to see the Montessori concept being introduced in public education," Smith said. "And two of the state's highest performing public schools -- Haas Hall Academy and KIPP Delta -- are seeking to expand. That's interesting and exciting. And then there are other charter schools operators that have a solid performance record -- like the Lighthouse Academies group."
The charter school applications will go to the Arkansas Department of Education's Charter Authorizing Panel for consideration and then, in November or later, to the state Board of Education. Local school districts will have an opportunity before then to weigh in on the possible effects the proposals would have on the traditional school systems.
The Education Board has the authority to accept a Charter Authorizing Panel decision or to hold a hearing on an application. That hearing could come at the request of the charter school planner or the local school district. The state board could decide on its own discretion to hold a hearing.
All seven of the applications could be approved this year without exceeding the cap of 24 charters schools loosely set in state law.
Currently, 18 open-enrollment charter schools or charter school systems are approved to operate across the state in the coming 2014-15 school year, leaving as many as six state charters available to be distributed among the seven applications.
However, one of the seven applications is for a KIPP Forrest City College Preparatory School. Scott Shirey, executive director of KIPP Delta Public Schools, which already operates schools in Helena-West Helena and Blytheville, has said that the proposed fifth-through-eighth-grade school in Forrest City would operate under the umbrella of the existing KIPP Delta Inc. charter and not require a new state charter. KIPP, which stands for the Knowledge Is Power Program, is a national charter school organization.
Randy Zook, president of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and husband of state Education Board member Diane Zook, is listed as the chairman of the board of directors for the KIPP school.
Arkansas law allows the charter cap to increase over time and with demand.
Arkansas Code Annotated 6-23-304 calls for the cap to automatically increase by five each time the number of open-enrollment charters is within two of meeting the existing cap.
Besides KIPP Delta, other existing charter school operators seeking to establish additional campuses are The Academy Inc., which operates the very high performing Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville, and Lighthouse Academies of Central Arkansas Inc., which operates schools in Jacksonville and Pine Bluff.
Martin Schoppmeyer Jr., founder and chief operating officer of The Academy Inc., is proposing a 500 -student Haas Hall Academy for grades seven through 12 at 2600 SE J St., in Bentonville. The purpose of the academy is to provide an accelerated, college-preparatory curriculum.
The Lighthouse Academies of Central Arkansas Inc., is proposing to open the Capitol City Lighthouse Charter School at 3901 Virginia Ave. in North Little Rock for 750 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Phillis Nichols Anderson is the senior vice president of the sponsoring organization that is renewing its request for a North Little Rock campus after an unsuccessful attempt last year. Lighthouse Academies operates charter schools in several states.
Arkansas Connections Academy, if approved, would be based in Bentonville, with a second possible office in Little Rock, to serve students across the state with an online education program, said Dennis Beck, president of the board of directors for the sponsoring organization and a faculty member at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
Beck said the Arkansas Connections Academy would join 25 Connections Academy online schools in the nation, each of which uses an award-winning Connections Education curriculum. The curriculum would be aligned to Arkansas education standards and to the Common Core State Standards that have been adopted by more than 40 states, including Arkansas, Beck said.
The proposed school would employ Arkansas certified teachers to educate up to 1,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students who need a flexible schedule and personalized learning plans to successfully complete their schooling. If approved, the academy would be the state's second online public school. The Arkansas Virtual School, based in North Little Rock, is a previously approved online charter school.
The other proposed charter schools are:
• Redfield Tri-County Charter School, which would serve up to 375 students in fifth through 12th grades at 101 School St. in Redfield. The school, first proposed last year, has stated it would focus on preparing students for college and careers in a way that would emphasize science, technology engineering and mathematics, while also instilling good character values such as honesty and civic responsibility. Larry O'Briant is the president of the board of directors for the sponsoring organization.
• Rockbridge Montessori School, planned for as many as 325 pupils in kindergarten through eighth grades at 108 W. Roosevelt Road in Little Rock. William Simmons is listed as the president and contact for the proposed school. The Montessori Method is based on the work of the late Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori and features prepared environments, three-hour work cycles, multiage classrooms, educational materials, small-group presentations and student choice as a way to meet the academic, emotional, physical and social needs of children.
• Ozark Montessori Academy, planned for up to 280 children in kindergarten through eighth grades at 922 E. Emma Ave. in Springdale. Christine Silano is the executive director of Ozark Education Inc., the sponsor of the proposed school.
In June, nine organizations submitted letters to the state Education Department stating their intent to apply to open a dozen new charter schools. Not all of those applications materialized by this week's 4 p.m. Monday deadline.
A Section on 07/23/2014