Stat's two oldest charter schools renewed

State education board to hold hearing on online academy

LITTLE ROCK -- The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday affirmed a state panel's earlier decisions to renew the charters for Academics Plus Charter School in Maumelle and the Arkansas Arts Academy in Rogers, the state's two oldest charter schools.

The Education Board voted to hold a hearing next month on the five-year renewal of a third school, the Arkansas Virtual Academy, which is an online charter school. The board voted to hold a hearing because school representatives weren't present Thursday to answer questions about student turnover and school achievement levels that are classified by the state as "needs improvement."

The state's Charter Authorizing Panel of top-level Arkansas Department of Education staff had last month approved the renewal for all three charter schools.

The panel's decisions on the charter renewals are subject to review by the Education Board, which has the authority to accept the panel's votes or hold its own hearing on applications, renewals and amendments. An Education Board hearing can come at the request of the charter-school operator or a local school district that opposes the charter, or on the state Education Board's own initiative.

The charter for the Academics Plus Charter School was renewed for five years over the objections of the Pulaski County Special School District, which serves the Maumelle area where Academics Plus is located.

Pulaski County Special district representatives asked the Education Board to conduct a full hearing on Academics Plus, arguing that the kindergarten through 12th grade school failed to fulfill commitments made before its 2001 opening to develop creative strategies and become the nation's most successful college preparatory school.

The school doesn't have anything "that smacks of innovation," Sam Jones, an attorney for the Pulaski County Special district, told the Education Board.

He said the school has failed to demonstrate any academic growth beyond what would be expected by other public schools with a similar predominantly white racial makeup and middle-class family income levels. Most of the students could teach themselves, Jones said of the demographics.

Robert Clowers, the district's executive director of academic accountability, said Academics Plus' ACT college entrance exam scores have slipped downward over the past five years and that only 14 percent of the school's graduates are prepared for college in all four core academic areas of math, language arts, science and social studies, according to ACT data.

Rob McGill, executive director of Academics Plus, said in response to the district and to questions from Education Board Chairman Sam Ledbetter of Little Rock that the charter school is listed as an "achieving district" by the state Education Department and was the recipient of a financial award from the state for being in the top 20 percent of achieving schools in the state.

He said 100 percent of students in the ninth grade at the school take the ACT test and that the school's average ACT scores exceed the averages in the Pulaski County Special district. He also said the school's average scores on state tests exceed averages in the Pulaski County Special district, often by double digits and not only for the student body as a whole, but also for subpopulations of students, including black students and students who are either poor, speak English as a second language or are special education students.

"We must be doing something right," McGill said, noting that the school authorized to enroll 850 for the coming year has a 400-student waiting list. As part of the renewal request, the school is authorized to grow to 1,300 students by 2019-20.

In regard to innovations, McGill said the school offers a longer school day and longer school year, and the curriculum in some cases is chosen by the teachers.

Also Thursday, the state Education Board approved a change in address for Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville over the objections of the school's current landlord, whose attorney argued to the board that the school's existing lease goes through June 2017. He questioned whether the academy has adequate resources to pay the rent for both the new and current sites.

Haas Hall will move from 3155 N. College Ave. to 3880 Front St. in Fayetteville, which is a vacant former Colony Shop retail store. Along with the new location, the Education Board approved the requested addition of the seventh grade to what is now an eighth- through 12th-grade school and a change in the enrollment cap from 320 to 400 students.

The Education Board also approved changes in locations for:

• The new KIPP Delta Charter Schools campus in Forrest City that will open to fifth-graders in August and expand to other grades over time. It was originally planned for 1402 Eldridge Road in Forrest City, but now will open at 637 S. Washington St., an event center for St. Francis Catholic Church.

• The new Ozark Montessori Academy, which will open at 301 S. Holcomb Ave. in Springdale, a former church now serving as a veterans center. The school initially planned to open at the Jones Community Center at 922 E. Emma Ave.

NW News on 03/13/2015

Upcoming Events