DC Public Charter School Board Proposes Revocation of Two Schools

 

Washington, D.C. —The DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) voted December 19 to approve proposals to revoke the charters of two schools – Community Academy Public Charter School and Integrated Design Electronics Academy (IDEA) Public Charter School.  The proposal to revoke the charter of Community Academy focused on the poor 2010-2011 academic performance at its Rand Campus, a Tier 3 campus scoring 19.5% on the Performance Management Framework (PMF).  The proposal to revoke the charter of IDEA focused on the school’s 9-year history of significant deficiencies in student achievement in both reading and math.  IDEA is a Tier 3 school scoring 29.3% in middle school and 30.9% in high school performance on the PMF.

 

These proposals set in motion the revocation process which provides each school with the option to request a public hearing before the Board.  The Boards of Trustees of the schools will receive letters detailing the reasons for the proposals and will have the option to request a public hearing within 15 days of receipt of the letter.  If the schools request hearings, their leaders and the public will have an opportunity to respond publicly to the Board’s findings.

 

“We are not closing the school at this time, but opening a process to do a deep review of the school,” said Board Member Don Soifer about the proposal to revoke Community Academy’s charter. “This gives the school the opportunity to make its case before the Board and allows the Board the opportunity to deliberate.”

 

Board Chair Brian W. Jones said that while the PMF drives the Board’s decisions, the School Reform Act also plays a role. “With IDEA, we have seen a long history of significant deficiencies in student achievement and no real apparent plan to correct them.  The Board does not have confidence that the school’s leadership is making any changes to improve the school’s performance,” he said.  “That failure is a violation of a promise the school made in its charter, and a failure of a promise to the families they serve -- and that is a violation of the School Reform Act.”

 

Community Academy was authorized by the former Board of Education and opened at its first campus in 1998. It currently has six campuses including an online program and serves 1,834 students from pre-school through 8th grade.  IDEA was also authorized by the former Board of Education and opened its school in 1998.  It serves 362 students in grades 7 through 12.

 

The PCSB is a champion of the independent public charter school principle – respecting charter schools’ autonomy while supporting and promoting their success, provided they are producing results for students.  Community Academy and IDEA are two of the 53 D.C. public charter schools on 98 campuses serving more than 32,000 students living in every ward of the city.  Public charter schools now serve approximately 40% of all public school students in Washington, D.C.  Learn more about the PCSB at www.dcpubliccharter.com

 

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