Someone Needs To Address The Pencader Charter School Situation
I wrote about the problems at Pencader Charter school this past July. You can read what I wrote here. Here’s a snippet:
What’s a Pencader parent to do?
And that’s the main point of this post. I am calling on Pencader leadership, the DOE, politicians and the Governor to give these parents answers. Will Pencader open in a few weeks? If it does, will it stay open through the school year? Given the low enrollment what educational programs/teachers, if any, will the school lose?
Pencader parents have a right to these answers. How can they possibly make an educational decision concerning their child without having these, and other, questions answered. It’s past time for those in charge to break their silence.
Well, it appears the school is still open, but I doubt for long. Last night Pencader held its school board meeting. Kilroy reports:
I am seeing tweets from Pencader achool board meeting indicating some parents are raising hell that Pencader is not releasing their children in order to attend other schools.
Transparent Christina has the tweets:
another parent of 12th grader, 10th grader, and a freshman. Wants her kids released. One of her kids missing core classes!
grandfather now speaking that his granddaughter was told she could not attend Glasgow because she is locked into Pencader.
“@mom2aboyngirl #pchs parent said Lewis refused her childs release papers.” @DEStateBoardEd you see this garbage? It’s on you!
Kathy @mom2aboyngirl 
John Young @ED_IN_DE How is this possible? So much for School Choice. Who knew a public school could hold kids hostage? But Pencader’s enrollment is crashing and they need to have a certain percentage of students to operate. In my opinion, Pencader is history, but this slow death is painful to watch.
Meanwhile, Nichole Dobo reports on more red flags at Pencader:
Leaders of Pencader Charter Business and Finance High School are considering contracting with a company affiliated with the school’s departing board president, a move that concerns the state Department of Education.
The school board meets today and is expected to accept the resignation of its president, Vincent DiMauro. The school is considering an arrangement where it would enter into a business relationship with DiMauro’s firm to do consulting work that might include corporate governance and financial advice.
“I just want to make it clear we all want what’s best for the school,” DiMauro said.
The charter school has been advised by the DOE that the arrangement with a former board member raises some “red flags” that must be addressed, according to an email sent Monday to the school board from Dan Cruce, deputy secretary of education.
“That information raises many red flags for me. Frankly, the red flags are ones that I raised as potential when we last met and that I counseled you all to avoid,” Cruce wrote in the email. “I’m surprised to see that they have come to fruition.”
Gee, DOE, glad you’re concerned. Are you planning on doing anything? My bet is that the Pencader leadership is quite comfortable ignoring your counsel since you seem like a lot of bark and no bite. Is there really nothing the DOE can do? If so, this is a huge problem since these schools charter through the state.
Meanwhile, what sort of cuts will the students at Pencader be facing this year as everyone stands around watching this school crash and burn. And when Pencader takes its last gasp (sooner, rather than later is my guess) Traditional Public Schools will be standing by, ready to take the kids. I’m about ready for a law that states… when a Charter School closes existing Charter Schools must take the students from the closed Charter. Hey, you want to be a public school? Then be a public school.
Go back and reread those tweets from last night’s Pencader Board meeting. Parents are requesting release papers form a public school so their children can attend another public school and their requests are being denied. I sincerely hope the parents at that meeting exchanged contact info. If I were them I’d be lawyering up.
Tags: DDOE, Pencader Charter School
Isn’t a little late for student’s to opt out? I mean I get the concerns, but wasn’t there a window for enrolling in another school?
There was a window, Jason, but this disaster started after Choice closed. That said, can a Traditional Public School not take a student living in its feeder pattern? I mean, if a student gets kicked out of private school or moves into the district during the school year, wouldn’t they attend their Trad. Public School?
Jason should we punish the child because the adults can’t get it right? Traditional public schools should take every feeder child at any time for any reason that’s why we are the Public schools. we are the failsafe
I get your point, but it isn’t exactly fair to the students, parents, teachers, or administrators of the receiving public schools is it?
If a kid gets in a fight at St. Marks and gets kicked out, that’s one thing. Accommodating whole classrooms worth of students is another. I especially have little pity for Pencader parents who should have seen the writing on the wall and only send their kids to charter schools because they think they are “free private schools” (read less diverse).
You’re correct, Jason. Kilroy, Steve Newton and others have been sounding the Pencader alarm since last spring. Many Pencader parents didn’t act, but it seems that the ones that did discovered that Pencader didn’t release their children from this school.
This is one unholy mess, and while the parents must assume some of the blame (mainly through educational ignorance which allowed them to buy into Pencader Charter propaganda) we can’t ignore Pencader’s school leader, their school board, DDOE, and the State School Board… along with the Charter Law and politicians role in this disaster.
This is your public education on free enterprise. And, you’re right, it isn’t fair that this mess falls onto Traditional Public Schools.
Now we have videos:
http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/your-public-school-dollars-at-work-at-pencader-charter-high-school-rodelde-decharternetwrk-governormarkell-destateboarded/
Jason, I appreciate the sentiment, but Trad. Public Schools, are fully publicly funded and must serve ALL. While inconvenient, it is on us to make them nimble and capable of response to situations just like this.
No school or school system is perfect, but your feeder school owes it to you, the taxpayer, to be ready, willing and most of all, able to take and fully accommodate ALL students who come through our doors. As a board member, I can think of nothing more basic to be held accountable to than this precept.
jason, I think you are missing a critical point. It’s not about other schools (say Glasgow) accepting the kids; they have to, by law, if the kids live in their feeder patterns.
What it is about is that Pencader is already on a waiver for being below state-mandated student population size, and if even a couple dozen Pencader parents opt out now and get released, DOE will have no choice but to close the school.
The current charter law, as kilroy has explained, essentially allows Pencader to hold students hostage for a year once they have passed the point of commitment.
So what you have is the Pencader authorities refusing to release students in what they perceive of as the best interests of keeping their school afloat, rather than in the best interests of the students themselves.
And what you also have is DOE sitting on its thumbs doing absolutely nothing.
This is why I think that the school districts should be the primary authorities for chartering schools in Delaware.
At Saturday’s candidate forum (article at http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120826/NEWS/308260058/Executive-candidates-talk-crime-strategy?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s&nclick_check=1), I shared my view that the DOE needs an intervention.
Pencader this week is proving my point.
yes, it is.
I am calling bullshit on this whole issue!!! I am a taxpayer and it is utterly appalling that Governor Markell and Lt. Governor Denn have not done more. It should be absolutely clear that the public money for these children’s public education still exists and SHOULD STILL follow the children back into the public school system. There is absolutely no question in my mind DOE should be bending over backwards to see that each and every one of these children get enrolled in a school as quickly as possible. A poor choice was made by parent(s) it DOES NOT NEGATE the responsibility of DELAWARE to properly educate our children!!!!!! IMO those administrators should be in jail.
Linda, 100% dead on.
As a hypothetical, what happens if a parent simply pulls his or her kid from Pencader and sends the student to a nonpublic school? Could Red Lion be forced by the state to turn the family away? Can Pencader legally keep a student who has no interest in being there and hold the student’s records hostage?
As for the commitment, I understand why it’s there. I believe in the Brandywine School District if you choice into a school other than your feeder (which in BSD is almost exclusively from Mt. Pleasant or Brandywine to Concord), you must stay at the choice school for 2 years. But perhaps in a situation as messy as this Pencader should grant the releases and either re-organize and start again or close.
Reach Academy is an example. Two years ago it was defaulting on its rent and laying off teachers mid-year. But they have a new board, got a reprieve from the state and appear to be on a successful track.
Reach failed to make AYP:
http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/congratulations-to-glasgow-high-school-and-stubbs-elementary-for-making-ayp-pz/
disclaimer, the state AYP rankings are nearly worthless.
I see little difference between punishing the child because the parents can’t get it right, and punishing America because Republicans can’t get it right. Both are wrong. Incidentally, Pencader was founded as a “republican” school.
Update, it (The PCHS saga) may be nearing an end: http://transparentchristina.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/finally-secretary-murphy-weighs-in-nichole-dobo-has-the-scoop-netde/