Pencader Charter School – Delaware Liberal

Here We Go Again… Pencader Charter School

By pandora April 18, 201347 Comments

I detest hostage situations, especially when the hostages are children. Pencader Business and Finance Charter School is in financial trouble again. Shocking, I know. Seems they've run out of money and are threatening to close the school on April 30th. The News Journal has the story:

In a letter addressed to parents, students and teachers last week, president Frank McIntosh said Pencader didn’t have enough money left to pay teachers’ salaries through the end of the year, putting it at risk of bankruptcy. He said the school needs $350,000 to pay its debts and enable its students graduate. McIntosh said transferring students back to their feeders schools so late in the year would be a mess. Traditional public schools, especially those in the Christina and Colonial school districts, would have to accommodate hundreds of students on short notice with little additional resources, he said.

State Votes To Close Pencader Charter School

By pandora February 22, 201351 Comments

Pencader has struggled for quite a while. I've written about the school last July here, and last August here and here. I've watched all this come to a head, and held off calling for outright closure once the new Pencader Board came into being, but this passage from Nichole Dobo's article had my eyebrows raising.

The new school leadership submitted plans for moving forward that contained errors and omissions, said John Carwell, director of the charter school office in the state Education Department. For instance, Pencader’s leaders reported that the school outperformed the state average on student achievement tests, Carwell said. In reality, the school was below the state average on math and reading assessments, he said. This mistake, and others, showed the school’s leaders were “ill-prepared, at best,” he said. Subsequent reports did not convince state leaders otherwise, he said.

Ill-prepared, at best? At best? If it's true that the new school leadership reported false achievement test scores, as well as other errors and omissions then they should be investigated. Isn't this sort of thing against the law?

A Look Inside The Mind Of A Charter Advocate

By pandora January 11, 20138 Comments

Over at Kilroy's an interesting comment from Publius e decere was posted laying out his/her vision concerning charter schools and vouchers. It is quite enlightening. Come inside to see.

Someone Needs To Address The Pencader Charter School Situation

By pandora August 31, 201216 Comments

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…

It’s Past Time For The DOE And Elected Officials To Speak Out On The Pencader Charter School Saga – And The Fate Of That School

By pandora July 30, 201257 Comments

I was planning on waiting until I had more concrete information on what is going on at Pencader Charter High School before writing a post, but information on the school's fate is slim on the ground. So, forgive me. This post will ask more questions than provide answers. Basically, it's going to be a bit of a mess. Try and bear with me.