New school charters still not awarded
Unlikely to be approved in time for 2007-08 academic year
Despite hopes to have opened its charter school this fall, Kona Pacific Public Charter School officials have realized more than likely that will not happen.After its Aug. 24 meeting, the Charter School Review Panel has yet to award any charters. The panel did, however, finish reviewing the seven applications for start-up charters and sent out letters of denial and requests for information.
The five applicants who were denied have 10 calendar days to respond and address the comments made by the panel, said Nina Buchanan, panel chairwoman. The panel was also allowed to provide guidelines on resubmissions, she added.
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"We wanted to give them the same opportunity that we are giving the ones who had been denied," Buchanan said.
The panel will meet again Sept. 13 and 14 to make their final decision on the resubmitted applications. Denied applicants may appeal to the Board of Education, which will render a final written decision within 60 days of the appeal's filing.
Estimating about 81 days, the panel has decided to wait until the appeals process is complete before they award any charters, Buchanan said.
"The question now is how disruptive will it be to students to have three new schools open so far into the year," she said.
The panel has two options -- award the charters after the appeals process and activate them immediately or award the charters and activate them for the 2008-09 school year.
"We're exploring what is legal and what the impact will be on students and teachers," Buchanan said, adding there is only a slight possibility the charters will be activated immediately.
Only recently taking on the role of charter school authorizer, the panel originally had planned to make decisions on the charter school applications during its June meeting, in time for the new schools to start in August and request supplemental funding from the Legislature for them, Buchanan said. However, the decisions made were challenged, and the panel was forced to void that session and start over.
During the Aug. 6 and 7 meeting, the panel again planned to get through the applications, but after completing other business and listening to public testimony, they only got through two applications. As a result of Hurricane Flossie, the Aug. 14 meeting was rescheduled for Aug. 24, where the panel was finally able to make the initial approvals and denials.
"We have been soundly criticized for having a conflict of interests because there is no money for these new charters. We are not delaying the process, but we are mindful of that fact," Buchanan said.
Chris Hecht, Kona Pacific Public Charter School planning director, said the chances the school will be able to open this year are looking rather slim. However, if awarded the charter later in the year, school officials will spend the spring refining their curriculum and recruiting teachers and students.
"The Charter School Review Panel has done a wonderful job of moving forward ... in the midst of a very difficult and confusing process," he said. "We were excited by the notion that we might be able to put our school together soon enough to open in the fall (of 2007). It was an inspiring idea and helped motivate us, but we also understand the process."
Buchanan said the panel has learned from the process and now know it must start reviewing applications much earlier if it wants schools to open in August.
"The big issue is there is so much community demand and many of our schools have waiting lists," she said. "We really need to consider some rational way of raising the cap."
Three charter school start-up slots currently exist. These slots open when an existing charter school attains Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation. Buchanan could not confirm whether additional slots will be available in 2008-09 because some schools are undergoing, but have not completed, their accreditation process.
Despite slight disappointment for not opening this year, Hecht said it will not deter them from their goal.
"It's not a question of if, but a question of when," Hecht said. "It's all outside of our control, so we're just trying to stay positive in our focus and be responsive to all the changes as they happen."
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