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Sunday, June 8, 2014

Parent Horror Stories from BASIS: Corporate Charter Hurting Children? | Cloaking Inequity

Parent Horror Stories from BASIS: Corporate Charter Hurting Children? | Cloaking Inequity:



Parent Horror Stories from BASIS: Corporate Charter Hurting Children?

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Today I am blogging about two parent horror stories from BASIS. Let me just warn you, after hearing parents talk about what happened to their children at BASIS, you will likely be in a surly mood learning about this corporate (quasi-for profit) charter chain. The BASIS corporate charter chain is now a very unfavorite of mine. Who/What is  BASIS? Wikipedia describes the BASIS corporate charter schools:
BASIS Schools, Inc. is an Arizona charter school operator. It operates eight schools in Arizona and one in the District of Columbia….BASIS recently announced plans to add three more schools for the 2013-2014 year: one in Ahwatukee, one in San Antonio, Texas, and a new K-4 program near their original location in Tucson.
I first blogged about BASIS in the post What BASIS?: Nepotism and aggrandizement in charters? (One of the interesting things about the first BASIS post is that 50-100 people read that post each day) I am always curious where that traffic is coming from.At the time I included Charter School Scandals uncovered about BASIS:
The schools are the brainchild of Michael and Olga Block, who envisioned a college-prep curriculum that would rival the best countries. The first school opened in 1998 in Tucson. A second followed in 2003 in Scottsdale.
For years, the Blocks worked for and were paid by the non-profit schools. Michael was the chief operating officer and treasurer, Olga the chief executive officer.
The Blocks later formed a separate, for-profit company and in 2009 signed a service agreement with the non-profit that provides Basis’ six schools with most everything they need to operate: school directors, teachers, accounting, technology, human resources, public relations and Michael and Olga Block…
Basis Inc. denied a request from The Arizona Republic to review a copy of its agreement with the 
Parent Horror Stories from BASIS: Corporate Charter Hurting Children? | Cloaking Inequity: