State orders charter schools to improve
Following the adoption of tougher charter school standards, two area charter schools that were up for renewal -- one in Bridgeport and the other in Stamford -- have been ordered by the state to improve.
New Beginnings Family Academy, a Bridgeport based charter school that also serves a handful of students from Stratford, Trumbull and Fairfield, was told to reduce its suspensions and chronic absentee rates and given a three-year renewal of its contract instead of five.
The Stamford Academy Charter School came close to being put on probation, but was ultimately given a three year renewal with a number of strict conditions it must satisfy.
"Charter schools have more flexibility to spur innovation, but with this flexibility comes greater accountability and stronger oversight by the state," said Education CommissionerDesignee Dianna Wentzell. "We set high expectations for our students, and we expect our schools to deliver positive outcomes for our students."
The Bridgeport and Stamford charters were among six up for renewal Wednesday and among three that got shorter contract renewals.
The shorter leashes come after the state board enacted new standards for charters in the wake of last year's collapse of Family Urban Schools of Excellence, or FUSE, a Hartford-based charter school management company whose chief was found to have lied about his credentials and hired felons and family members to work at its schools. The new oversight policies call for charter schools to, among other things, create clearer expectations of student performance and improve school climate and operations.
The state legislature is also in the process of weighing how much of its budget to give charter schools in the next fiscal year. The Legislature is looking for a smaller increase to charter school funding than Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed.
Publicly-funded schools that run outside of local school board control, charter schools have increasingly become controversial as some traditional public school officials view them as competition for limited state dollars.
"They were a lot more thorough with the process this time and I don't have a problem with that," said Ronelle P. Swagerty, director of New Beginnings of the state review process. "I have no problem with accountability. I don't think any of the charter schools in Connecticut do."
By the numbers
As for out of school suspensions, 18 percent of New Beginnings elementary students and 32 percent of middle school students received at least one in or out of school suspension in 2013-14, compared to 16.1 percent of Bridgeport students and 7.5 statewide.
"We were hammered by our 13-14 suspension numbers," Swagerty acknowledged. "They had to be addressed and they have been."
The school's chronic absenteeism rate was 9.8 percent in 2012-13, lower than the district average of 21 percent for 2013-14, but still could be better, according to the state.
"As a charter school, NBFA has the opportunity to innovate and cultivate best practices to address chronic absenteeism," the report to the board states.
A student is chronically absent if they have missed at least 10 percent of school days for any reason.
Swagerty was hoping for a five year renewal instead of three based on the changes made at the school, but said in the end, the shorter charter simply means going through the next review again sooner.
New Beginnings opened in 2002 and serves 473 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It has a wait list and would expand if additional state funding was awarded. According to the state review, New Beginnings demonstrates strong student performance. A school performance index, a compilation of all student reading, math and writing test scores, was 68.5 in 2012-13 while the Bridgeport school district's was 53.7.
The school has already submitted a plan to improve school climate, strengthen behavior policies and establish targets to reduce suspensions.
This year the school is using a program called Responsive Classroom to better manage student behavior and meet the social and emotional needs of students.
As a result, behavior issues are down as are suspension rates.
Stamford Academy, considered an alternative high school for 142 "at-risk" youth, opened in 2004. It serves over-aged, under-credited students in grade nine through 12. It's has a school performance index in 2013 was 34.2, half of the Stamford school district's 68.8.
"Stamford Academy must strengthen academic programming and governance in order to advance student academic achievement," the state board was told.
Rather than put it on probation, however, both Chairman Allan Taylor and Vice Chair Theresa Hopkins-Staten pushed to have the conditions made part of the three year renewal without a one year probation and the board agreed.
Craig Baker, who serves as Stamford Academy's superintendent, called the outcome very positive.
"It may have sounded like a short-leash situation to some, but we heard them primarily focus on the realization the state must do more to support these struggling students, asking what they can learn from us as well as continuing to hold us accountable," Baker said.