Mike Fedewa

John Crowder

Simon Johnson

Ben Currin

Kate Alice Dunaway

Tannis Nelson

John M. Geil

JoAnne Woodard

Tony Cozart

Nancy Farmer

Tannis Nelson

Sandy Carmany

Alfred Bryant

Kathryn Meyers

Absent – Betty Huskins

Zoe Locklear, Associate Superintendent , Leadership Development and Special Services

Otho Tucker, Director, Office of Charter Schools

O’Linda Williams, Administrative Assistant, Office of Charter Schools

Gail Scott Taylor, Consultant, Office of Charter Schools

Jackie W. Jenkins, Consultant, Office of Charter Schools

Carl F. Pridgen, Consultant, Office of Charter Schools

Linda Ivy, Accountant II, Auditing and Charter School

Chairman Mike Fedewa called the meeting to order and extended greetings to everyone. Dr. Otho Tucker, Director, Office of Charter Schools presented the contents of the agenda packet.

Chairman Fedewa called for a motion to approve the December 12, 2003 minutes that had been amended to reflect John Geil as being in attendance at that meeting. A motion was made and seconded; the minutes were approved.

The Committee welcomed three new members, Tannis Nelson, NCPTA President, Nancy Farmer, 2001-02 PEPCoach and retired Orange County Central Office administrator, and Simon Johnson, founder and director of Quality Education Academy in Winston-Salem. Each of the three new members participated in CSAC training session held on February 12, 2003. Part of the orientation included visits to three area charter schools: Community Partners High Schools in Holly Springs, PreEminent Charter School and Hope Elementary Charter School in Raleigh.

Dr. Zoe Locklear, Associate Superintendent, Leadership Development and Special Services welcomed the three new members and extended remarks of gratitude to veteran members. Dr. Locklear expressed to the full Committee her appreciation and respect for the professionalism of the group. She remarked that the Committee is a very labor-intensive group that takes seriously the tasks members are charged to address. Dr. Locklear thanked the new members and others who came a day early to participate in the training. She expressed her pleasure over the academic gains many of the charter schools are enjoying and the educational opportunities charter schools offer that enhances the quality of life for students in this state.

State Board of Education Attorney Laura Crumpler reviewed the major tenets of the Standards of Conduct (Ethics Policy) with the Committee placing special emphasis on avoiding conduct that is in conflict or may appear to be in conflict with the best educational interests of children. Attorney Crumpler added that the SBE is concerned about the vulnerability of individual members by persuasion of outside groups seeking to provide services to the Department or local boards of education. The Committee was urged to devote special attention to the three guidelines stated in the policy that details the manner in which they should conduct themselves. The complete details regarding the standards of conduct can be found in State Board of Education Policy EEO-C-004.

Chairman Fedewa reminded members to read the Rules of Procedure guidelines that governs the work of the Committee and commented on the issue of attendance in regards to having enough members present to conduct its business. He stated that the Committee has never had a meeting in which it did not have a quorum but there have been meetings in which there were just enough members for a quorum

Chairman Fedewa encouraged everyone to attend as many meetings as possible noting that there are sometimes extenuating circumstances that may prevent a member from attending. He added that the SBE considers attendance when votes are taken on critical issues. Dr. Zoe Locklear followed up his statement by reiterating the SBE’s views on attendance in which members vote on recommendations that are forwarded to the SBE. The SBE regards the vote of the Committee very seriously when deliberating over recommendations from the CSAC.

Dr. Jackie W. Jenkins, Consultant, Office of Charter Schools presented final preparations for the application review and interview process. Dr. Jenkins highlighted the revisions that were made as a result of the Committee’s January discussion and recommendations. Regarding the time of events that are scheduled to take place leading up to the final selection, the following information was shared:

1. February 28, 2003 – Applications due to the Office of Charter Schools;

2. March 13, 2003 – CSAC members receive applications for reading prior to the April CSAC meeting;

3. April 10, 2003 – CSAC sub-committees meet to review applications to evaluate the extent to which each application meets legislative requirements; sub-committees report findings to the full Committee and recommend for interview those applications that meet the requirements; schools receiving a majority vote will move on to the interview process; and

4. May 14-15, 2003 – CSAC meets to interview selected charter applicants; recommendations forwarded to SBE.

After discussion regarding the length and the format of the interview, the Committee agreed that each interview should be 30 minutes in length. Applicants will have 10 minutes to present the school and 20 minutes for the interview. It was clarified that if a school uses only 5 minutes to present an overview of the school, then 25 minutes would be devoted to the interview stage of the process.

Attorney Crumpler suggested that the Committee should reserve the right to extend the time if needed.

In response to the interview questions presented by Dr. Jenkins, members sought clarification as to whether the questions presented are to be considered as a guide or should the questions be based on what stands out in the application that may require further discussion.

It was explained that the questions presented are to serve as a guide but more importantly time should be managed to ensure that all of the questions are asked on the guide in addition to others.

Dr. Jenkins reviewed the process for ranking applications. The CSAC will vote using a yes/no ballot to determine which schools should move forward for consideration from the SBE for final approval. All schools receiving at least sixty-six percent or two-thirds "yes" votes are recommended for continuation. Each member of the CSAC will then rank schools that receive at least 66% "yes" votes and that final ranking list will be forwarded to the SBE.

Chairman Fedewa reminded the Committee that should the process take 2 days, which includes May 14-15; members must participate in the ranking on both days in order to have input.

Mr. Lou Fabrizio, Director, Accountability Services presented an overview of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation. His presentation included the history of NCLB Act and the next steps in the process for North Carolina’s plan, which included Peer Review on March 7, 2003, and final approval expected before May 1, 2003.

Mr. Fabrizio spent significant time explaining Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the questions that have been resolved through regulations and meetings with the US Department of Education (USED). The presentation included decisions made by the SBE and continuing concerns.

Dr. JoAnne Woodard, CSAC Member and Executive Director Sallie B. Howard School shared "good news" regarding the school’s Study Abroad Program. Select students participated in a 22-day trip to different cities in Mexico. Students and chaperones experienced many rich cultural events. Student participation in this program is very competitive. Students are required to conduct and present extensive research on the country and sites on the travel itinerary. Participants in the Study Abroad Program spent 30 days in Africa in 2002.

Attorney Laura Crumpler reported that Raleigh Charter High School won the Brain Game and has won the Brain Game two out of the three semesters the school has entered. The Brain Game is sponsored by WRAL TV and is a team competition activity among local high schools. This takes place each semester.

State Board of Education Staff Attorney Harry Wilson, Gail Scott Taylor, and Otho Tucker participated as judges in the Raleigh Charter High School "We the People" competition. National program that was started during the bicentennial of the country that test children’s knowledge of the US Constitution. The winning team from the Raleigh Charter High School participated in the next level of statewide competition.

American Renaissance Charter School (elementary) in Statesville, NC entered the Oscar Mayers Talent Search School House Jam. Ms. Kate Alice Dunaway, Team Leader and CSAC Member shared a three-minute video of the students singing and signing the Oscar Mayer jingle. One grand prize of $25,000.00 will be awarded to the winning entry along with a photograph of the winning team to appear in People magazine.

Attorney Crumpler reviewed for the Committee the status of Provisions Academy and the actions that led to the State Board of Education’s action to revoke the Charter. Provisions Academy failed to meet the criteria in the Renewal Rubric in the areas of student enrollment and ABCs. The school has been low performing as measured by the State ABCs Accountability model for three consecutive years. The CSAC recommended delay a decision regarding the school’s renewal status for one year. At the end of that year, the school’s status will be evaluated again.

Linda Ivy, Accountant II, Auditing and Charter Schools reported on the status of the charter school audits for fiscal year ending June 30, 2002. Ms. Ivy cited two schools that are of concern due to missed audits. Imani Charter School in Guilford County is on Probationary Status as of 8/12/02 for failure of audit and will remain in that status until audit(s) has cleared the LGC and DPI review. Rowan Academy is on Probationary Status as of September 5, 2002. The school will continued to be monitored by Financial and Business Service staff over the next few months and will remove Rowan from Probationary Status if there aren’t any problems during that time.

Financial and Business Services staff members performed an on-site audit at Arapahoe Charter School in Pamilco County. Department staff found no major problems but did recommend that the school implement stricter purchasing controls and that the school refrain from allowing certain employees freedom in making computer related purchases.

Ms. Ivy presented a summary of the feedback she received regarding local funding issues in response to an October request from the CSAC. The report showed that 49 schools responded to the query regarding the timeliness in which it receives funds from the local school system. The responses were mixed with several charter schools expressing difficulty collecting local money and others indicating that the process is "ok."

Mr. Fedewa and Dr. Tucker presented highlights of their presentation to the State Board of Education. Presenting also was Dr. Bryan Hassel, Co-Founder of Public Impact who presented the national view of charter and Dr. Bradley McMillan, DPI Accountability Services presented demographic and performance trends from 1997-2002.

Dr. Hassel’s presentation revealed that North Carolina’s charter school practices mirror what is happening on the national charter school platform. While NC mirrors other states in some areas, it is ahead of others in regards to matters such as maintaining an oversight body such as the CSAC, the charter planning year and charter renewal.

The results of the presentation and ensuing discussion led to the SBE forwarding the recommendation to the legislature to extend the length of the initial charter granted to 10 years with a five-year review cycle.

The SBE tabled the recommendation of adding the "hold LEA harmless" clause for the loss of state revenue due to a charter school opening within the LEA. The Committee’s rationale that the planning year allows the LEAs one year to plan for the opening of the charter met with some apprehension from the SBE.

Regarding the cap, Dr. Tucker reported that Ms. Kathy Taft, SBE, recommended forwarding the Committee’s proposal to expand the number of charter schools by 10% of the previous year’s number of operating school. The SBE revised that recommendation to increase the cap by 10% of the schools that are not low performing.

Committee member John Geil feels that this recommendation to increase the cap by 10% of the low performing schools does not take into account NCLB performance standards. The designation of low performing may be changed to some other term, which may require a change in the statute.

In other SBE business, Dr. Tucker reviewed the items that will be presented to the SBE in March and also reported that the Board will make a decision regarding the renewal status of Wayne Technical Academy at its March meeting.

Representatives from the Chapel Hill Free Academy Parent Advisory Board were present to update the Committee regarding the move of Chapel Hill Free Academy to Durham County from Orange County the county in which it was approved to operate.

Dr. Tucker reported that the school has been placed on Governance Cautionary Status as of January 13, 2003 pursuant to G.S. 115C-238.29E cited as the cause for this designation. The Office of Charter Schools was not informed of this move from the FREE Board but found out from parents. Dr. Chuck Nolan, Principal of Orange Charter School is providing administrative leadership at Chapel Hill Free Academy during this time as the former principal resigned in January.

The Office of Charter Schools learned of the school’s move from a parent newsletter, the FREE Board did not contact the Office directly regarding the move to Eno River Unitarian Universal Church located at 4907 Garrett Road. The school plans to relocate to its new site located at 1717 Legion Road in Orange County as soon as the building passes the safety inspection.

Dr. Tucker also reported that the school has seen a significant drop in enrollment since the beginning of the school year.

Ms. Debbie Freedman-Johnson, Chairperson of the Chapel Hill Free Academy Site Advisory Committee updated the Committee on the status of its current location and the efforts being made to get into the 1717 Legion Road location as soon as possible.

The Committee discussed at length the noncompliance and legal issues at stake. Ms. Kathryn Meyers noted that this concern is fairly serious governance issue and questioned whose rules or being broken, the States or the City of Durham. According to Ms. Meyers and documentation from Ms. Freedman-Johnson, the City of Durham would not zone the church site for a day school because of safety issues associated with turning left onto the property. Durham authorities have informed the church in the past that a day school could not operate on the site until a left turn lane was installed.

Mr. Fedewa asked if the representatives had official documentation from the controlling entity that authorized Chapel Hill Free Academy to operate in that facility. Representatives indicated that they did not have the Certificate of Occupancy but could get that immediately. Representatives were also informed of the fact that they need to forward a copy of the Certificate of Occupancy for the 1717 Legion Road location to the Office of Charter Schools

The issue of liability was addressed. Committee members pointed out to the Chapel Hill Free Academy Site Advisory Committee that the safety of children is of utmost concern. Until the school has proper documentation that authorizes them to occupy that site, the Committee recommended that the school suspend operation.

Dr. Tucker sought guidelines from the Committee as to when they thought it would be appropriate timeframe to suspend operation. After discussion that pointed out violation of City of Durham ordinances, SBE Policy violations, and safety issues, a recommendation was made to require that the school suspend operation and not be allowed to operate outside of the LEA in which it was granted a charter. This suspension would be in affect immediately and remain until the Certificate of Occupancy has been secured and forwarded to the Office of Charter Schools.