CSAC Minutes -  March 10, 2005

 NC Charter School Advisory Committee Meeting

State Board of Education 7^th Floor Meeting Room

NC Department of Public Instruction

 

March 10, 2005

 

Final Minutes

 

Attendance/CSAC	Tannis Nelson John Geil Sandy Carmany Richard Clontz Kate Alice Dunaway Simon Johnson	JoAnne Woodard Alfred Bryant   Absent:  Arlene Ferren, Ben Currin, Nancy Farmer, John Crowder, Tony Cozart, Michael Fedewa, Kathy Taft
Attendance/SBE/DPI	Office of Charter Schools      Jack Moyer, Director      Matthew Lanner, Admin Asst.      Jackie Jenkins, Consultant      Carl Pridgen, Consultant      Joel Medley, Consultant      Karen Frazier, Finance	Attorney General’s Office      Laura Crumpler Section Chief, Reporting      Chris Cobitz SIMS Consultant       Scott Douglass Director, School Business       Paul LeSieur

 

 

Welcome/Agenda Overview/Approval of Draft Minutes:	While awaiting a quorum and in the interest of time, Sandy Carmany and the CSAC moved to the informational items (charter school visits).  During the updates on visits by the consultants, the quorum was reached and the meeting began following the order of the agenda.   In Chairman Fedewa’s absence, Sandy Carmany acted as the interim-committee chair with a motion being offered and carried by the Committee.  Jack Moyer presented an overview of the contents of the agenda.   The draft minutes from the February 10, 2005 meeting were available and were approved by the committee.
Consultants Update:	Carl Pridgen shared a brief summary of his school visits (Arapaho, Tiller, Cape Lookout Marine, Children’s Village, Kinston Academy, Carter Community, and Vance Charter) outlining positives and a few concerns. Jackie Jenkins followed with a similar summary highlighting the positives at the individual schools (Hope Elementary, Piedmont, Community, Sterling Montessori).  Joel Medley shared a few highlights of his visits (Woods, Forsyth Academy, Charter Day, Cape Fear, and East Winston) focusing on positive aspects.  More would be said later about East Winston.
Renewal Application: Laurinburg Charter	Previously, the SBE revoked the remaining years of their charter, so school representatives (Cynthia McDuffie, principal, Paul Bitting, board chair, and several board members) appeared before the CSAC to present their renewal.  Paul Bitting summarized their identification of issues – testing compliance and governance structures.  He continued that the past board was not a functioning and working board, but changes have been implemented to address that deficiency.  Professional development opportunities are being crafted to address the record keeping and testing compliance issues.   Jack Moyer shared his summaries of visits to the school and his view on the synopsis of progress.  His remaining concerns are student attendance and kids moving unsupervised throughout the campus.  He stated that the administration needed to be tougher on these kids while also crafting professional development opportunities for the teachers.  Finally, Mr. Moyer shared a concern of the facility for helping develop the difficult population of students at Laurinburg.    Dr. Bitting responded that a fundraising committee has been created to help address the facility issues.  Further, one member of the board is an architect, which could assist in these shortcomings.  Bishop McDuffie elaborated on the progress of that procedure – they are in the cost analysis phase.  It would take until September 2005 in order to get the grant procedure well underway.   Paul LeSieur, Chris Cobitz, and Scott Douglass, per a request from Joanne Woodward, addressed their areas of specialties.  Mr. Douglass shared that PMRs were submitted on time or early, the SAR was 85 days late with some issues, SIMS data and physical headcounts did not match as student rosters were inadequate and academic data is missing from SIMS (i.e. accurate representations of student transcripts as gaps were clearly detected).  He commented that these problems seem to be widespread instead of being a handful of students.  Dr. Cobitz commented that Laurinburg has encountered difficulty in testing their students.  Further, the historical test scores of these students seem to change from year to year, which should not occur.  The school was contacted and now Laurinburg must submit paper copies of their students to match the electronic copies (this is the only school in the state with this stipulation) of scores and rosters.  Discrepancies are continuing to be noticed between the electronic data and those submitted hard copies.  His final concern is that some 51 computer skills test books are missing.  This matter is undergoing an investigation, as it is the responsibility of the testing coordinator and principal to ensure those are securely returned.  Mr. LeSieur spoke on the financial compliance issues.  Reimbursements have not been sent to DPI because of a court document that seeks delay in resolution of this issue.  Presently, they are encountering financial issues with decreases in the ADM and rising expenditures (with the outstanding deficits reaching six figures).  The school has been in financial disciplinary for some time with reductions in the allotments going to the individual schools.    Cynthia McDuffie responded to Mr. Douglass’ concerns.  The lateness of the SAR was due to a scheduling error (school is on traditional schedule while DPI had them as block) and the school was in constant contact with the Help Desk.  They are now in the process of gathering the historical data that is missing, so the board has suggested not enrolling children until their records are completely accounted.  In response to Dr. Cobitz, Ms. McDuffie says that she has looked for the books and they are yet to be found.  They have signed statements for the Regional Accountability Coordinator attempting to locate these test materials.  Tom Williams from Acadia-Northstar addressed the financial concerns by stating all the debt accrued has been forgiven by the debtors.  He also challenged the financial warnings as based upon SIMS data not finance.   Members of the CSAC posed questions as to conflict of interest, the lack of exceptional children in the student population (parents are asked to sign out of an E.C. program in order for them to be admitted at Laurinburg yet the school, with that knowledge, is still bound to serve the child), staffing modifications beyond the testing coordinator, a clear delineation between the Laurinburg Institute and Charter school, and side agreements for forgiveness of debts.   A motion was made to recommend, to the SBE, non-renewal of Laurinburg’s charter (Woodward) and a second was received (Geil).  The motion carried unanimously and without dissent.
Enrollment Increase: Woods Charter	David Seed acknowledged his error in completion of the enrollment increase form and elaborated that the school was in transition from the F.R.E.E. board to total independence.  With those considerations, he presented his special appeal for an enrollment increase to allow a smooth transition into the new building.  The request was for an increase of 46 and the charter does allow expansion into kindergarten.  The LEA Impact Statement has been submitted but it has not yet returned to the Office of Charter Schools.   The motion to approve the expansion, pending a favorable review of the LEA Impact Statement, was made and carried without dissent.  If a negative Impact Statement arrives, the CSAC will reconsider this issue at the next meeting.
East Winston Update	This issue was moved prior to lunch adjournment because of possible voting implications.   Jack Moyer began the introduction of the issue with East Winston and the discovery of the fraudulent certificate of occupancy.  Contact was made with the appropriate inspectors who validated that facility was not zoned for educational use.  They had met with the Chief Inspector October 12 that this facility was not appropriate for a school, but they moved into the building anyway in November.  Mr. Moyer read the letter submitted to the East Winston representatives demanding the vacation of the facility.  He explained that no letter from the school had been received until we arrived at the new facility on March 7 to see them at the assigned address.  As was discovered, the teachers had no knowledge of these events as the board was performing these actions.  The school had nearly 70 children, prior to this situation, but now had about 25. Without the valid C.O. for either facility, thus having no building, they would have invalid insurance.  The committee was concerned with the safety issues for the children’s protection as they are clearly at risk.  Further, the children have been out of school for two weeks and actual instruction is not taking place.  With the situation in court and possibilities of the C.O. for a new building, many variables exist as to what is taking place.   A motion was made to recommend the initiation of revocation for East Winston Primary School’s charter because of violations of their charter.  The motion carried without dissent.  The attorney for East Winston, who also represents Laurinburg, attended earlier and was notified of this agenda item.  He chose not to stay for the meeting.   Further, the Director of Charter Schools will contact the Superintendent of Education to inform them of this issue.  As it presently stands, the proceedings in court have ended and the judicial rendering could take 60 – 90 days.  Once that decision is forged, the SBE has the final decision.
CSAC School Visits	Richard Clontz and Kate Alice Dunaway decided to postpone these issues to the next CSAC meeting.
Sugar Creek Video:	Richard Clontz agreed to hold this item for next meeting.
Lunch	Because of the length of the meeting thus far, a brief adjournment for lunch was enacted.  As each individual colleted their food, the meeting reconvened in a working fashion.
New Charter Applications	Jackie Jenkins reviewed the new applications and explained the packet’s contents.  Each member has 6 applications they are to review, as well as the individual sub-committee assignments.  Discussion as to time limits and LEA reception of the Impact Statements were furthered.  The reviews are needed for completion at the next CSAC meeting.  As the subcommittees meet, they are to notify the Office of Charter Schools so that we may notify the necessary people (to be in compliance with Open Meeting laws).
Fiscal Update:	Karen Frazier shared that she visited 4 schools and provided cash management training for the finance officers.  In addition, she has collected and disseminated information on the State Employees Credit Union to charter schools so that applications can be submitted in a timely manner.  The SECU did not give charter schools the same timeframe as that of regular LEAs, which really places the deciding committee on the clock.
Lunch/Adjournment	Completing all business, the meeting was adjourned.  The next meeting is April 14, 2005 at 11am.

Minutes submitted by Joel E. Medley, Consultant, Office of Charter Schools.