All five of the Delaware charter schools have received renewal recommendations from the Charter School Accountability Committee (CSAC). The State Board of Education will decide if they agree at their December 14th meeting. Anyone wishing to submit formal public comment must do so by December 8th. Everything looks good for these charters except for one of them. Which one?
Thomas Edison Charter School. The recent blow-out between Head of School Salome Thomas-El and their board (more specifically former Board President Ron Pinkett) had lasting consequences that came to bite them during their charter renewal meetings. CSAC was not too pleased with how the board runs things, running the gamut of public comments at their board meetings, the recent public fight between the school leader and the board, how the board uses executive session, and their recruitment of new board members.
This does not mean the State Board will necessarily agree to everything the Charter School Accountability Committee recommends. It was only a few years ago that last minute events caused Family Foundations Academy to explode during their charter renewal process. From there, the two Heads of School were fired and the board was replaced by members from East Side Charter School. And that whole financial fraud audit investigation resulting in criminal charges for the two Heads of School. I strongly recommend parents issue public comment, good or bad, to the Delaware DOE by December 8th at the following email address: infocso@doe.k12.de.us
This is a time for frank honesty. Even the most beloved of charter schools have issues. Those issues can’t always be dealt with until they get a public view.
To get a look at all the charter school renewals, the final reports, and items the schools had to submit to the Delaware DOE as well as timelines for their renewals, please go here.
The Season Of Myths 