Last night at the Delaware State Board of Education meeting, five Delaware charter schools received unanimous approval from board members. Academia Antonia Alonso, Early College High School, First State Montessori Academy, and Sussex Academy were approved with no conditions. For Thomas Edison Charter School, that was a different story. And for another, the State Board did not get a complete record.
On Saturday, after I posted an article on Delaware Design-Lab High School’s major modification request, the Delaware DOE asked me to remove the parent complaints because of some student identifying information that was in that section of the article. The DOE has revised the complaints, so I am giving this its own article. Like I said in the original article, it is very disturbing to see this go on in any of our Delaware schools. It is more than obvious our new charters need much more training in discipline and due process…
It is modification mania at the Delaware DOE this month! Prestige Academy submitted a major modification request to reduce their enrollment to 240 students, and two minor modification requests: one to drop 5th grade and the other to decrease their instructional days from 194 to 184. In the Charter School Accountability Committee initial report, the DOE flat-out says information they provided in their major modification request is not true. Also included are parent complaints. There aren’t as many as Delaware Met 2.0 Delaware Design-Lab High School, but the main one troubles me quite a bit. Where is the due process for suspended students at Delaware charter schools? Does it even exist? Students should not have to face over a month of suspension. That is ridiculous!
Delaware Design-Lab High School is having some major issues. While they are struggling with enrollment, it appears their school model isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Parents and students saw right through this based on some of the parent complaints below. One parent went so far as to say they weren’t releasing her child from the one-year contract until after the September 30th counts. Citing a lack of supplies, and even cafeteria food by one parent, this brand new charter school looks to be having some of the same issues as the recently closed Delaware Met. While it doesn’t appear to be having the extent of the issues Del Met had, there is a pretty clear and consistent pattern here. Their enrollment is so bad they want to decrease it. Below is the Charter School Accountability Committee report from last week, along with information the school provided and parent complaints that came into the DOE.
The Season Of Myths 