What Is Margie Lopez Waite Doing Now? And Is A 3rd Charter In The Mix With Her Plans For DAPSS & ASPIRA?

Will a Wilmington charter school become embroiled in the ongoing saga of Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security and Las Americas ASPIRA Academy?  Many are saying yes.

Charter Update To State Board of Education Puts 8 Charters At “Tier 3” Status

The Charter School Office at the Delaware Department of Education will give a presentation to the State Board of Education on Thursday, November 19th.  Among other things, they have rated charters on a scale of 1-3.  These tiers will have 1 being good, 2 some issues, and 3…not so good.  The charters at the Tier 3 status are Academia Antonio Alonso, Academy of Dover, Delaware Academy of Public Safety & Security, Delaware College Prep, Family Foundations Academy, Gateway Lab School, Odyssey Charter School, and Prestige Academy.  This list does not include the charters that opened this year because there is nothing to compare their organizational and financial frameworks to.  But even though Delaware Met and Delaware Design Lab are not on this list this does not mean they aren’t in trouble.

Delaware Design Lab High School is on probation following their formal review last year for low enrollment before they opened.  The school did get their enrollment up, but according to this report the Charter School Office is reviewing their budget and enrollment and are on some type of corrective action.  Delaware Met is on formal review for pretty much everything not even three months after they opened.  One interesting observation was their final Charter School Accountability Committee meeting has been changed from November 30th to December 1st.  I would imagine this is because the DOE has to face the Joint Finance Committee over at Legislative Hall on the 30th.    It looks like the Charter School Office will be pushing more involvement with parents at the charters with Parent Teacher Organizations.  Parent involvement is never a bad thing!

Will Odyssey Charter School Headmaster Swim Downstream?

My mole in the Delaware charter school community has informed me Odyssey Charter School Headmaster Dr. Nick Manolakos has applied for the position of Head of School at Providence Creek Academy in Clayton, DE.  This would be an interesting move for Manolakos.  Does this mean all Providence Creek kids will be required to learn Greek?  From the parents I know at this school, they will be less than thrilled at that prospect!

From the Odyssey Charter School PTO Facebook page, there is now a Move On petition to renew Manolakos’ contract at Odyssey. So I went to check the link, and sure enough, there it is: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/renew-dr-manolakos-ocs?source=c.em.mt&r_by=12008808

Renew Dr. Manolakos’ OCS Employment Contract

Petition by Jen Ballas

To be delivered to OCS School Board

Petition Statement

The Parents of Odyssey Charter School strongly urge that the Odyssey School Board renew Dr. Nick Manolakos’ employment contract immediately. The OCS Parents want to ensure Dr. Manolakos remains the leader of our school as we grow into a full K-12 school.

There are currently 284 signatures. NEW goal – We need 300 signatures!

Petition Background

Odyssey Charter School is an outstanding school with high academic performance and a supportive community of students, families and faculty.

This is in no small part due to our leader, Dr. Nick Manolakos. The OCS Parents highly value the culture he has created, the leadership he has demonstrated and the academic achievement he has driven.

Because of this, the OCS Parents do not want to lose Dr. Manolakos. Therefore the OCS Parents want the OCS School Board to renew Dr. Manolakos’ employment contract.

Thanks!!
Jen Ballas, PTO Board Rep
Kate Klemas, OCS Parent at Large Board Rep
Shelly Towler, PTO President