8/27/08

Columbus Dispatch

Catherine Candisky

Two Ohio charter schools will shut down at the end of the school year, the first casualties of a new state law targeting chronically poor-performing schools.

The schools, one in Youngstown and the other in Toledo, were ordered to close by the Ohio Department of Education because they received an F for academic performance in each of the last three years and showed no improvement during at least two of those years.

The schools are among the 337 privately operated, tax-funded charter schools in Ohio.

Advocates and opponents of charter schools applauded House Bill 79 when it was approved by state lawmakers late last year, saying it would ensure both students and taxpayers are well-served.

“We don’t want bad schools. We want high-performing schools,” said Ron F. Adler, president of the Ohio Coalition for Quality Education, which advocates for charter schools.

“We are very supportive of legislation for all public schools that don’t keep kids chained to a failing school.”

But administrators at one of the closing schools — Summit Academy Community School for Alternative Learners of Youngstown, which serves about 150 students, most with autism or attention deficit disorder — say the new rules are unfair.

“At our school, 98 percent of the students are special education, 95 percent are high poverty and 90 percent are minorities. Would you expect a child with that combination of demographic issues to do as well as other students? Would you hold them to the same standards?” asked Adam Richards, chief special-education officer for Summit Academy Management, which oversees 27 charter schools across the state.

“We need more time.”

Administrators at the other closing school, Toledo Academy of Learning, did not return a message seeking comment.

“The whole community-school movement was designed to promote innovation and choice to the traditional public school,” said Paolo DeMaria, associate superintendent of school options and finance for the Department of Education.

“When should we see the results we hoped for and if we’re not seeing the results we hoped for, when should we cut bait?”

Under the new law, charter schools serving kindergarten through third grade and grades 10-12 must close if they are in academic emergency for four years. Schools serving fourth through eighth grades are to be shut down if they are in academic emergency for three years and show no improvement in reading or math for two of those three years.

Drop-out prevention and recovery schools are exempt from the regulations.

School ratings are released on state report cards in August. Under the new law, chronically failing schools must close when their school year ends the following spring.

Richards said he and other supporters will urge lawmakers to reconsider the new law and exempt special-education students.

“Our kids grow and show academic growth every year,” he said. “But the Ohio Achievement test is not an appropriate measure for our students.”