Category Archives: School Choice

DeKalb Charter Updates

Posted on August 15, 2015 by | 10 comments

Charter Petitions
Currently the District is expecting four (4) renewal petitions due on August 21, 2015. The District and Board will have 90 days to review all four (4) petitions, as mandated by state law.
Charter Policy Mini Meetings
Mini-meetings have been identified to create an opportunity for Board Members to meet in small group settings to discuss and address key topics of importance. The August sessions focused on Charter Schools Matters. Nelson Mullins facilitated confidential and privileged discussions about the proposed charter school policy revisions.
Declassified Details of Charter Discussions
Question:  Why were these meetings deemed “Privileged and Confidential”.
Nelson Mullins (outside counsel):  The meeting and the discussions held during it are attorney/client privileged because the meeting and discussion were for the purpose of discussing legal advice, analysis, and interpretation.
Question:  Is the mediation defined in .pdf link icon SBOE rule 160-4-9-.05 expected to be deleted from the new SBOE rules? What about the appeals process, could it potentially place an undue financial burden on the district.
Nelson Mullins:  The option to mediate between a charter petitioner and a local board regarding denial of a petition is not currently proposed to be revised. It is currently proposed that the requirement to hold a hearing when a local board elects not to renew a charter petition be removed.
Question:  Conversion charters are not limited to the amount of autonomy they can request. Conversion charters were given a .pdf link icon “Local & System Governance Decision Making Matrix” document at petitioner meetings. [Were the petitioners] told the autonomy they may request is not limited to the autonomy described in this matrix document. [Was] this matrix meant to be the starting point of a conversation about their roles and responsibilities and not a limit.
Dr. Jose Boza (Director of Charter Schools):  Your understanding is correct. The document serves as a starting point. The Petitioners can also identify specific areas where autonomy is needed in order to carry out their innovation.
Question:  There is a .pdf link icon 2015 Charter School Petition Guidelines document. The “Charter School Letter of Assurances” starts on page 35.  All charter petitioners are being asked to sign this. This letter of assurances is not accurate and needs to be revised.  What are the district’s current instructions for conversion charter petitioners regarding the Charter Petitioner Guidelines 2015?
Dr. Jose Boza:  [That] is accurate for start-ups. Conversion Charter Schools were informed during the informational sessions to use the phrase of “not applicable” below the assurance.
Question:  Petitioner meetings are open to as many people that would like to attend. However, the petitioner is asked to select a few representatives to speak for the group.
Dr. Jose Boza:  [That] is correct. Petitioners are asked to identify a few representatives, principal and members of the proposed governing board, to attend the Capacity Interview and Clarification session.
Question:  “Arm’s Length” is a commonly used legal expression.
Nelson Mullins:  Yes, the term “arm’s length” is a commonly used legal expression. It refers to when business is conducted in a formal manner, and the parties are beyond the reach of each other’s control or over-mastering influence.
School Flexibility Option
Community Engagement Sessions for each of the five Regions are being planned, with August 24 through August 28 and August 31 through September 4 as the potential window. These Community Engagement Sessions will allow stakeholders to provide input on the Charter System application before final submission to the Board for approval. In addition to planned mini-meetings with the Board on this topic, the Board of Education will also be notified of the Community Engagement Sessions.
The GADOE has an established deadline of November 1, 2015, for submission of charter petition applications that wish to begin operating as a charter district at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. Without a called meeting, this requires that the petition be presented to the Board at their October 5, 2015, meeting as a resolution for adoption.
The petition can be reviewed at the link below.
.pdf link icon http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/www/documents/charter-system-petition/charter-system-application-cover-sheet.pdf

Related Posts and Documents

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Posted in Charter Schools, Policy, School Choice

DeKalb Charter System Update

Posted on May 30, 2015 by | 3 comments

According to O.C.G.A. § 20-2-81.3, by June 30, 2015 each local school system must choose to operate as one of the following:

  • Investing in Educational Excellence School System (IE2)
  • Charter System
  • Status Quo School System
  • Strategic School System
  • System of Charter Schools

DeKalb Schools Region 2 Superintendent Trenton Arnold was tasked with putting the petition together to approach the state Board of Education.
Trenton Arnold responds to some questions I had regarding this state law.
Question:  What is the status of DeKalb Schools’ Flexibility Decision?
Answer:
O.C.G.A. § 20-2-84.3 states that “[n]o later than June 30, 2015, each local school system shall notify the [Department of Education] of its intention to request increased flexibility pursuant to this article or shall comply with subsection (b) of Code Section 20-2-80.”
O.C.G.A. §20-2-80 subsection (b) then states that “a local school system may elect not to request increased flexibility in exchange for increased accountability and defined consequences and opt to remain under current laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures….”
What is required by this law is that each district is to notify the Georgia Department of Education of the intent to seek flexibility.  This is done through a submitted Letter of Intent which the DeKalb County School District initially submitted in April 2014, and then resubmitted a revised Letter of Intent in April 2015.  Both of these letters met the annual May 1 submission deadline for Letters of Intent from the Georgia Department of Education.
The reason for the refiling was that the initial letter stated that the first operational year as a charter district would be the 2015-2016 school year; however, at the October 2014 DeKalb BOE meeting, the administration recommended delaying the start year for one full school year to allow for additional time for community input on the charter petition.  Since the initial submission, the Georgia Department of Education has continuously recognized that DeKalb intends to become a charter system, and it has produced documents to that effect.  At last report, there are forty districts in the state that have not complied with the legal mandate to submit their flexibility intentions before June 30, 2015.  It is often mistakenly believed that districts must become operational by June 30, 2015, or that they must submit a petition by June 30, 2015, but as noted above, the only legal requirement is to submit the Letter of Intent, and DeKalb has met that obligation.
Question:  What is the status on implementing that choice?
Answer:
At the October 2014 Board meeting, the administration recommended that the DeKalb County Board of Education adopt the charter petition but allow for additional revisions to the petition to advance the start year to the
2016-2017 school year. This recommendation will also and more importantly allow the district to return to internal and external stakeholders to gather additional information and input, and submit the petition to the Georgia Department of Education no later than November 1, 2015, which is the required petition submission date for district’s to become operational at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. The Board tabled the vote in October.

[Update Posted on 07/11/2015]
Dr. R. Stephen Green
CEO & Superintendent
DeKalb County School Distric
sent via email
The DeKalb County School District is approaching the GA DOE’s deadline of November 1, 2015, for submission of the district’s charter petition application that would allow DeKalb to begin operating as a charter district at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year. Consequentially, without a called meet-ing, this requires that the petition be presented to the Board at their October 5, 2015, meeting as a reso-lution for adoption. To that end, the Superintendent and administrative staff will establish meeting dates with Board members to review the flexibility options and the current path that the district has chosen. At the direction of the Superintendent, the district’s administrative staff is also establishing plans to seek out further stakeholder input on the drafted petition through additional community engagement sessions in each of the five regions. These engagement sessions will focus primarily on the local school governance elements required of a charter system as well as the processes associated with approving waivers requested by individual schools; however, other topics and concerns will also be welcomed as they will allow the district the opportunity to improve and finalize the petition prior to presentation to the Board for adoption.

Related Documents
October 2014 Work Session – Trenton Arnold presented an update on the school flexibility option and DeKalb Schools.
eboard link icon  10/08/2014 – Board Meeting – School Flexibility Option Update
.pdf link icon Charter Petition Update
October 2014 Business Meeting – Administration recommended the board pass a resolution to submit a charter petition application to the Georgia Department of Education in order to pursue charter district status with the State Board of Education. The board decided to table this decision.
eboard link icon  10/08/2014 – Board Business Meeting – Adoption of the resolution approving the DeKalb County School District’s Charter System Petition
.pdf link icon Charter District Application

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Posted in Charter Schools, School Choice, Trenton Arnold