Arkansas' Charter Authorizing Panel on Tuesday voted to conduct hearings next month on two F-graded open-enrollment charter schools, putting the two Pine Bluff schools in jeopardy of losing their state charters to operate.
The two schools -- Southwest Preparatory High and Pine Bluff Lighthouse Charter Elementary -- are two of the three open-enrollment charter schools that received F letter grades from the state after the 2019 spring ACT Aspire exams given in grades three through 10. The letter grades are based on the exam results, achievement gains on the exams over time, and additional factors such as student attendance.
Capital City Lighthouse Charter School in North Little Rock also received an F grade from the state, and the charter panel is holding out the possibility of conducting a hearing on that school in early 2020.
The authorizing panel decided to add the two hearings to its Dec. 18 meeting after Tracy Webb, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education's charter school program manager, gave an annual report on performance in the state's 25 open-enrollment charter school systems that encompass 42 schools.
Twelve of the schools received A grades, Webb said. Three schools improved a letter grade over the previous year, seven declined a letter grade and 32 had grades this year that are unchanged from the 2018 grading period.
A December hearing for Pine Bluff Lighthouse Elementary will be the second for the school in as many years before the seven-member panel, which is made up of state employees and other interested residents.
The kindergarten-through-sixth-grade school has received an F grade for two consecutive years. The panel in December 2018 voted 3-2 against renewing the school's state charter beyond the 2018-19 school year because of insignificant or erratic achievement over the school's then seven-year history.
However, the Arkansas Board of Education held its own hearing on the school and voted to allow it to retain its charter and continue to operate in this 2019-20 school year.
The state Education Board has the legal authority to either accept the panel's decision to close a charter school or conduct its own hearing -- either at its own initiative or the request of school operators -- before making a final decision on the fate of a charter school.
Open-enrollment charter schools are operated by nonprofit organizations other than a traditional school district. The charter schools are entitled to waivers of some state laws and rules, but as a result they are also supposed to be held to a higher level of accountability for student achievement.
Webb reported that nearly 62% of the Pine Bluff Lighthouse Elementary pupils are in need of support in terms of reading instruction.
Combined, Pine Bluff Lighthouse elementary and middle school -- which received a D grade for its seventh- and eighth-grade students -- serve about 250 students this school year.
Members of the authorizing panel were most alarmed Tuesday about the status of Southeast Preparatory High Charter School, which opened in the 2018-19 school year.
Almost 66% of the students at the F-graded school need support in reading, Webb said, adding that the school also has financial issues with "extremely low bank balances, negative end-of-year projections and child nutrition claims not being submitted."
Webb also said the new superintendent at Southeast Preparatory -- listed as Jeremy Cegers -- may not be familiar with requirements for submitting statements of assurances regarding constitutionally protected prayer and a minority-group teacher and administrative recruitment plan.
"They were contacted several times, but they have not submitted those as of earlier today," Webb said Tuesday, adding that there are as many as 17 violations of state accreditation standards at the school that need to be corrected. State specialists are working with the school daily to get those fixed, she said.
The state division's staff reported that the school has not been very receptive to state assistance and requirements, and that it has been very difficult for state employees to make any progress with the school.
"It sounds like we need to ask them to pay us a visit," authorizing panel member Naccaman Williams of Springdale said about the 75-student school.
"I would like to get them in as soon as possible," said Greg Rogers, a panel member who is the state Division of Elementary and Secondary Education's assistant commissioner for fiscal services.
Williams asked that the panel be provided with state letter-grade information about the schools that surround the two charter schools.
Both the Pine Bluff and Dollarway school districts in Jefferson County are operating under state control because of low student achievement and financial problems in their systems.
If either Pine Bluff Lighthouse Elementary or Southeast Preparatory High are ultimately closed, they would not be the first charter schools to close in Pine Bluff. Most recently, Responsive Education Solutions voluntarily surrendered its state charter and closed Quest Middle School at the end of the 2017-18 school year.
The authorizing panel held off on holding a hearing on Capital City Lighthouse Charter School, a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school in North Little Rock. Rogers told his panel colleagues that he had visited the school and believes efforts are being made to improve the culture and academics to the benefit of students.
He noted that the school campus was subjected to Arkansas River flooding earlier this year, hindering student attendance.
Capital City Lighthouse was reviewed by the state panel last year, as well.
Webb brought to the attention of the panel two charters that have received D letter grades: Scholarmade Achievement Place in Little Rock, which is in its second year of operation, and the older Exalt Academy of Southwest Little Rock.
Webb noted that 75% of Scholarmade pupils are in need of support in reading and that the state agency's staff will be monitoring the school for improvements in instruction this school year.
Exalt Academy has 60% of students in need of support in reading, Webb said, adding that the campus has more than two dozen violations of accreditation standards that need to be corrected.
Metro on 11/20/2019