AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Charter School Commission, armed with a new executive director hired last month, has five new proposals to consider following a deadline for filing applications on Wednesday, including two virtual schools where students will take classes primarily over the Internet.
The five proposals are from Harpswell Coastal Academy in Harpswell, the Heartwood Charter School in Kennebunk, Maine Connections Academy, Maine Virtual Academy and Queen City Academy in Bangor.
The virtual schools, Maine Connections Academy and Maine Virtual Academy, withdrew their applications earlier this year after members of the commission said they felt unprepared to rule on their proposals because of the unique nature of the schools and questions that arose about virtual schools’ effectiveness in other states.
In recent months, members of the commission have received training about virtual schools and the two delayed applications have been resubmitted. The commission, according to a new law passed by the Legislature in 2011, can approve up to 10 new charter schools by 2021, including virtual schools.
“The charter school law is very clear that virtual schools are an option, and the law specifies conditions for those schools,” said Jana Lapoint, chairwoman of the commission. “We are not going to shy away from them. We are going to give them a rigorous review, same as with all of our applicants. We enter this process with open minds. It will be the responsibility of all of our applicants — virtual and brick-and-mortar — to convince us they are prepared and qualified to educate our students.”
Meanwhile, Democrats who opposed charter schools in the Legislature continue to voice their dissatisfaction. In a press release last month, the Maine Democratic Party said charter schools divert taxpayer revenues from traditional public schools and that some out-of-state companies stand to profit from creating virtual charter schools in Maine. A key part of the charter school law is that if a student opts to attend one, his or her sending school must turn over that student’s share of state funding.
In addition to the five new proposals, the commission has two applications left over from the first round, which are scheduled to be decided on later this year. On Tuesday, the commission is expected to vote on a proposal by the Baxter Academy of Technology and Science. The commission expects to decide on an application from the Fiddlehead Arts and Science School later this year.
Two applications have been approved for schools to open as of Oct. 1 of this year. They are the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Fairfield and the Cornville Regional Charter School in Cornville, both of which opened last month.
“We are very pleased to receive new applications which will provide future public school choices for students,” said Lapoint. “This is exactly what public charter schools were supposed to do, give all students — not just those who can afford expensive private schools — additional choices. Our role is to review these proposals carefully to ensure they are viable and quality options for students.”
Maine Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen said in a statement Wednesday that the charter school law is not so much an “indictment” of traditional schools, but rather a way to provide more options for more students.
“It reflects a growing understanding among Mainers that no one school can be all things to all students,” said Bowen. “And that it is our responsibility to help families find the right educational environment for their children. As Gov. LePage has said, the wealthy have always had choices; it is our responsibility to ensure that choosing the best choice is not solely the privilege of the privileged.”
The five new applications propose that their charter schools open in the fall of 2013. Bob Kautz, a retired superintendent from the Sanford and Wells areas who has volunteered as a consultant for the commission in recent months, has been hired as the commission’s 20-hour-a-week executive director. Kautz, who is also a past interim executive director for the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education, said the commission has hired Deanne Lavallee, a former employee of the Maine School Management Association, as a part-time administrative assistant.
Kautz said that by statute, the commission must rule on the five new applications by Feb. 1, 2013. In addition to reviewing those applications, Kautz said the commission is focused on developing processes to monitor whether approved charter schools meet educational and financial benchmarks.
If you want to give the students a better education.
Grade the teachers to find the best, retrain the good ones and fire the bad ones.
Have parents expect more out of the children. Education starts at home.
Separate the students according to needs.
You expect people to take “George Jetson seriously.
As a person who has taught children over the years, I suggest that “grading teachers’ is an
illusive goal. How is that to be accomplished? Do we grade them on the number of students able to pass a standardized test? Do we grade in absolutes, or on the curve. Do we demand more from teachers who teach in wealthy districts, and less of teachers who teach in Portland where students speak 26 different languages? Do we pad the grade for teachers in special education?
You also suggest that we should do away with PL94-142, the special ed law known now as IDEA. You also advocate doing away with part of the A.D.A. (Americans with Disabilities Act) that mandates mainstreaming of students in special ed for as long as is possible. This would require changes in both Federal laws, or Federal waivers. These waivers have been requested by other States, but have never been granted. Please be aware that students who are deemed “dangerous” can be removed from mainstream classrooms, and I can’t see any teacher who would countenance the “throwing of desks” you describe above. Light v Parkway (look it up) allows schools to segregate students who pose a danger to others, including emotional danger. Special Ed students can also be suspended and expelled, just like regular students. There is a process, and it must be followed.
Folks who suggest that teachers should be stripped of their constitutional right to join a union (or any other legal organization) seem to forget your American History lessons. Maybe someone was throwing a desk at you when the teacher was talking about the “free association” clause in our Constitution. The teachers unions in Maine are incredibly weak and ineffective so you might have better luck if you attempted to talk the teachers into leaving on their own accord. All you need is a simple majority and the union is voted out. Bye bye. Know when this union is gone, me, and folks like me will be working on getting a stronger union to represent our interests….as is our right.
Is anyone aware of a charter school for the performing arts? I am so excited Maine is finally getting progressive regarding education.
If you value education and local control of education, say NO to charter schools. We need to stop this Agenda 21 encroachment once and for all.
hell no stop public schools…
Charter schools only profit the owners, not the students. For instance, the sponsor of this legislation, Amy Volk, is trying to profit from her own legislation.
This charter school legislation was written by the extreme right wing group ALEC. It’s pupose is to take away local control of schools and to use local money to fund out of state profits.
Stop ALEC and Amy Volk now
Charter schools done right could be ok. Charter schools done wrong could be a disaster for our students and communities. Here I am speaking not only of the students attending the charters but also of the public schools from which money is being diverted to the charters.
Online charter schools aka “virtual schools” are just plain a bad idea for Maine. It’s not like we are overflowing in education funding and can afford to take dollars away from teachers and brick and mortar schools and send those dollars to out-of-state corporations whose primary interest is not necessarily the education of our children but instead the maximization of profit — with their revenue source being taxpayer funds.
The history of charters schools real and virutal is pathetic.. the sucessfukl iones arwe rare they are primarily a money grab and a rip off of students, parents and taxpa yers .The REAL and HUGE moiney makers are the virtual school. I can’t belivee our legislature fell for it what fools. THEY are the ones who needed an education on these schools and should have had it BEFIORE they approved these things. CALL you legislators NOW!!
no teachers union!
NO VIRTUAL SCHOOLS ripping off parents , teachers AND taxpayers.
“…members of the commission have received training about virtual schools… ‘ Just exactly WHO did that training? The people who will profit from these sham attempts at schooling your children? Read the research on the failure rate of these shabby stabs at public education! Do YOUR homework!
“This is exactly what public charter schools were supposed to do, give
all students — not just those who can afford expensive private schools —
additional choices.”
AND:
” As Gov. LePage has said, the wealthy have always had choices; it is our
responsibility to ensure that choosing the best choice is not solely
the privilege of the privileged.”
PRIVATE choice should be private pay.
THIS taxpayers thinks it is wrong to pay for “virtual schools”—. plopping a student in front of a computer for maybe 3 hours a day , calling it ” a good education”, while making a private company rich because a parent is too lazy to get up at a regular time tod put their kid on a bus on a regular basis . That isn”t a” choice”. That is ripping off taxpayers and condoning bad parenting. Virtual schools have had a ROTTEN history elsewhere.They have a huge drop out rate.
PS K-12 INC a primary receipient of virtual schools were a primary contributor to Maiebn republicans in the 2010 camapigns!!!