Charter school applicant criticized

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, Feb. 25, 2002 | 11:07 a.m.

A Clark County School District official will recommend to the School Board Thursday that a charter school application from a Dallas-based company be rejected, based in part on the group's spotty record in California.

Honor Schools Inc., which provides support services to schools in Texas and Arizona, wants to open the 200-student Silver State Charter Academy this fall serving kindergarten through 12th grade. The School Board is scheduled to discuss the proposal when it meets Thursday. Clark County currently has four charter schools.

School district staff had concerns about Honor Schools Inc.'s troubles in California, which included "substantial non-compliance issues and violations of law at multiple sites," according to a report submitted to the School Board.

Founded in September 2000, Honors Schools hires teachers, chooses textbooks and provides other human resources support, spokesman Charles Lincoln said. Honor Schools focuses on individualized student plans and using online resources, he said.

The organization had contracts with 16 California charter schools, some of which had run-ins with state agencies over compliance issues, but Honor Schools had no oversight responsibilities. Lincoln said.

"It had nothing to do with us," Lincoln said.

Problems at the 16 schools between July and December 2000 included the hiring of non-credentialed teachers and failure to meet the state's minimum standards for classroom instruction time, according to a report from the California State Controller's Office.

The company's track record was only one factor in the decision to recommend the application be rejected, a school district official said Friday.

Craig Kadlub, the board's liaison to charter school applicants, said staff members were also concerned that Honor Schools had no apparent ties to Clark County.

The committee asking to form the charter school is made up entirely of Northern Nevada residents, Kadlub said.

Most charter schools are started from within the community and are designed to offer educational choices that cannot be found in the public schools, Kadlub said. The educational plan submitted by Honor Schools is similar to a curriculum used by the school district, including the use of PlatoLearning, an interactive computer program providing tutorials, reference materials and testing, Kadlub said.

In addition, on its initial application, Honor Schools stated it would serve at-risk students, an element that would have likely made the proposal more appealing, Kadlub said. The group has since revised its proposal, saying it would serve a general student population.

The change was made following a decision by the 2001 Legislature to pass stricter standards for charter school enrollments, Lincoln said. Schools that seek the at-risk designation -- and the accompanying funding -- must show that at least 51 percent of its students qualify as at-risk, Lincoln said.

"We felt the new rules were too restrictive, and we didn't want to lock ourselves into that kind of program," Lincoln said. "We still fully intend to work with at-risk students, we're passionate about that."

Lincoln said he plans to attend Thursday's School Board meeting and make Honor Schools' case in person.