Charter school’s license threatened

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Friday, June 4, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

Keystone Academy, a charter high school in rural Sandy Valley serving students at risk of dropping out, could be forced to shut its doors for failing to meet state requirements for record-keeping.

Craig Kadlub, director of public affairs and charter school liaison for the Clark County School District, said he will recommend the School Board revoke Keystone's charter at the board's June 24 meeting.

"School districts are charged with ensuring charter schools comply with state statutes," Kadlub said. "If we make no effort in that regard, we are derelict in our duties."

Keystone and three other Clark County charter schools were notified at the beginning of March that they were out of compliance for a variety of reasons, ranging from having employees who lack required credentials to not contributing to employees' retirement funds. The schools were given 90 days to fix the problems or face having their charters revoked.

Keystone, Agassi College Preparatory Academy and Odyssey Charter School were all red-flagged for failing to hook up to a statewide computer system used to track student data.

Agassi was also written up for having two employees performing duties without the required state licenses. Clark County Team Academy, which opened in August, owed the state $74,000 in retirement contributions.

Agassi, Odyssey and Team Academy were all brought into compliance before the deadline expired, Kadlub said.

Additional problems, including some issues surrounding staff licensing, have surfaced at Keystone, Kadlub said. He declined to be more specific, saying an audit of the school is still being completed.

This isn't the first time district staff has recommended the School Board revoke Keystone's charter. There have been "at least three" other occasions in the five years the school has been operating, Kadlub said.

Keystone's administrator, Sally Armstrong, said her school's compliance was hampered by technical difficulties and a lack of manpower to enter the required student information into the system.

Both Odyssey and Agassi hired additional people to handle those tasks, Armstrong said. That's a luxury Keystone -- with just 60 students and no endowment -- cannot afford, Armstrong said.

"I just hope the School Board will cut us some slack on this," Armstrong said. "It's not like we're trying to squeak through and not follow the law. We want to be compliant -- we always have."