Michigan connection a concern in school plans

Thursday, March 31, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

Clark County School District officials are recommending the School Board reject an application for a new charter school that would serve at-risk, special needs high school students.

The School Board is slated to vote tonight on an application for charter school sponsorship from the Nevada Strict Discipline Academy, which proposes starting in August with 100 ninth grade students.

John Schleifer, director of education services for the district, said the application raised several red flags that led to his recommendation that it be rejected.

While the academy presented a list of local community members who would serve as the school's governing body, as required by state statute, all information for the application was handled by a consultant and an educational management company from Michigan, Schleifer said.

While state statute allows charter schools to contract services with out-of-state EMOs, the day-to-day operations of the school must be handled by the governing body, Schleifer said.

Another concern arose when district staff met with the consultant, Regina Solomon, and a consultant with Metro Educational Concepts, Michael Bartley, Schleifer said.

Several staff members noticed that Solomon's company, Metropolitan Management Corp., and the EMO, Metro Educational Concepts, had similar sounding names, Schleifer said. Staff members also noted that both companies were based in Michigan.

Even the charter school's proposed name appeared to hail from the Wolverine State. Under Michigan law, a sub-category of charter schools, known as "strict discipline academies," may be approved to serve students who have been expelled from regular campuses.

"We were getting signals that the local group wasn't really in charge, it was the for-profit agents," Schleifer said.

When asked if there was a relationship between the two companies, both Solomon and Bartley said there was no connection, Schleifer said.

Ellen Sloane, the district's charter schools consultant, learned differently when she returned a phone call from Bartley, and Solomon answered the phone, Schleifer said.

"It turns out they're (Bartley and Solomon) married," Schleifer said. "We considered that a relationship."

It wouldn't necessarily have been a problem for the consultant and the EMO to be connected, Schleifer said. What troubled district staff was that the marital relationship wasn't disclosed up front, he said.

Calls to Bartley on Wednesday were not immediately returned.

Also troubling was the fact that Bartley and Solomon had been connected to a failed charter school in Michigan that closed down in August 2003 after the school district it served did not renew its charter, Schleifer said.

Richard Blue, manager of the Southern Nevada Investment Board and a member of the charter school's governing body, said one of the school's organizers met Solomon at a recent charter schools conference and she volunteered her services. The school's organizers have not signed a contract with the consultant or the EMO for services, Blue said.

If the School Board rejects the application, the governing body will meet to discuss its next step, Blue said. That could include reapplying without the association of Bartley and Solomon, Blue said.

Some states, including neighboring Arizona, have been flooded with charter schools run by for-profit companies that have either folded quickly or been forced to shut down, Schleifer said.

Nevada's charter school laws are designed to prevent that from happening, Schleifer said.

"The spirit of the statute is to keep schools locally run as out-of-district folks may not have the same level of concern for students as a local organization," Schleifer said. "Charter schools are not a venue for out-of-state groups to come in and try to make money."

If the School Board votes tonight to reject the application, organizers of the proposed Nevada Strict Discipline Academy will have the opportunity to revise the application and try again. But if a second rejection followed, the charter school's governing body would have to seek sponsorship from the Nevada Department of Education.

Charter schools receive the same per-pupil funding as regular public schools but have more flexibility in staffing, instructional methods and curriculum.

Clark County currently has five charter schools. Clark County Team Academy, which offered distance education classes to high schoolers, closed in December after the School Board voted to revoke its charter, citing poor record-keeping and questionable instructional methods.