Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look
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Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look
This collection has been created to raise awareness about concerns related to the privatization of public education. The page also serves as a research tool to organize online content. The grey funnel shaped icon at the top (in the 'Desktop View' mode) allows for searching by keyword (i.e. entering K12 Inc, KIPP, TFA, Walton, Rocketship, ALEC, Koch, or 'discipline', etc.) will yield specific subsets of articles relevant to each keyword).  For posts related to TFA, see http://bit.ly/TFA_Files. For posts related to Rocketship, see http://bit.ly/Rocketship_Files. For posts related to KIPP, see http://bit.ly/KIPP_Files, and for posts related to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), see http://bit.ly/ALEC_Files.  Readers are encouraged to explore additional links for further information beyond the text provided on the page. [  [Note: Views presented on this page are re-shared from external websites.  The content may not necessarily represent the views nor official position of the curator nor employer of the curator.] For critical perspectives on the next wave of privatization poised to take over public services, see the page on Social Impact Bonds and 'Pay For Success' programs: http://bit.ly/sibgamble. For additional education updates, see http://EduResearcher.com [Links to external site]
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Rescooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD from Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look
March 21, 2021 4:06 PM
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Privatization of Public K-12 Education: Racial Disparities in Politics, Power, Policy, and Practice // Prepared for Race Equity through Prevention Workgroup, Santa Clara County Juvenile Justice Sys...

To download, click on title or arrow above. File is a pdf with live links to cited documents. Selected/related links are below:

 

Privatizing Schooling and Policy Making: The American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC] and New Political and Discursive Strategies of Education Governance // Educational Policy http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/28/0895904814528794.abstract 

 
Cashing In On Kids: 172 ALEC Education Bills Push Privatization in 2015

https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13054/cashing-kids-172-alec-education-bills-2015

 

How Online Companies Bought America’s Schools
https://www.thenation.com/article/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools/

 

The Profit Motive Behind Virtual Schools in Maine

www.pressherald.com/2012/09/01/virtual-schools-in-maine_2012-09-02

 

K12Inc: California Virtual Academies’ Operator Exploits Charter, Charity Laws For Money, Records Show

https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/04/17/k12-inc-california-virtual-academies-operator-exploits-charter-charity-laws-for-money-records-show/

 

Enrollment in California Public Versus Charter Schools https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/cb/ceffingertipfacts.asp

 

Santa Clara County Office of Education Annual Charter School Databook

https://www.sccoe.org/supoffice/charter-schools-office/Documents/2016-17%20Charter%20School%20Report%20Final.pdf

 

Death By A Thousand Cuts: Racism, School Closures, and Public School Sabotage // https://www.j4jalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/J4JReport-final_05_12_14.pdf

 

IES National Center for Education Statistics: Percentage of Public School Students Enrolled in Charter Schools, By State (2014)

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30

 

Center for Media and Democracy Publishes List of [2,200]+ Closed Charter Schools (with Interactive Map) http://sco.lt/6KOm6z

 

The Perfect Storm: Disenfranchised Communities [Video] https://vimeo.com/161523742

 

“School Closure Playbook” – [Video]

https://vimeo.com/120338240

 

Charter School Closure Leaves Parents Scrambling For Alternatives

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article199107149.html

 

The Continuum of Structural Violence: Sustaining Exclusion Through School Closures http://sco.lt/9IcTKb

 

KIPP Refuses Agreement To Abide By Conflict of Interest Law: Gets Approved By State Board of Education

https://eduresearcher.com/2018/03/13/denykipp/

 

How Did The State Board of Education Vote on Controversial Charter School Petitions? https://eduresearcher.com/2018/09/07/how-will-state-board-of-education-vote-on-controversial-charter-school-petitions/

 

Separate and Unequal: The Problematic Segregation of Special Populations In Charter Schools Relative to Traditional Public Schools // Stanford Law and Policy Review http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/are-charters-beacons 

 

Charter Schools, Civil Rights, and School Discipline: A Comprehensive Review: The Center for Civil Rights Remedies (UCLA)

https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/charter-schools-civil-rights-and-school-discipline-a-comprehensive-review/losen-et-al-charter-school-discipline-review-2016.pdf       

 

Are California’s Charter Schools The New Separate But Equal “Schools of Excellence”, or Are They Worse Than Plessy?

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3128802

 

How Privatization Increases Inequality: Section 5: Privatization Perpetuates Socioeconomic and Racial Segregation // In The Public Interest

https://public.tableau.com/profile/civil.rights.project.at.ucla#!/vizhome/CostofCASuspensions/DistrictDash

 

NAACP Resolution Calling for a Moratorium on the Expansion of Charter Schools [Original] https://eduresearcher.com/2016/10/21/naacp/

 

KIPP Refuses To Abide By Conflict of Interest Code; Gets Approved By State Board of Education: https://eduresearcher.com/2018/03/13/denykipp/

 

[Link no longer active – this was original document for State Legal Counsel’s opinion that a “charter school is subject to” government code 1090]

https://cde.app.box.com/v/SBE2018MARCH/file/282675343163

 

Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
http://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Charter-School-Fraud_Report_2017 

 

Rocketship Pushes Expansion Despite State Denials and Strong Community Opposition // https://eduresearcher.com/2016/03/09/rocketship-pushes/

 

John Danner (Co-Founder of Rocketship) Why Blended Schools Are “Whales” In The Ed Institutional Context Quote: “Schools like Rocketship will be a great way to test and validate products and we are happy to do it…” https://beyondschools2.blogspot.com/2012/

 

New Orleans Charter School Problems Exposed at NAACP Hearing

https://eduresearcher.com/2017/04/29/nola-charter/

 

“Blended Learning: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Tech-Assisted Teaching” // Philanthropy Roundtable (formerly chaired by B. Devos) // http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/file_uploads/Blended_Learning_Guidebook.pdf

 

Breaking Point: The Cost of Charter Schools For Public School Districts

https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/report-the-cost-of-charter-schools-for-public-school-districts/

 

Education School Dean: Urban School Reform Is Really About Land Development (Not Kids) // https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/28/ed-school-dean-urban-school-reform-is-really-about-land-development-not-kids/?utm_term=.ef77a9f69fd5

 

Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space: Where The Market Meets Grassroots Resistance // http://sco.lt/6vGDMf

 

Spending Blind: The Failure of Policy Planning In California’s Charter School Funding  // https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL_ITPI_SpendingBlind_April2017.pdf

 

A Comprehensive Guide To Charter School Closure

http://sco.lt/80B85Z

  

San Pablo Rocketship Appeal to State Board in Sacramento (Video with evidence of expanding gaps) https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLgIRGe0-q7Safim1TwdTNlcV7auIbigPr&v=uHpH63PsXKs

 

Cybercharters Have An Overwhelmingly Negative Impact

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2015/10/CREDO_online_charters_study.html 

 

Virtual and Blended Learning Schools Continue to Struggle and Grow

http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2016/04/virtual-schools-annual-2016

 

Red Flags Known and Overlooked With State Board Votes On San Jose Charter Schools // https://eduresearcher.com/2018/01/18/charter-red-flags/

 

How Will State Board of Education Vote on Controversial Charter School Petitions? // https://eduresearcher.com/2018/09/07/how-will-state-board-of-education-vote-on-controversial-charter-school-petitions/

 

Understanding Policies that Charter Operators Use for Financial Benefit

https://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/charter-revenue

 

New Report Uncovers Systematic Failure by California Charter Schools to Meet Local Control Obligations https://www.publicadvocates.org/uncategorized/22875/

 

KIPP subset of posts on Charter Schools & “Choice”: A Closer Look page:

https://www.scoop.it/t/charter-choice-closer-look?q=kipp 

 

Rocketship subset of posts on Charter Schools & “Choice”: A Closer Look page // https://www.scoop.it/t/charter-choice-closer-look?q=rocketship

 

For more with current updates, please see:

http://bit.ly/chart_look 

http://bit.ly/privatization_explained

http://bit.ly/naacp_resolution

 

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June 10, 2019 8:58 PM
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California LLC pays $7M for BNA area charter school: Rocketship now owns property from which its academy operates // Nashville Post 

California LLC pays $7M for BNA area charter school: Rocketship now owns property from which its academy operates  // Nashville Post  | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

Staff Reports

"A California entity has paid about $7.06 million for the airport-area property from which its charter school Rocketship United Academy operates.

The seller was CA Nashville 320 PPB LLC, which paid $1.5 million for the 2.3-acre property in December 2014. That LLC is affiliated with Santa Monica, California, Turner Impact Capital, which bills itself as a socially responsible company.


San Jose-based Rocketship Public Schools is the new owner, having acquired the site via an LLC. In addition to Nashville and the Bay Area, RPS operates schools in Milwaukee and Washington, D.C.

 

The address is 320 Plus Park Drive, with Nashville International Airport (BNA) located about two miles to the east of the site.

 

Of note, Bostwick Laboratories once owned the property, having paid $2.06 million for it in January 2008 in the early days of the Great Recession. That entity in 2017 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Shortly thereafter, Memphis-based Poplar Healthcare bought the bulk of Bostwick’s assets.

Rocketship United Academy offers grades kindergarten through fourth and is home to about 550 students, according to the school’s website."

 

For original post, visit: 

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/commercial-real-estate/article/21071908/california-llc-pays-7m-for-bnaarea-charter-school

 

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March 25, 2019 8:55 PM
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Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Recklessly Takes Taxpayers and Students for a Ride // Network for Public Education 

Asleep at the Wheel: How the Federal Charter Schools Program Recklessly Takes Taxpayers and Students for a Ride // Network for Public Education  | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

To view report on ScribD, click title above or here: http://bit.ly/charter_report 

_____________________________

 

To download Executive Summary, visit: 
https://networkforpubliceducation.org/asleepatthewheel/ 

 

To download full report click here: 

https://networkforpubliceducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Asleep-at-the-Wheel.pdf 

 

See also the Washington Post writeup about the report here.

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March 15, 2019 2:57 PM
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Ep. 19 AB 221 Capitol Research Forum - Ban Teach For America?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YHY5RSjops&feature=youtu.be 

 

Truth For America is a podcast about Teach For America (TFA) that provides voice to educators, parents, students, and other key stakeholders. Truth For America is co-hosted by Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig and Dr. T. Jameson Brewer.

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March 11, 2019 10:29 PM
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Letter from CA Department of Education to Rocketship on Noncompliance with Terms of Conditions of the Charter Petition // June 5th, 2018

To download, click on title or arrow above. 

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March 11, 2019 10:05 PM
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Letter from CA State Department of Education to Rocketship on Fiscal Concerns with Request for Fiscal Corrective Action Plan // October 4, 2017

To download, click on title or arrow above. 

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March 11, 2019 8:09 PM
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"No meetings to show at this time" Board Documents link from Rocketship Website // [Screenshot taken March 11th, 2019]

"No meetings to show at this time" Board Documents link from Rocketship Website // [Screenshot taken March 11th, 2019] | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

Screenshot taken above is from March 11th, 2019 just days after Rocketship claimed at the SCCOE board meeting that materials related to an accounting gap of $400,000 (owed back to the State Department of Education) were publicly available on their website.

Here is video footage of the Santa Clara County Board of Education meeting on March 6th https://sccoe.swagit.com/play/03062019-914 and March 20th, 2019

https://sccoe.swagit.com/play/03212019-509 

 

[March 25th] Update: There is one meeting (for March 28th, 2019) listed on the Rocketship BoardDocs page with a brief agenda and no documents attached nor available for public review. 

 https://www.boarddocs.com/ca/rsed/Board.nsf/vpublic?open 

 

 

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March 11, 2019 7:50 PM
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SJUSD et al., v. SCCOE and Rocketship 

To download, click on title or arrow above.  Also available online here

 

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March 11, 2019 5:59 PM
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Rocketship Delta Prep given notice for violating charter, has 30 days to respond // East Bay Times

Rocketship Delta Prep given notice for violating charter, has 30 days to respond // East Bay Times | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

"ANTIOCH — Rocketship Delta Prep has been put on notice for violating its charter by not submitting a financial audit and other documents in a timely manner to the Antioch Unified School District, as required.

 

The Antioch school board voted 4-1 last week, with Crystal Sawyer-White dissenting, to warn Rocketship, which opened in August, that it failed to provide certain reports required by law. The school, which has since submitted some of those documents, now has until March 28 to respond and outline how it’ll remedy the violations.

 

At a recent school board meeting, Rocketship officials blamed the missteps partly on miscommunication and a heavy workload, as well as obstacles in getting a new school up and running by its August 2018 deadline.

 

“We learned a lot about how to best serve our community now and are fully compliant with our MOU (memorandum of understanding),” said Marie Issa Gil, Bay Area Rocketship’s regional director.

 

But school board lawyer Scott Holbrook told trustees they have a responsibility as Rocketship’s overseer to make sure the charter school spends public funds appropriately.

 

“The school has a budget of over $5 million of public monies,” Holbrook said. “You, as elected officials, you are stewards of those monies. You have an obligation to ensure and to monitor the fiscal oversight of this charter school… but the administration cannot do that if they do not get the information from the charter school.”

Holbrook said the charter, which was issued in 2016, included an agreement that it would provide the school district with all necessary documents. A 169-page district staff report indicates some of the missing documents include an end-of-year financial audit, which was due last Dec. 15, proof that its teachers are credentialed, a timely notice of disenrolled students and required reports on special needs students.

 

“We’ve listed a dozen examples that are expected to be complied with — half a dozen they did — but there are still a number in which the charter was not complying with,” Holbrook said. “There is absolutely no excuse for that charter school to present that audit report almost two months late.”

 

What Rocketship Delta Prep did submit was a consolidated audit report of all its 20 schools rather than an individual report, Holbrook said.

 

“We are hopeful that we will not have to do this again,” he said. “If they fail to do that (respond to the notice), in my opinion, they are undeserving of a charter authorized by this district and to carry your brand of the Antioch School District.”...

 

For full post, see: 

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/03/08/rocketship-given-notice-for-violating-charter-has-30-days-to-respond/ 

 

 

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March 11, 2019 12:02 AM
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Families Stranded After Rocketship Charter School Fails to Open Ward 5 Location // Washington City Paper

Families Stranded After Rocketship Charter School Fails to Open Ward 5 Location // Washington City Paper | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

By Rachel M. Cohen

"Parents had until May 1 to enroll their children in schools matched through D.C.’s high-stakes school lottery. But families that selected a new Rocketship charter school in Ward 5 were in for a rude awakening: After the enrollment deadline had passed they learned the school they had chosen would not actually be opening. Rocketship, which operates two schools in Ward 7 and 8, had been set to launch its third campus this fall.

 

City Paper first learned about the situation on May 9 after speaking with a Ward 5 parent who was still struggling to find a new school for their child.

 

The parent, who requested anonymity, says the day after the enrollment deadline passed she received a voicemail from Rocketship telling her to call them as soon as possible. “I called as soon as I got off work and they said the Ward 5 school wouldn’t be opening, that something happened with the building so they can no longer move into the space they had planned,” she says. “They didn’t say why or what the reason was.”

 

Rocketship had been planning to temporarily lease space in the LAMB Public Charter School building on 18th and Perry streets in Northeast. Children would attend school there for one or two years before Rocketship relocated into a more permanent Ward 5 location.

 

On May 3, the day after learning her daughter’s school would not open, the parent reached out to MySchoolDC—the agency which handles school choice enrollment—for help finding an alternative. “There was just no level of sympathy for my situation. They didn’t sound overly familiar, there was no sense of urgency,” she says. When the parent pressed MySchoolDC for help, she says she was told that Rocketship was giving all families the chance to enroll in their Ward 7 and 8 campuses.

 

“But I picked Ward 5 based off proximity to my home, and those other schools were extremely inconvenient,” she says, adding that she also had safety concerns about those options.

After making clear she was not interested in sending her child to a campus far from her home, she says MySchoolDC told her she could always enroll her child in her in-bound traditional public school. But the parent wasn’t satisfied with that choice either. “If I had wanted that then I wouldn’t have gone through the MySchoolDC lottery in the first place,” she says.

 

The parent had her child on two other Ward 5 charter waiting lists—Yu Ying and Stokes—and asked if MySchoolDC could help her child get into those schools given the circumstances.

“I asked them if there was anything they could do to help students who were displaced and they told me that each school makes their own waitlist decisions and they can’t force any school to let children in,” she says. The parent then called the Public Charter School Board, where she says she was also told that the waitlist situation is out of their control.

 

More than ten days after getting the news that Rocketship’s Ward 5 campus would not open as expected, the parent was still waiting for waitlist updates and was actively considering private school options.

 

Joyanna Smith, the Ombudsman for Public Education with the DC State Board of Education, had also been planning to send her son to Rocketship’s Ward 5 campus. Smith tells City Paper that her family didn’t learn the school would not actually be opening until three days after the MySchoolDC enrollment deadline had passed.

“Someone called us to tell us Rocketship would not be opening because of a permitting issue but that we could probably get off the waitlist at Perry Street Prep,” she says. Perry Street Prep is housed in the same LAMB Public Charter School building that Rocketship was set to be in, and Smith will be able to enroll her child in the new school this week.

 

“I’m glad that we were able to settle things for my child, but in my role as SBOE ombudsman I feel there has been all this miscommunication,” she says. “If we had wanted we could have kept my son in private daycare, but for a lot of families they don’t have those same choices and that’s really frustrating.”

 

In an interview with City PaperJacque Patterson, the regional director for Rocketship DC, says 44 families had matched with Rocketship’s Ward 5 campus, and 22 families had enrolled. Their enrollment target had been 160 students (100 students in kindergarten through second grade, and 60 3 and 4-year-olds.)

But low enrollment numbers was not the reason why Rocketship decided to postpone opening its Ward 5 school, according to Patterson. He says that even if they had hit their enrollment goals, their temporary building location would have still required far more repairs than they had originally budgeted for.

 

Rocketship DC signed a letter of intent with Perry Street Prep in April to rent their third floor for the 2018-19 school year. Rocketship officials knew the third floor required a host of repairs, and toured the premises before they signed their letter of intent. Patterson tells City Paper that at the time, they concluded they could handle the scope of needed repairs. But, he says, “in the last two or three weeks” they brought in their own construction workers to assess the facility, and then determined the repairs would cost substantially more than what they had anticipated.

 

“The decision we made was that it’d be just impossible to open the school given the amount of construction and repairs that was needed for a one-year lease,” he says. “Even if we had enrolled all 160 children, it would not have been financially responsible and we wouldn’t have been able to provide all the programs and services we needed to.”

 

Patterson says the school will still be moving into a permanent Ward 5 building for the 2019-20 school year, though a precise location has not yet been finalized. He also says Rocketship worked with every family that had enrolled to help them find a new high-quality school. But the parent City Paper spoke with under the condition of anonymity says they still have yet to figure out what they’ll do next year.

 

City Paper asked the Public Charter School Board if Rocketship would face any consequence or penalty for its delayed opening. In 2014 the PCSB conditionally approved Rocketship to open eight schools throughout the city.

 

In a statement, Scott Pearson, executive director of the PCSB, says: “We’re very concerned any time a school fails to meet its charter commitment and that will be taken into consideration next time a school wishes to expand or open a new facility. We are particularly concerned about the students and their families which is why we required Rocketship PCS to work with MySchoolDC to help the affected families find alternate, quality education for this fall.”

 

Chloe Woodward-Magrane, a spokesperson for the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, tells City Paper that this is the second time that a campus has not opened or has delayed opening in the five years that MySchoolDC has been in existence. Catherine Peretti, the executive director of MySchoolDC, tells City Paper that she first learned of Rocketship’s decision to delay its Ward 5 opening on May 3.

 

City Paper asked Woodward-Magrane what kind of response they’ve received from families left to find new schools. In a statement, she says:

“OSSE and My School DC realize this is a challenging time for families matched with the Rocketship Public Charter School campus in Ward 5. My School DC is working with families enrolled at the Rocketship campus that will not open in order to restore the families to waiting lists of other schools they identified during the lottery process. Rocketship is also providing assistance to help them re-enroll in their current school placement or another Rocketship campus.”

 

Patterson will be leaving his role as Rocketship DC’s regional director on June 1 to start as KIPP DC’s Chief Community Engagement and Growth Officer. He tells City Paper he will also be joining Rocketship’s board of directors, and that a search to find his replacement is currently underway."

 

For original post, see: 

https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/city-desk/article/21005020/families-stranded-after-rocketship-charter-school-fails-to-open-ward-5-location 

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September 7, 2018 11:05 AM
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Second Letter of Concern from CA Department of Education to Rocketship Futuro Following English Learner Focused Site Visit, Requests for Plans to Address Non-Compliance Concerns // May 21, 2018

This charter school was approved by the California State Board of Education in March 2016 after having been unanimously denied by district and county level school boards. For more on this chain, see: 

https://www.scoop.it/t/charter-choice-closer-look?q=Rocketship 

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March 19, 2018 4:01 PM
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Betsy DeVos Just Gave $12.6 million to Rocketship Charter Schools... // The Progressive

Betsy DeVos Just Gave $12.6 million to Rocketship Charter Schools... // The Progressive | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

By Karen Wolfe

"Silicon Valley-based Rocketship is a charter school chain with a bevy of star backers that’s reported sky-high student achievement and recently landeda $12.6 million grant from Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education. But beyond the hype is a galaxy of problems, including plummeting test scores, litigation and allegations of student mistreatment."

 

For full post, see:

http://progressive.org/public-school-shakedown/betsy-devos-just-gave-12-6-million-grant-to-rocketship-chart/ 

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February 12, 2018 4:27 PM
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Rocketship Charter School in Nashville (Achievement School District) to Close Months After Opening // The Tennessean 

Rocketship Charter School in Nashville (Achievement School District) to Close Months After Opening // The Tennessean  | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2018/02/01/nashville-achievement-school-district-rocketship-nashville-partners-community-prep/1087161001/ 

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April 1, 2020 7:30 PM
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San José / Silicon Valley NAACP Urges Denial of Rocketship Los Sueños Renewal Petition 

San José / Silicon Valley NAACP Urges Denial of Rocketship Los Sueños Renewal Petition  | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HdAt-DOX6BGP0GnrOMAquFTz1JgW7FdTL0dJI7QxnCk/edit?usp=sharing

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March 27, 2019 1:47 AM
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Rocketship Warned for Violating Charter with Late Audits, Costly Lapse in Teacher Credentialing // San José Inside

Rocketship Warned for Violating Charter with Late Audits, Costly Lapse in Teacher Credentialing // San José Inside | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

By Jennifer Wadsworth "Rocketship, a publicly funded chain of private charter schools, ran afoul of the law by blowing past deadlines to submit financial audits for two years in a row to the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Per State Ed Code, that alone puts the franchise at risk of losing its charter at all eight schools authorized by SCCOE.

 

Worse yet, a hearing to address the lapse brought another serious violation to light.

 

Failure to ensure proper teacher credentialing at three of Rocketship’s 13 Bay Area charter schools resulted in a combined $400,000 penalty. In response to deficient compliance audits at Rocketship’s Spark and Alma academies in San Jose and Redwood City Prep on the Peninsula, the California Department of Education will withhold $238,000, $46,000 and $117,000, respectively, from the schools’ next-year budgets.

 

SCCOE trustee Anna Song grilled Rocketship officials at a board meeting last week, asking how a company that makes national headlines for its rapid expansion and ostensibly reformist ambitions could falter on core accountability measures. A similar issue recently arose about an hour north in the Antioch Unified School District, which put Rocketship on notice for failing to submit its yearly site-specific financial audits by the same Dec. 15 deadline required by law.

 

From the dais on March 6, Song reminded the room how Rocketship co-founders Preston Smith and John Danner launched their enterprise here in Silicon Valley, testing their concept of software-assisted learning at local low-performing schools before going on to pioneer a rapid expansion of the charter movement.

 

Preston and Danner had a lofty aim and simple strategy: to boost test scores by slashing labor costs. And Song said they promised to stay accessible to SCCOE, whose historically charter-friendly governing board helped jumpstart Rocketship’s dizzying ascent.

 

“This noncompliance happens,” she granted, “but it didn’t happen to a small charter school where you could expect that oversight could happen. It happened to Rocketship. It happened to Rocketship. … I’m trying to grasp how this big [organization] … who had the audacity to ask for 20 charter schools all at once had this mistake happen.”

 

Rocketship officials characterized the mishap as symptom of the organization’s increasing scale and complexity. In just the Bay Area, Rocketship serves 6,600 students at 13 sites through charters granted by several local school districts. The vast majority of those sites and students are here in the South Bay.

 

“Our failure was breaking your trust in our word and our commitment to comply with the letter of the law and our MOU,” Rocketship San Jose Regional Director Maria O’Hollearn told SCCOE trustees. That she brought to the meeting two C-suite Rocketship officials—namely Chief Financial Officer Keysha Bailey, Chief Talent Officer Lynn Liao—“shows the seriousness of delivering our audits late for a second year,” O’Hollearn added.

 

In an email to San Jose Inside, Bailey echoed O’Hollearn’s remorse. “We deeply regret the delays in our audit but are now 100 percent confident that we have the systems and staff in place to meet our needs as well as ensure we are fulfilling our compliance requirements on time,” she wrote. “Additionally, our auditor has recognized the need to dedicate a larger team and more senior staff to our annual audit moving forward.”

 

SCCOE trustee Claudia Rossi amplified Song’s concerns, which she said call into question Rocketship’s stewardship of public money. “The tardiness of the financials, to me, is suspect because a budget is a living document,” Rossi said. “It’s not something you look at once or twice a year. It is adjusted, revised and presented to the board.”

 

SCCOE Charter School Department Director Khristel Johnson, whose five-member team oversees dozens of charters in addition to Rocketship’s, declined to directly address the late audits or credentialing oversight. But in written responses to questions about Rocketship’s compliance channeled through SCCOE’s communications team, officials said they’re still in the process of gathering information from the charter franchise.

 

“We have asked they submit a reason for the 2017 and 2018 audit delays and the changes they will make to their auditing practices to adhere to the timeline,” SCCOE officials said. “Late audits can be a symptom of systemic issues.”

 

For full article, please see: 

 

https://www.sanjoseinside.com/2019/03/14/rocketship-warned-for-violating-charter-with-late-audits-lapse-in-teacher-credentialing/ 

 

For Rocketship subset of posts/updates, see: http://bit.ly/Rocketship_Files

 

 

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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
March 25, 2019 8:43 PM
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Inconsistencies [Rocketship]

Note: The following post is from the website StopRocketship.com. This is a different site with a different author than the charter schools critical perspectives page:
_________________________________
 

"At StopRocketShip.com, we believe in public accountability.  Accountability is at the core of our shared democratic values.  But when private corporations take over public institutions, we are not sure who is overseeing them and keeping them accountable.  Below you will find a series of inconsistencies from Rocketship.

Broken Promise #1 Rocketship made big performance metric promises in order to get 20 charters approved, promising to relinquish future charters if they didn’t meet their goals.  Not a single K-5 charter has made their goals, but Rocketship continues to grow without relinquishing charters.

 

Broken Promise #2 Rocketship promises to relinquish charters if districts approved local Rocketships.  San Jose Unified approved a Rocketship, and Rocketship returned the favor by refusing to meet with San Jose Unified, and then letting the local charter lapse.

 

Broken Promise #3 Rocketship promised the community it would give each school ultimate local control with a stand alone local board.  But less than 2 years later, Rocketship quietly slipped a provision into a material charter revision that stripped all local control, and transferred the power to the national Rocketship board.

 

Mythbusters StopRocketShip.com busts a list of supposed myths put forward by Rocketship in response to our website.

 

Inconsistency #1 Jessica Garcia-Kohl provides testimony with inconsistencies to San Jose city council to ensure that Rocketship Brilliant Minds is approved — 6/18/2013.  Ms. Garcia Kohl claims that Rocketship limits school size by ensuring that classroom have no more than a 30:1 student to teacher ratio.  Rocketship’s own documents claim that they target 41:1, and they plan to move to 50:1.

Inconsistency #2:  Jessica Garcia-Kohl claims that Morgan Hill’s Jackson Elementary  is the worst school in Santa Clara County, when in fact it is not, and actually scores higher than Rocketship Discovery and Los Suenos!!   8/28/13.

Inconsistency  #3 Jessica Garcia-Kohl provides inconsistent numbers during the planning commission meeting to make Rocketship test scores look better than they were — 5/8/13.

Inconsistency #4:  Jessica Garcia-Kohl claims that Rocketship is in the top 5% of schools serving predominately low income students — 11/6/13.  Our analysis shows that Rocketship is in the top 25% on average, with 2 of their 5 schools coming at a less than impressive 45%.

 

Inconsistency #5 Rocketship’s Charlie Bufalino, manager of growth and policy, claims that “978 families in Tamien are on Rocketship’s waitlist”, when Census data from Tamien shows a total of only 745 school aged children.  The 27:1 student to teacher ratio is repeated, inconsistent with Rocketship’s board reports and charter petitions which target a ratio of 41:1."

 

http://www.stoprocketship.com/inconsistencies/ 

 

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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
March 14, 2019 2:16 AM
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Letter of Concern from Santa Clara County Office of Education to Fred Ferrer, Board President of Rocketship // January 31st, 2019   

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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
March 11, 2019 10:25 PM
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Letter from CA Department of Education to Rocketship on Fiscal Concerns // June 13th, 2018

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March 11, 2019 9:56 PM
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Letter from CA State Department of Education to Rocketship with Request to Address Non-Compliance with Teacher Credentialing and Plan for English Learners // November 1, 2017

To download, please click on title or arrow above. 

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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
March 11, 2019 7:54 PM
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Settlement of Litigation (Alum Rock Union Elementary School District et al., v. SCCBOE et al., re Rocketship) 

To download, click title or arrow above. File may also be accessed via the following link.

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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
March 11, 2019 7:04 PM
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Documents related to lawsuits against Rocketship 

Post on withdrawal of 13 of the 20 charters in Santa Clara County:
Settlement document on withdrawal of charters:
 
Bymaster/SJUSD Lawsuit against Rocketship:
Text of initial ruling at Santa Clara County Superior Court
 
6th District Appelate Court Ruling
 
State supreme court denies appeal, and ruling becomes final:
 
 
 
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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
March 11, 2019 5:41 PM
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SJUSD vs. Santa Clara County Board of Education and Rocketship 

http://www.stoprocketship.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/BYMASTER_VS_SCCOE_FINAL_RULING.pdf 

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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
November 11, 2018 5:19 PM
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Privatization of Public K-12 Education: Racial Disparities in Politics, Power, Policy, and Practice // Prepared for Race Equity through Prevention Workgroup, Santa Clara County Juvenile Justice Sys...

To download, click on title or arrow above. File is a pdf with live links to cited documents. Selected/related links are below:

 

Privatizing Schooling and Policy Making: The American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC] and New Political and Discursive Strategies of Education Governance // Educational Policy http://epx.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/04/28/0895904814528794.abstract 

 
Cashing In On Kids: 172 ALEC Education Bills Push Privatization in 2015

https://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/03/13054/cashing-kids-172-alec-education-bills-2015

 

How Online Companies Bought America’s Schools
https://www.thenation.com/article/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools/

 

The Profit Motive Behind Virtual Schools in Maine

www.pressherald.com/2012/09/01/virtual-schools-in-maine_2012-09-02

 

K12Inc: California Virtual Academies’ Operator Exploits Charter, Charity Laws For Money, Records Show

https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/04/17/k12-inc-california-virtual-academies-operator-exploits-charter-charity-laws-for-money-records-show/

 

Enrollment in California Public Versus Charter Schools https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/cb/ceffingertipfacts.asp

 

Santa Clara County Office of Education Annual Charter School Databook

https://www.sccoe.org/supoffice/charter-schools-office/Documents/2016-17%20Charter%20School%20Report%20Final.pdf

 

Death By A Thousand Cuts: Racism, School Closures, and Public School Sabotage // https://www.j4jalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/J4JReport-final_05_12_14.pdf

 

IES National Center for Education Statistics: Percentage of Public School Students Enrolled in Charter Schools, By State (2014)

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30

 

Center for Media and Democracy Publishes List of [2,200]+ Closed Charter Schools (with Interactive Map) http://sco.lt/6KOm6z

 

The Perfect Storm: Disenfranchised Communities [Video] https://vimeo.com/161523742

 

“School Closure Playbook” – [Video]

https://vimeo.com/120338240

 

Charter School Closure Leaves Parents Scrambling For Alternatives

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article199107149.html

 

The Continuum of Structural Violence: Sustaining Exclusion Through School Closures http://sco.lt/9IcTKb

 

KIPP Refuses Agreement To Abide By Conflict of Interest Law: Gets Approved By State Board of Education

https://eduresearcher.com/2018/03/13/denykipp/

 

How Did The State Board of Education Vote on Controversial Charter School Petitions? https://eduresearcher.com/2018/09/07/how-will-state-board-of-education-vote-on-controversial-charter-school-petitions/

 

Separate and Unequal: The Problematic Segregation of Special Populations In Charter Schools Relative to Traditional Public Schools // Stanford Law and Policy Review http://nepc.colorado.edu/blog/are-charters-beacons 

 

Charter Schools, Civil Rights, and School Discipline: A Comprehensive Review: The Center for Civil Rights Remedies (UCLA)

https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/charter-schools-civil-rights-and-school-discipline-a-comprehensive-review/losen-et-al-charter-school-discipline-review-2016.pdf       

 

Are California’s Charter Schools The New Separate But Equal “Schools of Excellence”, or Are They Worse Than Plessy?

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3128802

 

How Privatization Increases Inequality: Section 5: Privatization Perpetuates Socioeconomic and Racial Segregation // In The Public Interest

https://public.tableau.com/profile/civil.rights.project.at.ucla#!/vizhome/CostofCASuspensions/DistrictDash

 

NAACP Resolution Calling for a Moratorium on the Expansion of Charter Schools [Original] https://eduresearcher.com/2016/10/21/naacp/

 

KIPP Refuses To Abide By Conflict of Interest Code; Gets Approved By State Board of Education: https://eduresearcher.com/2018/03/13/denykipp/

 

[Link no longer active – this was original document for State Legal Counsel’s opinion that a “charter school is subject to” government code 1090]

https://cde.app.box.com/v/SBE2018MARCH/file/282675343163

 

Charter School Vulnerabilities to Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
http://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Charter-School-Fraud_Report_2017 

 

Rocketship Pushes Expansion Despite State Denials and Strong Community Opposition // https://eduresearcher.com/2016/03/09/rocketship-pushes/

 

John Danner (Co-Founder of Rocketship) Why Blended Schools Are “Whales” In The Ed Institutional Context Quote: “Schools like Rocketship will be a great way to test and validate products and we are happy to do it…” https://beyondschools2.blogspot.com/2012/

 

New Orleans Charter School Problems Exposed at NAACP Hearing

https://eduresearcher.com/2017/04/29/nola-charter/

 

“Blended Learning: A Wise Giver’s Guide to Tech-Assisted Teaching” // Philanthropy Roundtable (formerly chaired by B. Devos) // http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/file_uploads/Blended_Learning_Guidebook.pdf

 

Breaking Point: The Cost of Charter Schools For Public School Districts

https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/report-the-cost-of-charter-schools-for-public-school-districts/

 

Education School Dean: Urban School Reform Is Really About Land Development (Not Kids) // https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/28/ed-school-dean-urban-school-reform-is-really-about-land-development-not-kids/?utm_term=.ef77a9f69fd5

 

Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space: Where The Market Meets Grassroots Resistance // http://sco.lt/6vGDMf

 

Spending Blind: The Failure of Policy Planning In California’s Charter School Funding  // https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL_ITPI_SpendingBlind_April2017.pdf

 

A Comprehensive Guide To Charter School Closure

http://sco.lt/80B85Z

  

San Pablo Rocketship Appeal to State Board in Sacramento (Video with evidence of expanding gaps) https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLgIRGe0-q7Safim1TwdTNlcV7auIbigPr&v=uHpH63PsXKs

 

Cybercharters Have An Overwhelmingly Negative Impact

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2015/10/CREDO_online_charters_study.html 

 

Virtual and Blended Learning Schools Continue to Struggle and Grow

http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2016/04/virtual-schools-annual-2016

 

Red Flags Known and Overlooked With State Board Votes On San Jose Charter Schools // https://eduresearcher.com/2018/01/18/charter-red-flags/

 

How Will State Board of Education Vote on Controversial Charter School Petitions? // https://eduresearcher.com/2018/09/07/how-will-state-board-of-education-vote-on-controversial-charter-school-petitions/

 

Understanding Policies that Charter Operators Use for Financial Benefit

https://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/charter-revenue

 

New Report Uncovers Systematic Failure by California Charter Schools to Meet Local Control Obligations https://www.publicadvocates.org/uncategorized/22875/

 

KIPP subset of posts on Charter Schools & “Choice”: A Closer Look page:

https://www.scoop.it/t/charter-choice-closer-look?q=kipp 

 

Rocketship subset of posts on Charter Schools & “Choice”: A Closer Look page // https://www.scoop.it/t/charter-choice-closer-look?q=rocketship

 

For more with current updates, please see:

http://bit.ly/chart_look 

http://bit.ly/privatization_explained

http://bit.ly/naacp_resolution

 

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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
September 7, 2018 11:01 AM
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Letter of Concern from CA Department of Education to Rocketship Futuro Academy: Request for Corrective Action and Additional Documentation // February 13, 2018

To download, click on title or arrow above. This charter school was approved by the California State Board of Education in March 2016 after having been unanimously denied by district and county level school boards. For more on this chain, see: http://bit.ly/Rocketship_Files 

 

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Scooped by Roxana Marachi, PhD
February 20, 2018 11:25 AM
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IRS Files Lien in Nashville Against Rocketship Public Schools // The Tennessean 

IRS Files Lien in Nashville Against Rocketship Public Schools // The Tennessean  | Charter Schools & "Choice": A Closer Look | Scoop.it

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2018/02/08/nashville-tn-rocketship-schools-schools-tax-lien/319654002/ 

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