CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW PROCESS. Scheduling of a public hearing before the Board, held within 45 days of application submission.

Transcription

1 No. 117-AR SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW PROCESS The charter school proposal review process has five (5) components: Initial screening of the proposal by a School District of Pittsburgh application review team. The team evaluates the proposal using criteria established by the School District. Scheduling of a public hearing before the Board, held within 45 days of application submission. Applicant interview conducted by the District s application review team. District s review team presents its findings and recommendation to the Board of Public Education at an Education Committee Meeting. Board vote to approve or deny the applicant s proposal. The vote must occur not less than 45 days but not more than 75 days after the public hearing. Applications must be filed by 5:00 p.m. on November 15 of the school year preceding the school year in which the school will be established. Should November 15 fall on a weekend, the due date will be the next regular business day. Only complete applications will be considered for review and evaluation. Incomplete applications will be presented to the Board of Education as incomplete. The District will not accept addendums, additional exhibits, or other materials from charter applicants past the November 15 application deadline. However, the District reserves the right to formally request additional information. All applications must be submitted to the office designated by these materials; any application not submitted to the proper location will be deemed Incorrectly Filed and will not be considered. Applications for charter schools must contain all the information specified in the Charter School Law and any additional information required by the District within the application form. 24 P.S A, A. Part One: Initial Screening Charter school proposals will be evaluated against criteria that include: The extent to which the proposal considers all of the information requested in Section 1719-A of Pennsylvania Charter School Law, as amended, and conforms to the legislative intent, which states that charter schools are designed to:

2 117-AR. CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW PROCESS - Pg. 2 Improve pupil learning, Increase learning opportunities for all students, Encourage the use of different and innovative teaching methods, Create new professional development opportunities for teachers, including the opportunity to be responsible for the learning program at the school site, Provide parents and pupils with expanded choices in the types of educational opportunities that are available within the public school system, Hold the schools established under this act accountable for meeting measurable academic standards and provide the schools with a method to establish accountability systems The demonstrated, sustainable support for the charter school plan by prospective teachers, parents, other community members, and students; The extent to which the charter school will provide the school district with expanded choices in educational opportunities currently being offered by the school system; The capabilities of the charter school applicant, in terms of support and planning, to provide comprehensive learning experiences to students pursuant to the adopted charter (i.e. complete curriculum, full scope and sequence, pacing guides and learning objectives for each subject; professional development plan, teacher induction plan, special education plan, English Language Learner (ELL) plan and student assessment/accountability plan); The extent to which the charter school may serve as a model for other public schools in the school system; The charter school s stated intent and demonstrated plans to comply with all local, state, and federal requirements for public education not specifically waived by the Charter School Law, including IDEIA and NCLB requirements and compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations pertaining to the health, safety, civil rights, and education of students; The charter school s stated intent and demonstrated plans to meet the needs of students with disabilities, bilingual and at-risk students; The charter school s intent and assurance to be a nonsectarian and nonprofit entity and; The assurance and enrollment plan provided by the charter school articulating its agreement to enroll all students who wish to attend, conduct a lottery if the school is oversubscribed, and only give preference to students whose parents have been involved in the process to plan the school. The only exception to these admission rules is in the event that the charter applicant desires to limit admission to a targeted population of at-risk students or areas of concentration such as mathematics, science or the arts, then the Charter School must establish reasonable criteria to evaluate prospective students which shall be outlined in the charter. Each application will be assessed by a review team using the foregoing criteria via the review process the Board of Education has established for charter school applications contained in the

3 117-AR. CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW PROCESS - Pg. 3 District s Charter School Proposal Development Guidelines. The detailed criterion sections include: Description of applicant Mission of the charter school Marketing data Admissions policy and criteria Governance structure Staff, Parent and Community involvement Education Program Accountability, student assessment evaluation Fiscal operations Facilities and transportation Liability, insurance and risk management Staff conditions and work Management Student discipline policy and expulsion criteria At-risk students, bilingual students and students with disabilities Legal issues Application review teams typically include District personnel with expertise in: 1. Curriculum, instruction and 5. Parent involvement assessment 2. School administration and 6. Community management involvement 3. Accountability systems 7. Special Education 4. School business operations Teams may also include a parent with a child enrolled in a Pittsburgh Public School and a member with expertise in community involvement that is not an employee of the Pittsburgh Public Schools. The review team will be supported by the Project Manager of Charter Schools and provided with technical assistance from other District staff including, but not limited to, the following areas as necessary: 1. Legal issues 2. Human resources 3. Facilities and transportation 4. Finance The Project Manager of Charter Schools will serve as the district contact person for the applicant and facilitate the review of the application. Each application review team member will be responsible for: 1. Reading all assigned applications; 2. Assessing each application using the board s evaluation criteria; 3. Attending review team meeting, the applicant interview and the public hearing;

4 117-AR. CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW PROCESS - Pg Providing written comments on the strength of the application; and 5. Recommending whether or not the application should be approved or denied. Part Two: The Public Hearing The Board of Education will hold at least one public hearing on each application within fortyfive (45) days of the receipt of the application, in accordance with the Charter School Law. The hearing will be conducted by the Board to, among other things, determine the extent to which parental, student and community support exists for the proposed charter school. Review team members will attend the hearing. The public hearing will be announced at least seven (7) days prior to the date of the proposed hearing and will be held in the Board of Education s Administration Building at 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The hearing will be advertised in accordance with the Sunshine Law. During the hearing, the applicant will be given seven (7) minutes to make a presentation to the Board of Directors, prior to public comment. After the applicant s presentation, all individuals who have signed up to speak will be given three (3) minutes each to present testimony. Both the review team and the Board will use information from the public hearing to consider the application and assess the level of parent, community and student support for the application. At its sole discretion, the Board may hold additional hearings prior to considering the application for a final vote. Part Three: Applicant Interview Following the initial screening of the application, the review team will schedule an interview with the applicant. The meeting shall take place at a site named by the applicant which, if at all possible, shall be at the location identified for the applicant s school. The applicant should have members of their planning team responsible for operating the proposed school, as well as others who are able to answer questions about the school, attend the interview. Part Four: Presentation of Review Team s Findings to Board The Review Team shall present its findings and recommendation to the Board at an Education Committee meeting, properly scheduled so that the Board vote can occur at least forty-five (45) days after the public hearing but not more than seventy-five (75) days after the public hearing. The Board may ask any questions of the Review Team. As this is an Education Committee meeting, the public may not participate. The applicant is invited to attend the presentation to observe and will be provided copies of any written transmittal. Part Five: Board Review and Action The board will review applicant information obtained from these sources: 1. Charter application 4. The review team s summary report 2. Testimony from the public hearing 5. Oral briefings by review team members 3. Written comments of individual application reviewers 6. Information provided by technical assistance staff pertaining to aspects of the application Written notice of the Board s decision shall be sent to the applicant, the Department of Education and the Appeal Board. In the event the application is denied, the reasons for the denial and a description of application deficiencies shall be clearly stated in the written notice. A denied application may be revised and resubmitted, and the Board shall consider such application at the first Board meeting occurring at least forty-five (45) days after resubmission. Only a complete revised application will be accepted upon resubmission.

5 117-AR. CHARTER SCHOOL REVIEW PROCESS - Pg. 5 The Law Department will be responsible for developing a written charter containing the provisions of the agreement between the Board and the charter school. The written charter will be signed by the Board of Trustees of the charter school, and the School Board. The document will serve as legal authorization for a period of three (3), four (4) or five (5) years, and could be renewed for five-year periods, upon reauthorization by the Board. The Superintendent or designee shall be the District s liaison with approved charter schools. The designated office shall process requests for access to records and facilities, handle parent and community complaints about charter schools, and evaluate the charter schools Annual Reviews filed with PDE. The designated office shall follow the PDE BEC on charter schools to conduct the comprehensive review of a charter requesting renewal. A District review team will evaluate the requests for renewal, and make a recommendation to the Board based upon the criteria expressed in 1729-A of the Charter School Law. In the event that the recommendation is to not renew the charter, the Law Department will work with the designated office to present the District s case for nonrenewal as part of a public hearing, which may be before a hearing officer.