by David Safier
This time it's Washington DC, whose charter school board will vote on whether to close Imagine Southest.
Among the problems is a record of non-compliance with several laws and “dismally low” academic achievement, according to the [Public Charter School Board].
This follows the forced closing of 6 Imagine Schools in St. Louis last year and the near closing of another school in Florida.
Imagine Southeast is underenrolled. Its students perform far lower than the DC average on proficiency tests. And it has played fast and loose with laws governing charter schools.
The PCSB said that the school has broken several laws over the past five years, including establishing a discipline policy that didn’t provide due process for students and using an application form that asked “for information that was not allowable.” Charter schools must give equal-admission opportunity to all applicants and cannot screen out students with disabilities or other special needs.
The leaders of the school are pleading for more time, saying they understand the school isn't doing well and they're in the process of making changes. So you have to wonder about the internal scores the school has on the Imagine Schools — mostly A's and B's. The corporation seems to think the school is doing just fine.