Tuesday, January 26, 2010
MA Ed Board Brushes Off Lawsuit Threat as Gloucester Charter Flap Grows
Ed board brushes off lawsuit threat as Gloucester charter flap grows
By Kyle Cheney/Statehouse News Service
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jan 26, 2010 @ 05:39 PM
BOSTON —
Even as lawmakers threatened prolonged legal action and investigation, members of the state board that approves charter schools insisted they had no legal authority to shut down a Gloucester school that has become mired in political controversy and infuriated residents of the coastal community.
Members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education stood by their decision to approve the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School last year, a decision that has now drawn the eye of Attorney General Martha Coakley, who said Monday she is looking into the flap.
The board’s staunch defense led to an immediate countercharge from Inspector General Gregory Sullivan who accused board members of making “patently inaccurate” statements about the school. He vowed to release a follow-up report to an early-January report that found flaws in the charter school approval process.
But board members brushed off his claims and dismissed a call to ask the attorney general for guidance.
“I resent the assertion that somehow there’s a grand scheme … to deceive people and do it in a way that is not in the best interest of the public,” said board member Dana Mohler-Faria.
The Gloucester school has been under a microscope since September, when emails from Education Secretary Paul Reville to Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester surfaced indicating that the school’s charter should be approved, in part, to appease charter school proponents. The revelation sent Gloucester into an uproar and led to calls for the school’s revocation by local lawmakers and, eventually, Gov. Deval Patrick and Reville too. Republican lawmakers harnessed the controversy to call for Reville’s resignation.
The six-hour board meeting brought Reville face to face with Rep. Ann Margaret Ferrante and Sen. Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, as well as Inspector General Sullivan, each of whom lambasted the approval process and called for the revocation of the charter.
The packed room fell silent as Sullivan described February 2009 emails between Reville and Chester, as well as between other staff members of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, that he said indicated that Chester was pressured into approving the school over the negative recommendation of his Charter School Office. The inspector general also pointed out that the department’s own policies, as listed on its website, indicates that the commissioner shall not recommend approval of any charter school that fails to meet established criteria.
Finish reading.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
My Dog Ate My Homework
Records missing on Gloucester charter school approval
By James Vaznis, Globe Staff
State education officials apparently enacted a policy of destroying virtually all documents related to the evaluation of a controversial charter school proposal in Gloucester, the state inspector general's office said in a report released today.
One key document that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has failed to turn over to the inspector general's office since it began its investigation in November is a 29-page evaluation form, which would have specifically outlined which criteria the proposal met or fell short on, the report said.
At least two of the education department staff members who reviewed the proposal for the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School revealed in interviews with the inspector general's office that they may have shredded their notes, the report said.
Inspector General Gregory Sullivan said the reviewers' "detailed evaluation records are an integral part of the charter approval process. These records provide accountability and transparency for any determination about whether the applicant met the stated criteria."
More here.
IG: Ed chief misled lawmakers, destroyed charter documents
By Patrick Anderson
Staff Writer, Gloucester Daily Times
State Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester is accused of misleading lawmakers probing the approval of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School in a new set of findings from the state's inspector general that also fault the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for destroying key documents.
The latest findings from Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, released today, come on the heels of his initial report to Gov. Deval Patrick that concluded that the Gloucester charter should be considered legally "void" because the process that approved it did not follow regulations.
In the latest findings, Sullivan says Chester's account of how he recommended approval of the Gloucester charter to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last winter against the advice of his own charter school review group, is contradicted by documents and testimony.
Chester last summer told legislators on the Joint Committee on Education gathered in Gloucester for an oversight hearing that the recommendation from the education department's Charter School Office not to approve the Gloucester charter was only the beginning of deliberations on the issue.
But the Inspector General said that no other education department staffers interviewed recalled any further discussion on the issue between the time the CSO issued its recommendations and the time Chester endorsed the school.
More here.
By James Vaznis, Globe Staff
State education officials apparently enacted a policy of destroying virtually all documents related to the evaluation of a controversial charter school proposal in Gloucester, the state inspector general's office said in a report released today.
One key document that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has failed to turn over to the inspector general's office since it began its investigation in November is a 29-page evaluation form, which would have specifically outlined which criteria the proposal met or fell short on, the report said.
At least two of the education department staff members who reviewed the proposal for the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School revealed in interviews with the inspector general's office that they may have shredded their notes, the report said.
Inspector General Gregory Sullivan said the reviewers' "detailed evaluation records are an integral part of the charter approval process. These records provide accountability and transparency for any determination about whether the applicant met the stated criteria."
More here.
IG: Ed chief misled lawmakers, destroyed charter documents
By Patrick Anderson
Staff Writer, Gloucester Daily Times
State Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester is accused of misleading lawmakers probing the approval of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School in a new set of findings from the state's inspector general that also fault the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for destroying key documents.
The latest findings from Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, released today, come on the heels of his initial report to Gov. Deval Patrick that concluded that the Gloucester charter should be considered legally "void" because the process that approved it did not follow regulations.
In the latest findings, Sullivan says Chester's account of how he recommended approval of the Gloucester charter to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last winter against the advice of his own charter school review group, is contradicted by documents and testimony.
Chester last summer told legislators on the Joint Committee on Education gathered in Gloucester for an oversight hearing that the recommendation from the education department's Charter School Office not to approve the Gloucester charter was only the beginning of deliberations on the issue.
But the Inspector General said that no other education department staffers interviewed recalled any further discussion on the issue between the time the CSO issued its recommendations and the time Chester endorsed the school.
More here.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Gloucester Charter School Approval Faulted by IG
Charter school approval faulted
Gloucester vote in error, inspector general rules
By James Vaznis
Globe Staff / January 3, 2010
Inspector General Gregory Sullivan has determined that the state improperly approved a controversial charter school in Gloucester last year and believes the board should void its vote, according to a letter his office sent to the governor yesterday afternoon.
The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has not nullified approval of any charter school since the independently run public schools were created under the 1993 Education Reform Act.
The Gloucester Community Arts Charter School is scheduled to open in the fall.
It was not clear yesterday whether the board and its agency’s commissioner will comply with Sullivan’s findings because they have not seen a copy of the letter yet, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“We don’t have any comment,’’ said spokeswoman Heidi Guarino. “We need to review it with our legal counsel.’’
However, Colin Zick, an attorney who represents Gloucester Community Arts, said he disputed the inspector general’s interpretation of the rules and regulations and believes the commissioner does have the authority to overrule his own in-house specialists. “This does not automatically revoke the charter,’’ said Zick, who had not yet seen the letter.
The inspector general’s office plans to release a report on its findings to the two legislators who requested it, Senator Bruce Tarr and Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante.
In his letter, Sullivan said that Mitchell Chester, the commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, recommended approval of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School last February in violation of the agency’s own rules and regulations, which he says forbids a commissioner from giving a favorable recommendation against the advice of its own experts.
The department’s charter school office determined a few weeks before the board’s vote that the school’s application did not meet the approval criteria.
Finish reading here.
Gloucester vote in error, inspector general rules
By James Vaznis
Globe Staff / January 3, 2010
Inspector General Gregory Sullivan has determined that the state improperly approved a controversial charter school in Gloucester last year and believes the board should void its vote, according to a letter his office sent to the governor yesterday afternoon.
The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has not nullified approval of any charter school since the independently run public schools were created under the 1993 Education Reform Act.
The Gloucester Community Arts Charter School is scheduled to open in the fall.
It was not clear yesterday whether the board and its agency’s commissioner will comply with Sullivan’s findings because they have not seen a copy of the letter yet, according to a spokeswoman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“We don’t have any comment,’’ said spokeswoman Heidi Guarino. “We need to review it with our legal counsel.’’
However, Colin Zick, an attorney who represents Gloucester Community Arts, said he disputed the inspector general’s interpretation of the rules and regulations and believes the commissioner does have the authority to overrule his own in-house specialists. “This does not automatically revoke the charter,’’ said Zick, who had not yet seen the letter.
The inspector general’s office plans to release a report on its findings to the two legislators who requested it, Senator Bruce Tarr and Representative Ann-Margaret Ferrante.
In his letter, Sullivan said that Mitchell Chester, the commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, recommended approval of the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School last February in violation of the agency’s own rules and regulations, which he says forbids a commissioner from giving a favorable recommendation against the advice of its own experts.
The department’s charter school office determined a few weeks before the board’s vote that the school’s application did not meet the approval criteria.
Finish reading here.
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