The Harford County Board of Education has approved the county?s first charter school, but turned down a second for fear the school could be stuck in lawsuits.
An application for the Ben Carson Public Charter School was denied Tuesday because its founding members have been caught in a protracted feud with a former founder over ownership of the school?s concept.
“I don?t know what?s right and what?s wrong in this,” said Superintendent Jacqueline Haas. “But I cannot take the risk of putting the board in a litigious situation.”
Former Carson School Board member Denise Beck has been challenging the rest of the board?s ability to move forward with the application after her ouster, claiming the school was her intellectual property. Tom Bernier, an attorney for the founding board, said the risks of litigation have been exaggerated. A lawyer he spoke to had reviewed Beck?s intellectual property claim and declined to represent her, indicating her case was weak, Bernier said. Beck did not attend the Tuesday night meeting and could not be reached for comment. Patrick Spicer, general counsel to the Board of Education, said the parties could have resolved the legal issue, but no one from the founding board, except Beck, bothered to show up for a May 9 court hearing in the case.
The School Board was considering applicants? ability to navigate the long charter school organization and approval process as an indication of their ability to run the schools they were setting up, said board vice president Mark M. Wolkow.
“It?s hard enough to put one of these schools together,” Wolkow said. The board cannot be confident in an applicant “if you are sidelined by other issues,” he said.
The board unanimously voted to deny the Carson School?s application, but president Ruth R. Rich reminded the applicants that they had the option to appeal the decision.
The board unanimously approved the application for the Restoration Alternative Academy Public Charter School, which will provide classes for up to 30 “at-risk” students at Harford?s Center for Educational Opportunity in Aberdeen.
