Leadership of Washington Latin Public Charter School have called a series of emergency meetings to address ways to turn around the Northwest D.C. school following a handful of resignations by members of the school’s governing board and teaching faculty.
The governing board is down to just five members — when there could be almost three times that number —and this week two teachers have submitted letters of resignation.
Thomas Nida, chairman of the Public Charter School Board, which approves and oversees charter schools, said the “organizational stresses” have created a tumultuous situation that’s divided parents into factions and created worry amongst his board about Washington Latin’s sustainability.
“We’re monitoring the situation,” he told The Examiner Wednesday. “The charter’s not in direct jeopardy yet … but events could trigger that — if there’s additional turnover or something like a wholesale walkout of staff.”
Calls to members of Washington Latin’s governing board were unreturned Wednesday. But Nida said the troubles at the school started during the summer when his board denied a request to move the school to a site closer to downtown D.C. that would have tripled its rent.
School leaders assumed the request would be approved and recruited double the number of students as the previous year even though the current site doesn’t support the increase, he added.
“Now they’re caught between a rock and a hard place that they created for themselves,” Nida said.
Chartered in 2005, Washington Latin is known for its classics-based focus in its curriculum for fifth-through eighth-graders.
Last year, the school was one of the top performing charter schools and was one of the few schools to make adequate yearly progress.
