Two D.C. public charter schools have been suspended by the board that oversees charters because of deficiencies in their handling of special education services, according to officials.
They are the latest in a series of charter schools to face disciplinary action this school year.
The D.C. Public Charter School Board has put City Lights Public Charter School and Makit Institute of Magnificent Achievers on probationary status after the board found the schools were providing inadequate reporting of their special education programs. The schools now have 30 days to craft improvement plans, said board Chairman Tom Nida.
Iris Lewis, executive director of City Lights, said the probation is not likely to be a problem, and will be an opportunity to rework class curriculums and graduation plans.
Makit could not be reached.
Nida said these cases are part of a larger problem — the legacy of Brenda Belton, the former Board of Education charter school chief who was convicted of stealing more than $600,000 from the school system.
The Board of Education and Public Charter School Board used to share the duties of authorizing and overseeing charters. But as part of the mayoral takeover of the schools, the Board of Education was eliminated, leaving all chartering authority to Nida’s board.
Nida said his staff has been reviewing the schools newly under their purview, leading to a flurry of charters being subject to board-mandated corrective action.
“What you’re seeing is that these reviews are just now coming out,” he said. “So we’re looking over the results of those and acting.”
Earlier in the school year, Washington Academy Public Charter School almost closed after it was discovered that leaders failed to pay taxes for years. Two more campuses — D.C. Preparatory Academy and Maya Angelou Public Charter — are in warning status.
According to Mary Levy, a longtime schools watchdog who works for the Washington Lawyers Committee, the now-defunct Board of Education, did not adequately check schools under its authority.
