School choice just got a little choicier as the D.C. Public Charter School Board approved four applications to open new schools in 2012.
Creative Minds, DC Scholars and BASIS DC got the nod conditionally, and must satisfy a few board requirements, while Latin American Youth Center Careeer Academy got the full-on green light, amid a record 19 applications.
Fourteen other applications were denied. Curiously enough, the application for Bedford Academy was withdrawn — it was proposed by Friends of Bedford, which was ousted as the private operator of Dunbar Senior High School for lax security and an inability to unite students and staff.
No details yet on why FoB withdrew, but school board members did not mince words when it came to rejected applications. “The connection of a fabulous mission to an operational plan was lacking,” said Vice Chairman Skip McKoy. “It’s not our job to connect the dots, but it’s incumbent on applicants to do appropriate research on potential student population.”
The four approved schools are scheduled to open in fall 2012, joining 52 other public charter schools on 93 campuses, which serve about 39 percent of D.C. public school students. Read on for details from the board about the successful applications:
The Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) Career Academy will provide young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who have not been successful in a traditional school setting with skills necessary to attain a GED certificate, vocational training in high-growth occupations, college-credit classes and preparation for success in college, postsecondary education, training programs or the workplace. LAYC has founded three successful public charter schools in the District: LAYC Youth Build, Next Step and Latin American Bilingual Montessori (LAMB). Board members noted their successful track record with these schools as a strong indicator of success with Career Academy.
DC Scholars will serve students in pre-school through the eighth grade partnering with Scholar Academies, a non-profit, school management organization that has been successful operating schools in Philadelphia and Washington, DC—including the highest performing charter middle school in Philadelphia.
BASIS DC plans to provide a rigorous liberal arts college preparatory education to middle and high school students in grades 5 through 12. The BASIS school model has been successful in Arizona and the PCSB gave conditional approval pending the applicant’s demonstration of how this model will be adapted to the demographic profile of students in the District of Columbia.
