Thursday, May 20, 1999
Schools awash in charter ideas
Virtual classes, Appalachian focus among plans
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
An East End school for Appalachian students, a downtown school run by business leaders and a “virtual” high school where students “attend” online could open in Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) as soon as fall 2000 if the school board adopts administrators' charter-school ideas.
Associate Superintendent Kathleen Ware and CPS Charter School Manager John Rothwell presented the ideas at the board's committee meetings Wednesday at the district's Corryville headquarters.
Suggestions include:
• An East End school run by the Urban Appalachian Council. This school would focus on Appalachian history and culture.
• A “virtual” high school. Students would study online and gather for group activities every few weeks.
• A downtown school run by business leaders. The academic model would be Students First, a blend of district reforms, or America's Choice, a program including schools' best practices nationwide.
• Converting Project Succeed Academy, a public school in North Fairmount for children with behavior problems, to a charter school.
• Woodward Career Paths school: Barb Smitherman, a retired CPS principal who coordinates vocational classes at Woodward High School, wants to charter the school's pre-engineering program.
• School for Creative and Performing Arts: The district would work with the Greater Cincinnati Arts and Education Center, which wants to build a $99.2 million, kindergarten through grade 12 arts enrichment school near Music Hall in Over-the-Rhine.
• SABIS school: The Ohio Board of Education already approved Anderson Township researcher Carol Kerlakian's proposal to open a college-preparatory school. But Ms. Kerlakian can't find a location, Ms. Ware said. SABIS operates about 20 schools internationally.
• Edison Project schools. The state board also approved a Walnut Hills minister's plan to open a school operated by New York-based Edison Project, which runs about 50 charter schools nationwide. Working with CPS, Edison would open schools for students in grades 6-9 and 9-12.
Board wants details
Teachers and principals at Dater, Kilgour, Pleasant Hill and Sands schools also volunteered to convert to charter schools, Ms. Ware said. And three people proposed opening schools for chronically disruptive students, she added.
Board members called the proposals intriguing, but expressed hesitancy. Charter schools, they stressed, must be part of a comprehensive, districtwide reform plan.
“I'm not ready to stampede in any direction until I see more details for these proposals,” board member Harriet Russell said.
Board member Arthur Hull agreed: “We're more in a reactive mode than a proactive mode. I get the feeling this is a rush into madness driven by forces outside our control.”
The board wants applicants to submit proposals by August so it can approve contracts by December.
Charter schools, called community schools in Ohio, are free of many local and state mandates. The independent public schools can be approved by the state or local education board.
CPS officials have complained that state-approved charter schools drain the district of dollars and students. Starting its own charter schools would help CPS retain students and control, they say.
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