Here is the SC Gulen Charter School Application DENIAL
By Liz Segrist lsegrist@scbiznews.com
Published Aug. 23, 2011
A public charter school that would focus on renewable energy and resources did not receive approval to come to Greenville.
The S.C. Charter School Advisory Committee did not approve the application for the K-12 Greenville Renewable Energy, or GREEN, Charter School. The Greenville County School District will not vote on it this month as planned.
This would have been the first energy-based school in the state with focus on finding alternatives to oil. It was set to open in the 2012-2013 school year.
Previous coverage New charter school would focus on renewable energies |
Project Director Akif Aydin, the co-founder of the River City Science Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., applied for the school. The applicants can appeal the committee’s decision to the Administrative Law Court.
Aydin said he is disappointed that the school did not receive approval, but the school's committee is working on the proposal to change the original application according to the state committee's comments.
“We still hope to open the school by next year and we think the changes will be enough when we reapply,” Aydin said.
The Charter School Advisory Committee said the application did not comply with standards for charter schools required under the Charter Schools Act, according to the committee’s letter. It needed to explain the student-teacher ratio; the curriculum; measurable goals; academic standards for each grade levels; a grading scale; a transportation plan and budget; an equipment use description; a parental and community involvement description; a district discipline policy; and an economically sound budget plan.
The application also needs to be consistent that teachers are science certified and remove language about admitting out-of-district students.
Aydin originally wanted the school to focus on math and science until discussions with Imtiaz Haque of the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research brought energy policies to the table. They created the idea of a hybrid charter school based on renewable energy.
Aydin and Haque said the study of renewable resources should begin early on in school to create an educated workforce of the future. The school would have the fundamental core teachings like any other, but the curriculum would incorporate renewable energy for each class.
“There is a need in South Carolina and in Greenville for renewable energy and the future will be depending on how we make it,” Aydin said in May after sending in the application.
NOW FOR THE DENIAL OF THE ARKANSAS GULEN CHARTER SCHOOL
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2009/nov/10/state-board-denies-request-dove-school/
SPRINGDALE — A detailed presentation on the Springdale School District’s academic offerings apparently helped convince the Arkansas State Board of Education that a proposed charter school in that city was unnecessary.
During a Monday meeting in Little Rock, the board voted 5-2 to deny a request from the Dove School of Excellence, which operates four charter schools in Oklahoma, to expand into Springdale. The vote followed a detailed presentation on district demographics, test scores and programs by Superintendent Jim Rollins and others.
The vote was one of two against proposed charter schools in Northwest Arkansas. The board also voted 5-2 to deny proposeda Prism Education Center charter school in Fayetteville at 3162 Martin Luther King Blvd.
“I could not be more impressed by a group of state policy makers,” Rollins said. “We observed the state board in action throughout the afternoon. In my view, they just did an outstanding job in each situation.”
Springdale’s argument against the Dove School was it would not offer a service the district does not already provide.
“The Springdale School District has a very comprehensive curriculum program,” Rollins said. “I think the merits of the proposal itself were the basis for the decision.”
Rollins, assistant superintendents Marsha Jones and Don Love and six of the seven Springdale School Board members attended the meeting in person. Jeff Williams was the only board member to not attend.
Dove School Director Kaan Camuz said he didn’t want to comment on the state’s decision.
The proposed location of the school was 901 W. Robinson Ave. The plan had been to open the school in 2010-11 for kindergarten through eighth-graders, then add a grade each year until it offered four years of high school.
State Board members Jim Cooper and Sherry Burrow cast the dissenting votes on both proposals. Board Chairman Naccaman Williams, a Springdale resident, did not vote.
New charter school initiatives are usually opposed by school officials in the district where they are located. Fayetteville also sent representatives to speak against the Prism proposal.
Open enrollment charter schools receive state funding for each student enrolled in their program.
READ ABOUT THE RAPE AT THE GULEN DOVE SCIENCE ACADEMY IN TULSA, OK. WHICH CAUSED THE SCHOOLS TO LOSE THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOL SPONSORSHIP AND RUN TO LANGSTON UNIVERSITY
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