STATE BOARD APPROVES LIFE SKILLS IN POLK
By Lloyd Dunkelberger Ledger Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE The state Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the Life Skills Center charter school in Polk County, reversing the School Board's original denial of the project.
Members of the state board said they were disturbed by comments from Polk County officials that students in the proposed charter school were doomed to failure.
"To suggest prima facie that a school is going to fail and kids are not going to learn seems like a distortion of the process," said Phil Handy, chairman of the state board.
The Polk County School Board had rejected the Life Skills charter application in October. But the charter school appealed the decision to a state review panel, which recommended to the state board that the rejection be reversed.
Wesley Bridges, a lawyer for the Polk School Board, called the application "an unusual case."
He said the School Board was not contesting the merits of the application, which is designed to create a school that would help at-risk high school students who otherwise drop out of the school system.
In fact, Bridges said Polk was a "charter friendly" school district, which already has 24 charter schools operating with another expected to open in the fall.
But Bridges said school officials were concerned that the Life Skills school could follow the pattern of other at-risk schools in the district. All of the schools face closure because their students have had difficulty passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). If a school receives two Fs on its FCAT grade, it must be closed under state rule.
Bridges said Polk school officials had a "fiduciary responsibility" to raise concerns about the Life Skills school, because it would represent a lost investment by the county if it gets started and then must close two years later.
"We're on the horns of a dilemma," Bridges said. "We know the students this school targets. We know how they are currently performing.
"We know that based on their application, it's statistically improbable that they're not going to receive a grade other than F in their first two years of operation," Bridges said.
Michael Olenick, a lobbyist representing the Life Skills school, said the charter school is being managed by a company that has been successful in other states, graduating more than 6,000 students since 1999 and sending a majority on to college. He also said those other states also have student proficiency exams like the FCAT.
"It is by all means a successful program," Olenick said. "All the states have proficiency exams, so it's not unlike Florida."
Olenick said there were no legal grounds for Polk County to deny the school application, noting its rejection was based on the "speculation" that the school would earn two Fs.
"There is no provision in Florida statutes to allow a denial (of a charter school application) based upon speculation," Olenick said.
"Our position and the position of this company is clear, all kids can learn and that is the defining difference between Polk County on this issue and (this) company," he added.
Other state Board of Education members endorsed that argument, saying they want to support any effort to help at-risk students stay in school.
"It bothers me that anything dealing with (dropout) retrieval wouldn't be given great consideration considering what the lifelong possibilities for those children are," said Phoebe Raulerson.
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