Eastside Multicultural Community School received an F from the state last year and wasn't graded this year because of accusations of cheating.
By MELANIE AVE
Published June 23, 2004
TAMPA - The new school year begins in just a few weeks, but on Tuesday, Trennis Randolph learned his sons have nowhere to go.
Hillsborough County School Board members terminated Eastside Multicultural Community School's contract, saying the 7-year-old charter school's students are not learning as much as they should. The termination leaves 177 students with no school when the new year starts Aug. 5.
Worried about where the students will go, the board declared an "emergency" and voted to accept new charter school applications through July 13 to replace Eastside. The children may also attend their regular assigned schools or apply for others in the county with space available.
"What do the children do?" asked board member Candy Olson. "This is the concern."
The children will be offered extra tutoring if they choose to attend regular public schools this fall to make up for any education that was lost during their time at Eastside, school officials said.
"This was not a successful school by a lot of measures," Olson said.
An upset Randolph said he's unsure where his children will attend school now and confused about why the board closed Eastside. He said he and other parents feel blindsided.
He sang the school's praises, with its small class sizes, and said teachers there helped his twin 8-year-old sons read at the 10th grade level. His 12-year-old daughter graduated from Eastside and is a straight-A student at another charter school.
"I don't think there was any justice," said Randolph of the board's 5-0 vote to close Eastside. "I think the School Board needs to be more fair."
Eastside's shutdown seemed to stun school officials, but district administrators said it was a long time coming.
Superintendent Earl Lennard said district officials have been concerned about how much the children are learning at Eastside for the past three years.
The state gave the school an F last year based on lackluster student test scores. District officials notified the school in August and again in March that if it earned a second F this year, its contract could be terminated.
"This is not an issue that is all of a sudden new," Lennard said.
Eastside attorney Warren Dawson said the school knew its contract could end with a second F, but the state did not grade the school this year because of accusations teachers helped students with their answers on standardized tests used to calculate school grades.
District officials predicted the school would have earned another F and possibly a D.
"Do you have anything that tells you they're an F?" Dawson asked district officials.
He alleged that a move was underfoot by an Eastside board member to close the school and open another one.
Eastside officials did not speak until after the vote to terminate the contract was taken.
Dawson said they did not know they could say anything during the meeting, nor were they asked to speak.
"It seems to me due process would allow them to be heard," he told the board. "If you will grant that, then we will have something to say." He asked whether the board would consider undoing its action and listening to the school officials.
Board members refused.
Charter schools are public schools run by private agencies. Lawmakers set up charter schools to provide a niche not supplied in existing public schools. They usually operate free of much of the bureaucracy that governs public schools, but districts like Hillsborough often provide oversight.
Eastside, one of the first three charter schools approved in Hillsborough, was opened to provide multicultural education to east Tampa students. Until Tuesday, it was one of 21 charter schools in the county.
Tuesday's board vote was the first time Hillsborough has closed down a charter school since the schools began operating in the county in 1997. However, two other charter schools, Special Kidz and North Tampa Alternative, decided to close on their own in recent years because of financial problems.
Eastside Multicultural was a grades K-5 school using a Montessori curriculum that operated out of a rented building at 4701 E Hanna St. Most of Eastside's students were black children whose parents are low-income.
Last school year, Eastside received about $1-million in state and federal dollars.
Tuesday's decision to end the contract with Eastside did not hinge solely on accusations of cheating, said Hillsborough's charter school liaison Charlene Staley.
Classroom observations over the past year showed poor classroom management, no instructional continuity, no before- or after-school tutoring, nearly hourlong student breaks and teachers who appear to do their "own thing," records show.
Eastside's current contract was set to end in 2010. School officials can appeal the contract termination to the state Board of Education.
- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Melanie Ave can be reached at (813) 226-3400.
