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BERTIE LEDGER-ADVANCE DECEMBER 13,2017 The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 News I Bazemore-Hall presents HCLA appeal BY LINDSAY CARBONELL ednc.org RALEIGH - The State Board of Education’s three-person review panel met Tuesday to hear Heritage Collegiate Leadership Academy Char ter (HCLA)’s appeal to the revocation of their charter in November. Deanna Townsend-Smith, assistant director of char ter schools for the state’s Department of Public In struction (DPO, addressed the issues that caused the revocation of the school’s charter. “The school has a lot of excuses and no solutions. There are glaring academic, governing and finance is sues,” Townsend-Smith said. Representatives from DPI and Heritage Collegiate Leadership Academy pre sented information to panel members for about an hour. The school opened in 2014 and was labeled as low per forming by the state in 2015 and 2016. At the time of its opening in August 2014, the school’s Ready-to-Open report re vealed the school still had to address lingering issues, including board governance, funding documentation, school safety, and its policy manual. Since then, various con cerns with the school regard ing student performance, fi nances and leadership have persisted, Townsend-Smith said. On Aug. 31, the school was the only charter out of 33 to miss the deadline for charter renewal. The annual immu nization reporting was also not completed as of Nov. 29, leaving the school noncom- pliant for the 2017-18 school year. The school is also in cau tionary noncompliance for failure to submit their per sonnel report. The 2017 audit still has not been turned in and was due on Oct. 31, leaving the de partment in the dark about the school’s current finan cial status. “They have little concern for the fact that they do not have financial statements... there is no oversight on the payments being made,” said Alexis Schauss, director of School Business Administra tion at DPI. She said the school had provided a list of staff for the 2015-16 school year, but nine people were on payroll who were not on the list. There was also a teacher, a teacher mentor, a teaching assistant, a bus driver and a school nurse listed as clerical staff. At the end of October 2015, the school received notifica tion that only 25 percent of teachers were licensed out of the 50 percent required, Townsend-Smith said. Kashi Bazemore-Hall, the principal and founding di rector of the school, attend ed the school’s revocation appeal by herself — she said she had invited other leaders from the school to attend, but they had all refused be cause they had “done every thing right.” She said she was disheart ened by the media coverage of the school’s charter revo cation. “I’ve been ostracized in the news, made fun of, and 1 just think we can do so much better than this,” she said. As of June 4, the school had met minimum licensure requirements, she said. She received an email stating that the school board’s meet ing minutes had improved. Bazemore-Hall said she had at times received positive feedback from DPI members, including Schauss. “She described us as ‘doing a lot with a little bit of mon ey’,” Bazemore-Hall said. The school had started its first month with issues it needed to address, as laid out in its Ready-to-Open re port. “They were playing catch up from the time the State Board approved their char ter,” Townsend-Smith said. When asked why they were behind from the begin ning, Bazemore-Hall said the biggest mistake she made was not being the principal of the school initially. At first, she was only the execu tive director. She also said she only gained access to the cash management sys tem last month. “I’ve made mistakes, that’s true,” she said. “We got be hind because 1 trusted all the wrong people.” She discussed having is sues with Charter Success, a charter school management company, and eventually switching to Acadia North- star. With about 10 minutes left in Bazemore-Hall’s time, Ol ivia Oxendine, a panel mem ber, said: “1 go to the bottom line, usually, when 1 need to make a decision, so my bottom- line question to you is: Give me the composite scores for your school since you’ve opened.” “Twenty-three percent,” Bazemore-Hall started, but then said, “We’ve been in the 20s and we made it up to the 30s 1 believe in math, but those numbers are abso lutely consistent with those in the region until this year.” When asked what her worst financial decision was, Bazemore-Hall said it was to continue to enroll students beyond the funding allotted for the school year. (This story was first pub lished by EdNC and can be ac cessed at: https://www.ednc. org/2017/12/06/heritageol- legiate-leadership-academy-i charter-appealsharter-revo- cation/) HCLA board review panel’s recom mendation, issues flagged by DPI included Heritage Colle giate’s failure to submit time ly reports, noncompliance with a statutory requirement to have at least 50 percent of its teachers licensed, repeat ed financial noncompliance, and noncompliance with the Exceptional Children’s pro gram. State Board member Re becca Taylor, who served as the review panel chair, said that no Heritage Collegiate board members were present at Tuesday’s meeting. Heri tage Collegiate Executive Di rector Kashi Bazemore-Hall represented the school and presented its transportation and child nutrition programs as primary successes. After opening in 2014, Heritage Collegiate was low- performing during each of the last three years, with an F in 2015, a D in 2016, and an other F in 2017. The school denied the issues submitted by DPI but did not provide specifics in any rebuttal. In a Facebook post after Tuesday’s panel hearing, Ba zemore-Hall said she left the meeting feeling good and de termined. “Why? Because 1 was truth ful, and 1 did my best,” the post read. Dave Machado, director of the Office of the Charter Schools, indicated to the board on Thursday that Her itage Collegiate will again ap peal, but noted that closure procedures will begin imme diately. Board Vice-Chair Buddy Collins raised the issue of creating a transition team for charter schools in these termination situations, to as sure students’ instruction is hot disrupted by administra tive failures. “It’s important that we keep the students in mind,” Collins said. i (This story was first pub lished by EdNC and can be ac cessed at: https://www.ednc. org/2017/12/08/state-board- moves-forward-heritagewhar- ter-revocation/) ; Our Family Caring For Yours * Bertie County Rura Health Association Windsor 252.794.2117 | Quality Health Care Close to Home | Le\A/iston 252.348.2545 104 Rhodes Ave. Windsor, NC 307 S. 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