Another charter school in Avoyelles?

MARKSVILLE — The Avoyelles Parish School Board denied two charter school applications, including one that was recommended for approval by a third-party consultant, at its meeting Monday. It was the board's second time to deny both groups.

But this isn't the end. Both groups plan to apply to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for a state-sanctioned school giving no authority to the school district.

Officials behind Red River Charter Academy announced on social media their intent to move on to BESE. They're optimistic about that outcome now that the application has a recommendation from consultant Kimberly Williams of New Millennium LLC, the same consulting firm that reviewed the application last year.

"We put our best efforts out to try to partner with our district," according to a post on the proposed school's Facebook page. "Now it's on to BESE! ... We have a big feather in our hat with the recommendation to be approved at the district level."

The application is for a middle school in Marksville with a starting enrollment of 164 students and proposed opening in 2016. The group intends to expand to also offer high school grades and reach 388 total students eventually.

RRCA board president Pat Ours said the proposed site is the former Garan Building, an 80,000 square-foot building on 18 acres. She called it "a wonderful shell of a building" that would allow for expansion over time.

The group chose to focus on older grades to meet what they see as a need in the district. Three of the district's four high schools received D's as their most recent school performance scores from the state. The Louisiana School for the Agricultural Sciences, received a C. Students must apply for the school, which has limited enrollment.

Red River Charter Academy

Williams with New Millennium recommended approving RRCA because the application demonstrated a model that would be both unique and viable, she said.

The school would offer a character development component that is woven into every piece of its curriculum, including special education and its open enrollment process, Williams said. The process would focus on the "whole child/whole family" with "creative measures and community partnerships."

The group's plan for distributive leadership with an executive director, a school leader and operations manager — roles with minimal overlap but that allow for collaboration — worked in the application's favor, as did securing a $200,000 line of credit for startup through partnering with 4th Sector Solutions Inc.

The school also would receive Minimum Foundation Program funds from the state per student, which school districts receive.

School board members voiced concern that the district would lose MFP dollars for students transferring from its schools into a new charter school, to the tune of about $8,000 a student, according to proposed MFP figures for next year that district employees presented Monday.

Had the school board sanctioned the school, the district would have received a small percentage of those MFP dollars. That would not be the case if BESE approves the school.

School board members also expressed worry about the effect a new school could have on an already understaffed school district and its newly received unitary status in a 45-year-old desegregation case. A new school could pull students and disrupt efforts to meet minority/majority ratios, while increasing the district's 40 to 50 open teacher slots for the 2015-16 year.

Red River Charter Academy officials argued the effect would be minimal.

Ours said 40 percent of the "pre-applications" Red River has received since February are not enrolled in APSB schools this year. Rather they are coming from other districts or from private schools.

Even if BESE approves either application, the schools still would need approval from federal Judge Dee Drell, who has overseen the district's quest to get out from under a desegregation order. The district remains under the order and is being monitored for the next three years, according to a consent decree signed in May.

Ours said they would recruit teachers through job fairs and partnerships with Central Louisiana universities. She added that the school could not afford to offer an incentive program like the school board recently passed to attract teachers.

"Our goal is not to strip other schools of their best teachers," said Ours, who was a co-writer of the application for Avoyelles Public Charter School that has been in the parish since 1999.

The board voted 6-2 against the charter school, with Chris Lacour abstaining. Shelia Blackman-Dupas and James Gauthier voted for the application.

"Though I am concerned about unitary (status), I am more concerned about children getting a good education," Blackman-Dupas said.

"I think the parents of Avoyelles Parish need another choice," Gauthier said. "You may not be that choice but (I support this)."

Avoyelles Children's Charter

The board also denied an application for Avoyelles Children's Charter, going with Williams' recommendation this time.

The application called for a K-5 school in Hessmer with a starting enrollment of 250 and proposed opening in 2016. The plan includes eventual expansion to a total enrollment of 376 from K-8.

Williams said it was unclear what the school would offer that is unique from what schools in the district provide now. Also unclear was its budget, professional development and how the school would meet individual needs of students with disabilities, she said.

Representatives behind the proposed school disagreed.

"There's no doubt about it that it's definitely unique," said Emily Meche, one of the proposed school's board members. "It is customized for the children and parents in our parish."

On top of featuring an innovative cross-curricular educational model, it would incorporate deep partnerships with area businesses to provide a real-world component, School Leader Kelsey Osman said on behalf of the application.

Businesses and organizations could adopt a class or grade level, providing lessons, field trips, guests from a designated profession and other engaged activities to teach kids about a profession and show them a possible future in the area, Osman said.

The school day would include time for arts programs and protect intervention time for both remediation or advancement as well as after school arts and tutoring programs. The proposed schedule also included embedded professional development for teachers that would translate into an early release for students one day a week.

Osman sees Avoyelles Children's Charter as benefiting the district, saying that another choice for students could lower the student-teacher ratio at APSB schools and allow for more individual attention.

"I'm from here," she said. "I came back here. It's important to me to see this community succeed. ... That's why we want you to authorize, to approve it, not BESE. We want to work together. We could be a good team."

The board voted 7-2 to deny the application from Avoyelles Children's Charter. Gauthier and Lacour voted against the denial. Lacour's children attend the district's current public charter school, which he noted during the meeting.

The group also will apply to BESE on June 12, Osman said.