St. Charles District 303 Rejects Virtual Charter School

A unanimous St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 Board of Education soundly rejected controversial virtual charter school proposal, saying the plan does not comply with state law and would not serve the best interests of the students for which it was designed.

The 6-0 vote — board member Jim Gaffney could not attend Monday night’s meeting — came after board members said they had received no communication from residents supporting the plan, and in fact many voiced significant objections to the proposal.

Before the vote, board members also laid out their objections the the proposal to establish a virtual charter school, for which Virtual Learning Systems is seeking the financial backing of 18 school districts from Carpentersville to Plainfield and from DeKalb County to Wheaton.

Virtual Learning Solutions is a nonprofit group that had formed to create the charter school, but which intended to contract with K12 to educate the students. K12 is the nation’s largest virtual school company, operating 48 full-time virtual schools as of July 2012.

The plan has met with opposition in St. Charles and other communities, where critics have taken issue with K12 as a business that would be profiting on tax dollars. Other questions and criticisms were raised Monday night — both by board members and at least one member of the public who called on the board to reject the proposal.

Among the criticisms:

K12 is seeing raking in huge profits for investors but isn’t making the grade in terms of educating students.

Student-teacher ratios are inadequate, sometimes with hundreds of students assigned to a single teacher.

Student achievement is less than satisfactory in some instances, abysmal in others, and has landed one of K12’s charter schools on watch lists for failure to make adequate yearly progress.

In addition, there have been investigations by some states into allegations related to the company’s records on student involvement in the program.

Those questions and criticisms have been raised in many of the districts where Virtual Learning Solutions has pitched its plan, and late Thursday, the nonprofit issued a 1,080-page response to the myriad questions and issues.

But District 303 board member Kathy Hewell said Virtual Learning Solutions’ response fell short, and since the agency first laid out its proposal to the board, she has heard no one come forward to support it.

The company failed to say whether it would provide advanced placement classes for students wanted greater classroom challenges, for example, and would not address how it would provide support services for special needs children.

Hewell said she was left with “too many questions and no positives” that she could see. Her comments were echoed by fellow board member Nick Manheim.

Board President Steve Spurling also appeared critical of Virtual Learning Solutions’ 1,080-page tome, which was sent to board members late Thursday, just four days before the board’s meeting.

Board member Corrine Pierog said the proposal appears to take advantage of parents, financially, and said that she also was troubled that, while Virtual Learning Systems had indicated it would not try to influence local elections, K12 “has given quite a bit of money to local” campaigns. She did not elaborate.

Mike Vyzral, another board member, also was not impressed with the proposal. “It's for profit — they're looking to line their own pockets.”

Dr. Donald Schlomann, the district’s superintendent, read aloud the board’s resolution, which states that Virtual Learning Solutions’ proposed charter school fails to comply with state law and would not serve the best needs of the students for which it was proposed.

He added that the district will provide its reasons to the Illinois State Board of Education.

The next move apparently lies with Virtual Learning Systems, which can appeal to the Illinois State Board of Education to overturn the local board’s decision.

If Virtual Learning Solutions were to win that appeal, the district would be required to pay it $8,800 per local student enrolling in the virtual charter school, unless the district went to court to fight the state board’s decision.

Related:

• Report to the District 303 board: Virtual Learning Solutions Proposal Review
• April 8, 2013: Review 4/8/2013 St. Charles District 303 Rejection of Virtual Charter School
• April 6, 2013:
• March 24, 2013: D303 Approaching Virtual Charter School With Caution
• March 20, 2013: Letter: Forums Put K12 Virtual Charter School in False Light
• March 18, 2013: Letter: Ask Your School Board to 'Vote No' Against Online Charter School
• March 14, 2013: K12 Virtual Charter School Under Heavy Fire by Illinois Jobs Activists
• March 12, 2013: Fox Valley Charter School Controversy: K12 Disputes Grade Tampering Reports

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