Private Education Center

Rocky Mountain Classical Academy parents and staff packed the Falcon School District 49 board room Thursday night, worried that the district might revoke the school’s charter contract.

That didn’t happen and school will start next week as scheduled for nearly 1,000 Rocky Mountain Classical students in kindergarten through 11th grade.

But the D-49 board did vote unanimously to tighten oversight of the school.

The board is using a new state law that allows a district to take over supervision of critical financial and other decisions of charter schools that are struggling.

D-49 Superintendent Bradley Schoeppey said after the meeting that shutting the school was never an option.

“I think there’s a lot of work to be done to get them to where they can be financially successful,” he said.

The vote came after several hours of discussion in executive session, some of which included the charter school’s board. The state education commissioner must approve the move before the collaborative work can begin to move Rocky Mountain Classical toward financial stability and educational improvement.

David Martin, district board president, said the board is not opposed to charter schools.

Rocky Mountain Classical has been dealing with financial issues for some time. At a special district board meeting in May, the charter school was placed on probation and told to resolve five specific issues by June 30.

Failure to meet the probationary terms could have led to the revocation of the charter.

In a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the district and Rocky Mountain Classical, the school agreed to several ongoing terms and accomplished four of the five requirements: put accounting information into a computerized system; provided audit materials to the district; provided requested budget documents, and submitted budget projections for the 2010-11 school year.

But the school was about $80,000 in the red at the end of the fiscal year.

Bryan Tate, the charter school’s board president, said it was an accounting issue and that as of July 31 the school was $400,000 in the black, with all vendors paid.

Schoeppey said the two boards worked cooperatively to draft a supervisory plan to work toward financial stability. The agreement will last until the end of the school year, June 2011.

While finances led to District 49’s action Thursday, recently released CSAP scores are another source of concern.

Christopher Wright, district board vice president, said the high school test scores reveal real challenges and he said they can be linked to the financial quagmire.

Rocky Mountain Classical had some of the lowest scores in the district, especially for 10th graders, something that several district board members mentioned in comments during the meeting.

“Your scores scare us,” said Andy Holloman, district board treasurer. “It is our role to empower success.”

Schoeppey said the district has no intention of changing the charter school’s curriculum, but it can offer professional help and instructional coaches for the teaching staff.

“We want what’s best for kids,” he said.

Tate said he welcomed the insight and support from the district. He said the financial situation has been turned around in the last six months, and financial stability means the focus can shift to improving the educational experience for students.

If all goes well after a year, the district will return full control of Rocky Mountain Classical to its board under the original charter.

—Contact the writer at 636-0162.

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