basis woes
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Anonymous
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Students leaving mid-year raise questions for charter school [BASIS DC mentioned]
The Washington Examiner By Rachel Baye April 14, 2013 D.C. charter board staff are recommending that Basis Public Charter School should not be allowed to add 35 seats next year because a large number of students are leaving in the middle of the school year. The Ward 4 school, which opened this year, is currently allowed to enroll up to 468 students. But at the beginning of October, the number of students at the middle school was 443, and a more recent count shows 417 students enrolled, according to documents the school provided to the charter board. A representative of Basis did not return requests for comment. Basis also has a small number of special needs students compared with other public schools in the city, said charter board Deputy Director Naomi Rubin DeVeaux. Only 5 percent of the student body are special needs, compared with an average of 12 to 14 percent elsewhere. That and the mid-year drop represent "some troubling early data" for the school, which is in its first year, the charter board staff explained in a memo prepared for Monday's board meeting. The school is already slated to add 43 students next year, including 26 in a new ninth grade, which will bring the enrollment cap to 511. The staff has recommended denying the school's request to increase that cap to 546 because of the issues. Basis was one of 11 charter schools that asked to increase enrollment in the fall. |
Anonymous
| When the enrollment isn't chosen by the school, why should it be penalized when students/families realize it's a bad fit? Also, is there a quota for special needs? |
Anonymous
| I don't know much about the school, but losing 26 kids doesn't seem that bad for a new school of that size to me. |
Anonymous
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That was just mid year. I bet it will be at least a 10% attrition rate by year end.
BASIS doesn't return the per pupil funding when the students leave after the count day in October. To be honest, I'm pleasantly surprised the Charter School Board is doing anything at all. Interesting. |
Anonymous
| Does DCPS return the funding when students leave after count day? |
Anonymous
| Do charters get additional funding when they add students after the audit (as BASIS did)? |
Anonymous
Where do they go? Honest Question, where do they go? It's too late for them to go private or charter after the count day. |
Anonymous
It's not too late for them to go to private or charter, or another DCPS for that matter. Ever heard of wait lists? If a student leaves a particular DCPS after count day, does the funding follow them to their new DCPS or charter? |
Anonymous
Funding doesn't follow... that's one reason why schools don't like adding students after the deadline AND why disciplinary action against behavior problems are often not taken to the expulsion level (at charters) until after that deadline too. When I taught in charters I literally remember one leader saying " Just hold out until the audit " when dealing with a particularly dangerous student. It's messy business. |
Anonymous
| This is a ridiculous system. |
Anonymous
 How accurate is the rest of the article?
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Anonymous
Even if they added them it looks like others left. Their total number is down currently. Ouch. I wonder if the AZ schools had the same fluctuations. Or even other new charters here-- real charters, not the ones which closed quickly. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
No. They don't get additional funding when they add students after count day. However, assuming those students are a good fit, they will get additional funding in subsequent years. Frankly, this "count day" funding system is pretty silly. DCPS and the PCSB should set up computer system that continuously monitors enrollment and issues checks every month based on the average daily enrollment of the previous month. That would create incentives to recruit families that become disillusioned with their school mid-year. |
Anonymous
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As someone who has been toying with the idea of shifting high-IQ DD from a private to BASIS in 5th .... this is not welcome news.
Well, the part about the students self-selecting out of BASIS when they find it's not to their liking -- that's fine. The news that kids with significant learning disabilities did not sign up in the first place to get their ass kicked academically, that makes complete sense. But the part about the Board being shocked, shocked that a lot of former DCPS kids are crying Uncle! is bad. I fear a watering down of the rigor is certainly around the corner. Shoot. |