JOAN BARRON Star-Tribune capital bureau | Posted: Thursday, May 1, 2008 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - The Laramie County School District 1 board should have worked and negotiated with applicants for a charter school in Cheyenne, attorneys for the applicants argued Wednesday.
In denying the application, the school board only considered the interest of the district and not the interests of the community or the students as the state law on charter schools intends, attorneys for the proposed Cheyenne Classical Academy said Wednesday.
The attorneys, Lucas Buckley and Matt Kaufman, argued the charter school's case before the Wyoming Board of Education in the appeal of the school board's�unanimous negative decision in January.
Buckley claimed the administrative contested-case hearing procedure the board required put the board and the school in opposing positions rather than a cooperative position.
"Fundamentally it taints the process," he said.
The way the process should work is for the board to allow the school to open, subject to review to be sure it hews to state standards, Buckley said.
During the successful application of the Snowy Range Academy in Laramie, the Albany County school board negotiated with the applicants from the beginning and did not require a contested-case hearing, said Kaufman, quoting from earlier testimony by Phil Nicholas, the Snowy Range Academy attorney.
The proposed�Cheyenne Classical Academy tried to mimic the successful Snowy Range Academy in Laramie, the lawyers said.
Kaufman said the charter school backers filed the appeal because they need to know how to get a charter school approved.
He also said the proposed school would have an economically diverse K-9 student body. One-third of the enrollees, he said, would be home-schooled students.
David Evans, the attorney for the Cheyenne school board, said the trustees did not prejudge the application and acted in good faith.
Although the school board�rejected the�application, the trustees also invited the supporters to continue to work with the district, he said.
The board, he said, is not opposed to the concept of a charter school, and there is no evidence the board opposed the applicants "from the get go," Evans said.
The applicants, he said, are disappointed and feel the board should have very little role in approving charter schools.
"They're trying to argue for a statute that isn't there," Evans said. "In Wyoming at this time, a charter school is part of the school district and is accountable to the district."
Charter school supporters have said they intend to try to get the state charter school law changed in the 2009 legislative session.
At one point during the hearing, Jim McBride said that as state superintendent of public instruction he is concerned that a charter school could be allowed to operate for five years without any review.
An inadequate education for that many years �could destroy a student's future,� McBride said.
After the hearing, Carie Aslor, vice chairwoman of the board for the proposed Cheyenne charter school and co-director of the Wyoming Association of Charter Schools, said there was a misunderstanding over the review period.
The schools are reviewed every year, and at any time they are not meeting the criteria, �the charter would be pulled immediately," she said.
She said charter school supporters don't intend to start a school if it's not going to be successful.
As for the hearing before the state Board of Education, she said, "It was nice to get some of our concerns out there. I don't know the way they're thinking. I think they have all the information they need."
The 6-year-old Laramie Snowy Range Academy is the only true charter school operating in the state. Two charter schools at Fort Washakie on the Wind River Indian Reservation are charter schools in name only because they are sponsored by the local school district, Aslor said.
The Laramie County School District 1 administration opposed the Cheyenne charter school application on several grounds, including the plan to hire teachers at will, lack of transportation, and lack of a facility.
The Board of Education will decide on the appeal May 12.
Contact Joan Barron at joan.barron@trib.com or by phone at 307-632-1244.
* Last we knew: The Cheyenne school board rejected an application for a Cheyenne Classical Academy charter school, and applicants appealed the decision to the state Board of Education.
* The latest: The state board heard arguments on the case Wednesday.
* What's next: The Board of Education will decide on the appeal May 12.]]->