Finding the perfect school for our kids is so important to parents today. This is why school choice is such a treasured opportunity available to this generation of kids that wasn’t available in previous years. For those of us who are researching charter options, we may be looking for several offerings that match the needs of our family. For our family, though my kids were in a school district with notoriety, I was looking ahead to high school. I wanted a school where my kids could grow and develop into the leaders, I sensed they would be one day. I also wanted smaller class sizes and a more traditional education model. I desired for my kids to be taught by teachers not just through the use of technology. I was looking for hands-on project-based learning and individualized learning plans. This school needed to challenge my student who loved learning and challenge my one who did not appreciate it yet at the same time. The non-negotiable was this school also needed to be a college preparatory school from K-12th grades because I did not want my kid’s future to be limited due to the school, we chose for them. For many of you who are reading this article, you want the same things for your kids. You may be thinking, does such a school exist?
Yes, this school, or the promise of this school does exist at least on paper. This is the essence of the charter document submitted by Langtree Charter Academy in 2012 to the Department of Instruction. Once approved, this document is legally binding. The mission of Langtree Charter Academy is clear within their submitted charter: The Mission of Langtree Charter Academy is to build a rigorous and productive learning environment where students can reach their academic potential and where teachers set clear educational goals…students will realize their potential as productive members of the local and global societies and the 21st Century workforce. A focus on citizenship and experimental learning through community will be present at every grade level (page 4.) Langtree Charter Academy will be a K-12 college preparatory education system that has a keen focus on stakeholder satisfaction (page 15).
For most of us who work in a company, our decisions are guided by our company’s mission statement and core values. We wouldn’t see Nike launching a fried chicken business or LuLu Lemon opening up burger fast-food chains. If they did, they would take the synergy of their company away from their overall mission which would eventually impact the quality of their shoes and clothing. Instead of getting the exceptional product we are used to getting in their stores, the consumer would get a mediocre product.
For those of us at Langtree Charter Academy in Mooresville, this is what we are experiencing. We are the only for-profit charter school in our community. This means that fifteen percent of our budget goes directly to CSUSA. Our budget is formed from the money allocated for each student by the school district in which they attend. Being a for-profit company also impacts their enrollment numbers because they no longer regard the classroom size numbers in their charter to be indicative of the standard they need to provide, nor do they consider the fire code limitations for each room imperative to uphold. Rather, this company will disregard those numbers to push enrollment beyond the caps initially instated to pay for the needs of their corporate entity.
Although they are making the budget demands of CSUSA’s corporate entity, it’s our teachers, faculty, and most of all our students who suffer the cost. They suffer the cost of teacher turnover due to low teacher pay and inadequate supplies for their classrooms. Our AP Biology and Chemistry students still do not have a specified lab room, nor do they have lab equipment to experience the most basic of lab opportunities to prepare them to pursue a science degree in college. Yet, our charter states, we are a “college prep school from K-12”. Our students don’t have classroom sets of books and teachers are without the training and resources they need to uphold the Cambridge Curriculum our charter states is one of the core pieces of our elementary, middle, and high school education model. Our teachers are supposed to be over 90% certified, yet we are currently hiring teachers with no certification or teaching background.
In spite of CSUSA listing on their website that they are “Putting Students First,” we are currently experiencing quite the opposite. If our for-profit company, CSUSA, truly put students first, then our high school students would have lab rooms with specified lab equipment. Our elementary classrooms would follow their student-to-teacher ratios outlined in the charter. Instead of putting thirty-five students in a room meant for twenty-three kids maximum. If they were “putting students first,” our teachers would be trained and certified in the Cambridge and AIG classes they are teaching. They would also be certified in all subject matters including engineering for our engineering classes.
One of the core values of CSUSA is integrity. Is it integral to promise things on paper and then not fulfill them? Is it integral for the upper management of the company to say the school is sufficient for the community but know that you nor your friends would send their students to our school? When CSUSA agreed to manage our school, they had a copy of our charter in their hands. If they were unable to deliver on the essence of the charter, why did this company agree to be our management company?
A charter is a binding agreement. By law, the board and the management company (as in our case), are required to fulfill the charter. They are to fulfill the charter not just as a by-line on a social media ad that showcases the school’s great STEM program, which doesn’t exist, but in actual deliverables that help our students learn, grow, and be prepared for life after high school.
Unfortunately, we are in a situation where the Department of Education, Charter School Review Board, nor CSUSA will truly listen to our many concerns regarding our children’s education. We are met with platitudes and told this is a school of choice. We can choose to go to another school. Although, that is true, where is the accountability to uphold the charter submitted? The charter that is a legally binding document? How can this company reconcile being a company of integrity when they cannot even deliver the basics of our charter? It’s time for parents to stand up for change and instead of running from the challenges faced by our schools, to dive in and seek to be part of the solution.
For Langtree Charter Academy, it wouldn’t be integral as a parent to recommend this school to others in the community, knowing how far we are from providing the education our students deserve. We do have some incredible teachers who have stayed the course and yes, we have students getting into college, but this past year, we have become aware of a broken charter, unkept promises, and careless comments which make us painfully aware CSUSA is not interested in fixing the problems on our campuses nor are they interested in fulfilling the mission and vision of the charter. In addition to Langtree Charter Academy’s struggle to fulfill the charter which is binding for them, this is a consistent thread of concern for other schools they manage in our area. Those schools are Iredell Charter School of the Arts, Valor Preparatory School, Concord Lake STEAM Academy, Cardinal Charter Academy, Cardinal Charter Academy at Wendell Falls, Union Preparatory Academy at Union Trail, Steele Creek Preparatory Academy, and West Lake Preparatory Academy. Every parent who attends one of these schools, should ask to review the charter and its mission and vision and then ask the question: “Is my school delivering on what they promised in this charter agreement?” Integrity is defined as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles and moral uprightness”. Integrity is fulfilling the promise a company makes to its stakeholders.
