NJ Education Report

[Editor’s Note: This is an editorial by Lorna Hassel, Founder and Director of Renaissance Regional Leadership Charter School in Pemberton (Burlington County). Renaissance Regional, along with D.U.E. Season Charter School in Camden and Greater Newark Charter School, were summarily closed last June by the N.J. Department of Education, which cited low test scores and a lack of leadership. The non-profit charter school’s unexpected closing, said Hassel, sent parents into mourning. In fact, 20% of Renaissance Regional families have chosen to homeschool their children rather than enroll them in district schools.]

Last June 24th, I co-authored an article in NJ Spotlight about the circumstances in regards to the procedures followed in closing three charter schools.  I wrote about my school Renaissance Regional Leadership Charter School (RRLCS) in hopes of bringing about some much needed changes to the State’s charter laws and regulations.  Our school was being closed by the NJ Department of Education due to a need for academic improvement despite the school’s “very high performance” in student growth percentiles on state-wide and peer based comparisons.

Our school opened in September 2010 and most of our students are from Pemberton Township where 5 of the District’s 7 elementary schools lag behind in academic achievement. (NJ School Performance Reports).

On June 12, 2013 we received a letter from the commissioner of education stating that Renaissance’s state assessment score results needed improvement.  The only accurate and comparable measurements to the 2013 results are the results that would take place on the next set of state assessments schedule for spring 2014. There was no mention of a probation period but we took the letter very seriously since the scores did not meet our expectations and goals for our students.  We immediately implemented additional remediation initiatives to improve student scores for the April 2014 state testing period.  We were denied that opportunity.    

Our school was officially closed on June 30th.

Last week, I received the overall 2014 state assessment scores for the students at RRLCS.  Renaissance students scored 69% in Language Arts and 79% in Math.  According to the Department of Education’s School Performance guidelines, Renaissance growth rate last year was 80% in the statewide category, (High Performance is defined as being between the 60th and 79.9th percentiles and Very High anything over 80.) The new test scores showed our students overall gained 23 percentage points in Language Arts and 20 percentage points in Math. It will be interesting to see what our growth rate is this year.

We are very proud of all of our students and our teachers.  Our efforts, those by the administration, teachers, parents, and students worked!

In the March 5th closure letter we received by [Asst. Commissioner and Chief Innovation Officer] Evo Popoff, he wrote that “simply put, there is no evidence that the school is providing its students with a quality education or that it has the capacity to dramatically improve student achievement in the future.”  This decision was primarily made by the Department’s employees who conducted a site visit to our school with no consideration for the growth rate that had already been demonstrated.

 To be perfectly frank, we tried to present our remediation efforts which were extremely comprehensive to those conducting the site visit but the plans did not receive attention they deserved.  At no time did we receive any direction, suggestions, or information regarding our remedial program.  So the question is, what were the determining factors that drew Department Officials to the conclusion that our school was not capable of student academic growth?

We also take offense to the statement that the school was not providing a quality education as the NJDOE ranked our school as one of the highest achieving in the state in regards to student growth percentiles.  That statistic was reported just last January 2014 – two months before we received Mr. Popoff’s letter advising us of our school closing due to a lack of academic achievement.

One of the problems lies in the fact that the procedures that should have been followed were not followed by the Department.  N.J.A.C. 6A:11-2-4 clearly states that there is a process to be afforded prior to the revocation of a charter.  We never received a probation period: yet, other schools did and one is currently on its second probation period.  We were never afforded a formal remediation plan working with the state, which is also clearly defined in regulation.

At the close of June, the NJ Supreme Court refused to hear our case to delay the NJ DOE’s decision to close our school.  We presented evidence that we were not granted due process as directed by the State’s charter school regulations.  We weren’t granted a probation period and no one from the Department of Education engaged in our remediation efforts.  The Court ruled against our request for emergent relief because we “failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merit”.

All we were asking for is that the NJ DOE wait until our spring state assessment scores were in.  Those scores were the determining factor if our remedial efforts were successful.  

Our scores have vindicated us but such vindication has come with a very high price of the unnecessary closure of our school.

It’s been reported that the State Board of Education will be reviewing some changes in the charter regulations.  I am asking that they take a close look as to the procedures that are being practiced in evaluating and closing charter schools and the requirements recently put into place under the Performance Frameworks.  As demonstrated in what happened to our school, there is a real need for oversight and review.

By not following the regulatory procedures in evaluating and closing charter schools as exemplified in our school’s case, the system is cheating students, parents, schools, and taxpayers.  The closure of our school is a real travesty of injustice.