On December 8, 2011, the Hawaii Charter School Review Panel (CSRP) tripped over itself, again, in unlawfully taking action against the charter of the Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School (LCPCS).
Without hearing from LCPCS Interim Local School Board members who were present at the Panel’s meeting, acting contrary to agenda information previously provided to the charter school, and following an illegal “executive session”, the Panel violated multiple State laws and greatly exceeded its own authority by trying to delay the opening of the charter school.
The charter school will seek immediate relief from the State Board of Education and expects that the school will open July 1, 2012 as lawfully scheduled.
LCPCS is now accepting letters of interest and resumes from qualified teachers. Inquiries regarding student registration or employment should be directed to info@laupahoehoecharterschool.com. Go to www.laupahoehoecharterschool.org for more information on LCPCS.
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Filed under: Big Island, Education, Hawaii, Kids, Legal, State Affairs Tagged: | Board of education, Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School
I’m a little confused about how the CSRP engaged in any “illegal” actions. The ILSB was instructed to hold elections for the LSB as required by charter law and as specified in the DIP, the ILSB decided not to comply, and the CSRP responded by telling them that they couldn’t open as a charter, since they had not met the required assurances.
Either the CSRP is allowed to regulate charters, or it is not. And if the CSRP doesn’t regulate charters, then the charters are not regulated by anyone, and they can do whatever they want. I don’t think that anyone would agree that non-regulation is a good idea, especially given recent events documented in the news.
It is my understanding that the only purpose of the CSRP is to allow oversight of charter schools. This means that if the charter schools choose not to comply with charter law, the CSRP is mandated to do something about it.
If the ILSB was more interested in holding elections and less interested in giving legal non-reasons why they shouldn’t hold elections, this would not be an issue.
Maybe you should be giving a little more press to the non-compliance of the ILSB, and a little less to the reasonable reaction of the CSRP.