Parents rally around Canton charter school facing possible state closure
By Leonardo Bevilacqua | Originally published by Mississippi Today
CANTON — Lakiska Garrett wanted a different school for her granddaughter. She said her granddaughter cried each day she had to go to the local public elementary school, where she felt ignored and overwhelmed. Then a kindergartener, the girl would sometimes play sick or lie on the floor.
Once, she fell to the ground and cried at the school drop-off because she didn’t want to enter her classroom, Garrett said.
When SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy, a charter school, opened in Canton in 2023, Garrett was excited. She enrolled her grandchild in the first grade at SR1 CPSA and saw her succeed. She was able to read with higher proficiency and make her way confidently through math worksheets.
“All my grandbaby needed was someone to be hands-on and take their time,” Garrett said. “I believe if I would have left her in public school that she’d probably have failing grades.”
Now the state may revoke the schools charter because of numerous concerns with its leadership, including severe fiscal mismanagement.
In December, the Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board began the process of shuttering SR1 CPSA after regulators found the school had one day’s cash on hand, turned in multiple late financial audits, and had overprojected its enrollment for a third year. Regulators also said they have evidence of food safety issues in the cafeteria in violation of federal standards.
Regulators also expressed academic concerns about SR1 CPSA during a May hearing. Seven out of 11 Individualized Education Plans, or IEPs, were missing parent signatures, according to Dillon Pitts, charter school authorizer board attorney. These plans outline how school officials are accommodating a student’s disability. The board also claimed to not have received documentation for who supplied the school curriculum.
Amid the fight about the schools’ future, parents and some SR1 CPSA employees said they’re in the dark about what’s going on and why.
Thursday, at an event that school officials organized to discuss the situation, some SR1 CPSA employees asked if they would still have jobs in the fall. Parents asked for suggestions of how they could advocate for the school. Some questioned why the authorizer board was moving to close the school. Parents, guardians and one employee said they’ve had minimal direct communication from state officials about the situation. One employee shared that school leaders have provided minimal communication about the charter revocation proceedings, too.
They also expressed anxiety at losing one of the few alternatives to the local public school district. They said their kids enjoyed the more experiential approach to learning, which they say involves more projects and science experiments. School officials organized the event to dispel misconceptions about the charter revocation process, which still may culminate with the school’s closure.
Ozie Smith, whose daughters attend SR1 CPSA, said she has felt ignored at charter authorizer board meetings about the school. She wishes state leaders and regulators would consider parent perspectives more. She recalled a cold reception from charter authorizer board members when she explained how impactful the more experimental curriculum had been for her daughters.
Authorizer board Executive Director Lisa Karmacharya told Mississippi Today that it’s school officials’ responsibility, and not the agency’s, to communicate with a charter school’s stakeholders before the board takes action. Public school boards are tasked with keeping the public informed on actions, spending and other updates as outlined in state law.
“Our responsibility and our contract is with the governing board who has the responsibility to oversee and communicate with the school until the charter board takes action to actually close the school, and then there would be responsibility on both ends,” Karmacharya said.
The charter contract requires that governing authorities keep a record of all action taken by the school as well as all corporate affairs. In the case of SR1 CPSA, that would be the board of SR1 (Scientific Research), the Ridgeland-based nonprofit organization run by Tamu Green that operates the charter school.
Some parents say embattled charter school was a ‘godsend’
After the recent event at SR1 CPSA, some parents and guardians lamented losing an alternative to the local public school district. Garrett said she would rather homeschool than send her granddaughter back to the local public schools. Three other SR1 CPSA parents said they have the same plan.
Smith said a representative from the Canton Public School District called her two months into the beginning of the 2023-24 school year to ask why her daughter hadn’t shown up for classes. Smith was shocked that the district just realized she was enrolled elswhere. She said she knew at that moment she had made the right choice for her kids.
SR1 CPSA is for parents that “want something different for their child,” Smith would tell other Canton parents with students enrolled in the local public schools. In the public schools, they were “only teaching the kids how to pass the state test.”
For Garrett and Smith, SR1 CPSA has been a “godsend.” Around 88% of the school’s roughly 19 third-graders passed their state reading tests this year. Garrett said her granddaughter has learned how to read faster than her own children did.
Smith was one of the first parents to enroll her child in kindergarten at SR1 CPSA. She also went door-to-door to recruit local parents. She said she was met with much resistance because locals have a lot of pride for their hometown public schools.
Canton Public School District elementary schools have improved their test scores in the last five years. Two elementary schools in the district received a B on the state accountability model last year, while one received an A. SR1 CPSA enrolls 98 students, while roughly 3,142 students attend district schools.
Some parents sought out SR1 CPSA for its curriculum geared toward careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — or STEM.
Three parents and grandparents who left Canton public schools for SR1 CPSA said bullying is common in the district, and they accused district leaders of playing favorites when disciplining students. Canton public schools also reported 90 incidents of violence during the 2023-2024 school year, which is the most recent year with data available. Beverly Luckett, a spokesperson for Canton schools, declined to comment.
Smith told Mississippi Today her children had a different experience at SR1 CPSA. She said its teachers and administrators are largely not from Canton. She said they’ve exposed her daughters to new career pathways like engineering and got them thinking early about their futures.
“We needed things to make our kids think differently,” Smith said. “This is college prep. They’re thinking about college.”
Some SR1 CPSA parents said they want to help the school and be better advocates.
Smith told Mississippi Today she wishes she was better informed about the figures and data on which the charter authorizer board based its decision to start the process of shuttering the school. The authorizer board cited late audits, over-projected enrollments, lack of adequate documentation for spending, incomplete recordkeeping and food safety issues as some grounds for closure.
“We don’t have as many options in Canton, and that’s the issue,” Smith said. “I really wish that they could see it from our eyes so they can let us know what we can do, if we can do anything to change their decision.”
This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Source: Original Article
