Parents Fight for Academy

Director of Education Allyson Shoen works with a first-grader.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Parents of students who attend The Academy of Moore County are organizing a fight to save the charter school.

Last week, the State Board of Education denied a request to renew the school's charter for an additional three years. The school is appealing the decision, but if those efforts fail, it will be forced to close June 30.

The decision has upset parents who firmly believe in the school's mission. About 30 parents gathered at the school Monday morning to discuss ways to raise awareness about the issue. They've created a Facebook group and plan to contact government officials - from state representatives, to U.S. senators, to the U.S. Department of Education and even the White House - about the situation. They held a "phone-a-thon" Tuesday.

Allyson Schoen, director of education, gave an impassioned defense of her school before the parents Monday. She questioned why the state board didn't visit the school before making its decision, and said she was "infuriated" and "appalled" by what she saw going on in Raleigh.

"My problem is, how can you shut a building down when you've never made a visit?" she said. "You don't know what's going on in these classrooms You've never been here to see the differentiated instruction going on. You've never been able to see a kid get excited about coming to school, and wanting to be here every day.

"I see that ... Don't tell me we're not doing our job. We are doing our job."

Schoen criticized the state for focusing on test scores, instead of the "whole child" - including social and developmental growth. The school has many students who struggled in the traditional public school system. Parents at the meeting said their children are now thriving in The Academy's environment of small-class sizes and personal attention.

"We as educators have to give [students] an opportunity," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, [the state board] is not allowing us that opportunity by closing this school."

Schoen, her staff and the parents appear confident that they can successfully appeal the state board's decision and keep the school open.

State Rep. Jamie Boles attended the meeting and expressed his support for the parents' effort. He also voiced his confusion over why the state board would make such a decision. He said he, Sen. Harris Blake and Rep. Garland Pierce met with officials from the state's Office of Charter Schools, who informed them that they recommended that The Academy be granted a three-year charter renewal.

"We cannot figure out from the board's side," he said, "because all of the benchmarks from DPI (N.C. Department of Public Instruction) set for you all, you all have met. We don't understand what's going on."

The state cited the school's "low performance" as its reason for not renewing the charter.

"The State Board of Education looked at the school's performance, which was low, and debated the issue and felt that it should not continue its charter," said Sara Clark, spokesperson for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

The Academy met federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and the state's expected growth goals for the 2008-2009 school year. It was identified as a "priority school" by the state, meaning that fewer than 60 percent of its students' end-of-grade test scores were at or above achievement level III on state testing. Level III is considered "proficient."

The Academy adopted its current kindergarten through eighth-grade model for the 2005-2006 school year. It was founded as a middle school in 1997.

According to records on DPI's Web site, The Academy has met its AYP goals three out of the last six school years - in 2003-2004, 2005-2006, and 2008-2009. It met the state's academic growth expectations three of the last seven years - 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2008-09.

The Academy was identified as a "priority school" in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. It was called "low-performing" in 2007-08, meaning fewer than 50 percent of its students' scores on state tests were proficient.

It received "no recognition" in 2004-2005, meaning it didn't meet growth standards, but at least 60 percent of students were proficient" in testing. It had "high growth" and was named a "School of Distinction in 2003-2004 for having at least 80 percent proficiency and was called a "School of Progress" in 2002-2003 - meeting growth with at least 60 percent proficiency.

Schoen maintains the state is looking at past testing data, which does not accurately portray the school's recent progress. Despite its past struggles, the school has opened a new $2.2 million facility this year and has invested heavily in technology - part of the school's mission.

She admitted the school has had problems in the past, calling the administration a "revolving door" and was known in the community as a school of "last resort." She said the school's former facility in Southern Pines was "deplorable." She praised former Director of Education Bill Moore for stabilizing the school and giving it a vision.

But beginning in 2008, the school worked with the Office of Charter Schools to implement a corrective action plan to right the ship. A major part of that initiative was the construction of the new school building. This year, Schoen said 100 percent of its teachers are "highly qualified" - certified teachers teaching in their area of expertise.

It has also installed SmartBoards in 8 of 11 classrooms.

"Absolutely, it worked," Schoen said.

This year, the school has 174 students from Moore, Scotland, Hoke and Richmond counties. It has a waiting list of about 100 students.

Contact John Krahnert III at (910) 693-2473 or by e-mail at jkrahnert@thepilot.com.

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SusanComstock 3 years, 2 months ago

We as parents will do everything in our power to make sure that our children will have the best education. The children are the main goal here, we need to make sure they are taken care of. As you can see with the past comments. They are being taken care of and getting a wonderful education.

ladylane 3 years, 2 months ago

The battle is not yours it's the Lords. You have to have faith and beleive. Prayer changes things you always pray and beleive in the end results man can never do anything on their own, and anything God has his hand on no one can touch it. My prayers are with you.

SusanComstock 3 years, 2 months ago

Thank you for your prayers and support.

idoknowitall 3 years, 2 months ago

I have had a pleasurable time and some good laughs watching you all try and figure out just who “I” am. First let me say, you are “ALL” way off base. It’s sad though all of you felt the need to drag an innocent persons’ personal business into this. This teacher that was dismissed did not deserve it. I believe the only reason you felt the need to attack her was because it was the only leg you all had left to stand on. That goes to show it is hard to refute the “FACTS”, the “TRUTH”! Have any of you parents even considered doing any research to this school prior to placing your children here? Better yet, have you researched it now? Obviously not! We are in the same boat we have been in the past few years that I have been a part of this school. Only this time we have a new captain and a new school. However, this new captain seems to rid good teachers every time we turn around. What she did to some of the good teachers, my “good friends” last year just shows poor judgment. Not to mention the fact she let them go all summer thinking they still had a job and then for them to come back and be fired prior to staff meeting. Maybe Mr. Moore needs to come back out of retirement again to help steer us back on track. If The Academy does win this, I assure you my children will not be returning. The only two good reasons I continue this journey now is because I do not want to uproot my children in the middle of a school year and of course it allows me to show everyone just what this school is made of, however it doesn’t just need me to do that. But something tells me it won’t be here past June 30. What you all have read has also been sent to the SBOE. Having friends and family that are educators has given me guidance on how to go about bringing the “truth” to the table and just who to bring it to.

idoknowitall 3 years, 2 months ago

So Mrs. McCarty, please do encourage all our parents, including you, to ask Mrs. Schoen the truth. I think you will be surprised along with everyone else to find that these documents DO NOT exist. You mentioned that your child’s teacher had discussed these same points when she was fired. SO, shouldn’t that raise a red flag for you? It would me. Makes you wonder uh? Continue on with your phone-a-thon, parent academies, your prayer walk around the school and whatever else you feel may help you out. Because yours and machspeeds face is the only one it is going to back fire in. Maybe your prayer walk will help. Help walk off all that lard that is own your *ss! You know, you say you are helping out to support the school in anyway you can, but how is that possible when you’ve sat home most of last week. I suppose you helped when you took your son to the doctor too? Mrs. Duenzl, maybe you should walk in that prayer walk to. It just may help you stretch out those tight jeans and get rid of that camel toe you’ve got going on.

Again, we addressed most of these issues in a parent academy one morning back before Christmas. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a few of our concerns were that these classes had too many children in them and not enough help. We were asked to sign up to help volunteer. Some did, some didn’t. We also said this school lacked so much communication. This has still not changed! And lastly, shame on Mrs. Schoen and all the others that went forth with building this school knowing we had to have our charter renewed. I agree, the other buildings were small, classes had no windows, and we had no place to eat or play. The last time I checked it does not take a school of this magnitude or sunshine to teach a child. It takes a good teacher and three of those are now gone!

idoknowitall 3 years, 2 months ago

The person in the picture is not a teacher. It is a picture of the principal, in which she is only trying to stage herself and look pretty for the newspaper and reporter. Trust me she does not interact with the kids. This is only a front. The person that is slandering the school is me, "a parent", not the teacher that was fired. and yes...i DO know it ALL!

jcinaberdeen 3 years, 2 months ago

Idoknowitall....How very lady-like of you. Think anybody with any sense believes a word you say when you talk like that? I shudder at the fact that you have children and you present yourself like that in a public forum. Sad, very sad for them indeed...

poncho 3 years, 2 months ago

GOOD LORD!!! I don't know what's going on here, but SOMETHING! Some body DO TELL. Man, am I ever glad that my kids are grown and educated, I never had that problem in schools. They attended a Private scool until 3rd grade, then I chose public school, due to the fact that everytime I turned around, the school was begging for money, money, money. Christmas and Thanksgiving was insane, money for the needy as well as for the school. The only reason we put them in private school to begin with, was they were reading the newspaper at the age of 4. We spent a lot of time with our children, starting off by singing the ABC and days of the week songs to them when they were first born. By the time they were able to talk, they knew their ABC"s and days of the week. They were reading at age 4, so putting them in a private school made sense. They were far more advanced than normal public school children at that age. Private school gave them a great start, small classes, etc, but public school offered the AG classes, honors classes as well. Public scool offered everything we needed, clubs, sports and was free. They both won 4 yr academic scholarships to the college of their choice and graduated. They attended SCC for 2 years (we paid for it, no finanical aid, then transfered to a 4 yr school to use the free 4 yr scholarship.) I never had a problem with public school, we spent quality time with our kids, had them in sports, lots of clubs and church, leaving little time to think about getting into trouble. We did not allow disrespect from them, either to us or anyone else, if they got out of hand, I opened up a BIG can of WHOP BUTT. That's the problem with the world now, no-one is allowed to spank the kid. If my kids had company at our house and the visitor got out of hand, I'd open up a can for that kid too, and had their parents blessing to do so. It does take a community to rear a child, we all need to pitch in and help. I always told my friends that if they saw my child get out of hand, they certainly have my blessings to straighten them out.

poncho 3 years, 2 months ago

CONT. FROM MY LAST POST......That's another problem, everyone wants to sue if anyone spanks a child. If you straighten them out when they are young, you won't have that problem with them when they are old. And I have been guilty of whipping off my belt in the grocery store, didn't have to use it though, because they KNEW I would if they didn't straighten up. A woman stomped up to me and wanted to know just exactly what I planned to do with that belt and I politely told her that I was going to use it on her if she didn't get out of my face. She called the manager and he came up and said "Good job, I need you to take my kids for a week or two and straighten them out!" lol All this "time out" junk?? My daddy taught me "Speed reading" when I was young." He would write a message on a 2x4 block of wood and if you could read it before he smacked you on the head with it, you could "speed read." Just kidding, he never hit us with a block of wood, but he did write a message on it and show it to us, but he did whip off that belt, once or twice. He used to say "Ya'll lil youngans is fast learners, you only got 2 spankins in ur life." Yes, I AM a "fast learner" (lol), it didn't take me long to figure out the system, if I screw up, it's ""butt whoppin time, "so I stopped screwing up. All these parents taking the kid to the psyc, trying to figure out the problem, why is the kid acting out? I can TELL you why, if they were MY kids, I can promise you that would not happen. Daddy used to say "I might not can stop u from doin sumping, but I can damn well break you of the habit." Yup, we only did it once, I promise you that. OK, let the letters from the non spankers begin, telling me I abuse my child. But, I can honestly tell you, although grown up now, I do not have one child that would ever disrespect me, even now.