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Octorara Administration Office

228 HIGHLAND ROAD, SUITE 1, ATGLEN, PA 19310-1603 Phone: (610) 593-8238 Fax: (610) 593-6425 www.octorara.k12.pa.us Thomas L. Newcome II, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools

To: From: Date: Re:

Board Directors Tom Newcome April 8, 2013 Follow-Up

1. Kindergarten Numbers March 2012 1 7 2 5 1 16(217) Octorara Percent Private Schools 2. Home School Numbers 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 112 119 122 122 102 Data Not Available 114 90 93 83 86 99 182 8.0% 13(108) March 2013 1 9 3 0 0 13(201) 158 7.6% 17(133) (Total Private Population) (Total Charter Population)

Agora CS Avon Grove CS Collegium CS Graystone PA Leadership

Average from 2001-2002 through 2007-2008 = 115 Average from 2008-2009 through 2012-2013 = 90 3. Cost Comparisons With Unionville-Chadds Ford There was a question as to how Unionville-Chadds Ford School Districts cost per average daily membership was lower than the Octorara Area School Districts cost per average daily membership. This question was based on a chart in the budget report presented in March.

The answer is - It is not lower. When developing the chart a typographical error was made and the data for UCF was inadvertently put in as $15,166.68 and should have been put in as $16,166.68. 4. Comments About Charter Schools During Public Comments Mr. Kloss made several statements that I was reticent to address without some research and thought. His overall theme resonated with my thinking but before I went any further than I did with my comments at the meeting I decided that some reflection and study was appropriate. (Note: Mr. Klosss comments are italicized.)
a. Charter Schools have the ability to hand choose their students in a selection process that we as taxpayers have little transparency to. This allows these entities to easily control overhead and skew test scores by completely excluding or limiting their amount of students with learning disabilities and IEPs. Public Charter Schools must be made open to all students. However, all students do not have the opportunity to apply. This is not the public charter schools fault. It is the responsibility of the parent to apply. Therefore, it is easy to conclude that public charter schools by this fact alone are comprised by a different general population than traditional public schools. This population is comprised completely of parents that have a special interest in education. The traditional public school is comprised of mostly parents that have a special interest in education but those that are not also make up this population. Additionally, public charter schools may set enrollment limits. Traditional public schools may not. The public charter school must have a system for making the opportunity to attend equal for all students that apply. A lottery is a generally accepted form for this. There is some concern from the traditional public school perspective that the special education population at the public charter school does not represent the same special education population that is present at the traditional public school. I have not done the research on this concern so I cannot say with certainty that this concern is legitimate. Anecdotally, I believe this concern is legitimate.

b. All students are not created equal. Octorara School District is responsible to serve the needs of every student, no matter what their disability may be. Octorara School District is solely financially responsible to serve the needs of students with severe Autism and Down Syndrome. These students are not sent to charter schools. Many of these students are sent to specialized institutions such as the Timothy School. Although these institutions are outright phenomenal in their specialization, their cost can well exceed $100,000 per student. Additionally, Octorara is also financially responsible for those students with IEPs who need full support during the school day, such as wrap arounds or PCAs which can exceed $20,000 per student. Let me reiterate, these special needs students do not go to charter school and cannot be served properly by charter schools. The cost of these students is far from the simple averages that recent critics calculated Octorara spends per student. Public Charter Schools must comply with IDEA regulations. That being said, it is my observation that in general there is a much higher incident of higher need cases at the traditional public schools. I will do some research later on the types of exceptionalities served at the ten public charter schools where Octorara Area School District children attend and compare this to the population served in the OASD.

c. Charter Schools do not share their hiring requirements for teachers. While every teacher in the Octorara District has gone through at least four years of college and aggressive praxis testing, charter schools are free to hire who they wish off the street. Many charter school advocates know, but prefer not to admit, that they are a revolving door for teachers. Their low pay only attracts new college graduates with no connection or passion for the institution itself, and instead use their position as a stepping stone for job experience. Public Charter Schools are not required by law to report to the public the composition of their teaching staff. The District Report Card published on the PDE website is a twenty-four (24) page document for traditional public schools. The same document is twenty-three (23) pages for public charter schools. The missing page for the public charter schools is the page titled on the traditional public school report card as Teacher Qualifications. Public charter schools may hire all certified and qualified teachers. They may advertise positions stating their interest in hiring people with such qualifications. But as a general rule, Mr. Kloss is correct. They do not share their hiring requirements in an openly transparent fashion as required of traditional public schools. I will be working on developing data related to experience of teachers. d. Cyber charter schools are a growing strain to future Octorara budgets. These organizations collect the same amount of funding per student as a brick and mortar charter school. These forprofit out of state organizations have the ultimate business plan. Purchase a curriculum upfront, pay a few part time employees as teachers who may or may not have a background in education, fire up a website, and reap the profits. Essentially taxpayer dollars are used to run a website with little to no overhead, no oversight, and no ties to the state or municipalities. Not all cyber charter schools are for profit. However, all public charter schools, cyber or brick and mortar, are funded by public tax dollars. One public cyber school was developed, funded and is presently governed by public school districts. It is also the most successful of the cyber schools in Pennsylvania related to student achievement. Staffing patterns are different in all settings. I know that not all staff is part-time at cyber schools. At 21st Century Cyber Charter School the staff is largely full time. I cannot speak to staffing patterns at other cyber schools. There is a redundant cost to the taxpayer in charter schools that I have provided documentation for in the past. This redundant cost is accepted, argued for, because it provides parents choice in selecting a school for their child. My question and my position have been for several years, How can we justify this choice at the tax payers expense when the end results are not significantly different related to student achievement? I have gone so far as to say the results are not as good and at best they are the same. This always causes people to say that I am being critical of public charter schools and inferring that they are all bad schools. It is also inferred that I am not antichoice. This is not true. I think 21st Century Cyber Charter School provides a good educational experience for a select group of children. I believe Avon Grove Charter School is a good school. But I ask, at what cost do we provide this choice? I appreciate Mr. Kloss willingness to comment on this issue and hope that my clarification on several of his points does not inhibit him or anyone else from coming forward and addressing items they have as concerns. His understanding of the topic and the dialogue around his comments has helped all to understand the issue more deeply.

5. Special Education Cost I was asked to provide numbers for cost of most expensive special education services provided for students. These numbers do not fully include additional staffing for the District including school psychologist, specialist, instructional assistants and some proportion of teaching staff that otherwise would not be necessary. Top Three Cost = $103,563 $101,884 $98,414 7 1 43 384

Over $75,000 = $50,000 - $75,000 = $25,000 - $50,000 = Up To $25,000 =

6. Update on Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) I reported AYP for the Octorara Area School District and Specific Buildings as part of my Annual Report in November. I provided comparisons for our designation with Public Charter Schools where parents have chosen to apply for their children to attend. There was some recalculating of this data so I am providing the latest from the PDE website. Please see the attached article from the Morning Call, January 22, 2013 to clarify the terminology I have used below related to District Designation and School Designation. 2011-2012 Designation Octorara Area School District Octorara Primary Learning Center Octorara Elementary School Octorara Intermediate School Octorara Jr/Sr High School Warning Warning Made AYP Made AYP Warning # Students Attending 21st Century Cyber Charter School (District Designation) 21st Century Cyber Charter School (School Designation) Achievement House (District Designation) Achievement House (School Designation) Agora (District Designation) Agora (School Designation) Avon Grove Charter School (District Designation) Avon Grove Charter School (School Designation) Collegium (District Designation) Collegium (School Designation) Commonwealth Connections (District Designation) Commonwealth Connections (School Designation) Made AYP Warning Warning Corr.Act. 2 (2nd Year) Warning Corr.Act. 2 (3rd Year) Made AYP Warning Made AYP Warning Warning Corr.Act.2 (2nd Year)

12

14

110

15

Graystone Academy (District Designation) Graystone Academy (School Designation) PA Cyber (District Designation) PA Cyber (School Designation) PA Leadership (District Designation) PA Leadership (School Designation) PA Virtual (District Designation) PA Virtual (School Designation)

Warning School Improvement 2 Warning Warning Made AYP Corr.Act.2 (2nd Year) Warning Corr.Act.2 (2nd Year)

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These three schools are located in Chester County but have no Octorara Area School District students in attendance: Chester County Family Academy (District Designation) Chester County Family Academy (School Designation) Renaissance Academy (District Designation) Renaissance Academy (School Designation) Sankofa Academy (District Designation) Sankofa Academy (School Designation) Made AYP Made AYP Made AYP Made AYP Made AYP Made AYP

Notes: When designated as Districts there are seven of thirteen public charter school districts that made AYP. This is comparable to the six out of twelve traditional public school Districts in Chester County. Each Public Charter School is also designated as a School. Within this designation, not one of the ten public charter schools where OASD students attend was there a designation of Meets AYP. Finally, none of that is truly significant on its own. Each public charter school has strengths and weaknesses, much like the OASD and any other traditional public school. What it says is that there is not such a significant difference, or such wild success, that the additional expenditure of $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 can be justified especially in these economic times.

The mission of the Octorara Area School District, through a partnership among school, community and family, is to promote educational excellence in a safe, secure environment, empowering our students with the skills necessary to be successful, responsible members of society.

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