Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Entrepreneur High making public appeal for survival

When the state Board of Education voted to revoke the charter of the all-but-defunct Entrepreneur High, it left only a small sliver of possibility for the school to ever reopen.

It's unclear whether the charter school's board is going to pursue it, but that hasn't stopped its leaders from launching a public opinion campaign in favor of the school.

This is the school that reported having only $14 in the bank while holding classes. Entrepreneur High ended up closing its doors last month. When the state board voted to revoke the charter, it afforded them 11 days to appeal the decision. By my count, that window expires this week.

The state Office of Charter Schools told me that they haven't received any word from the school on an appeal.

But it sure looks like the school's chairman, Robert Hillman, has been laying the groundwork. He set up a petition in favor of reopening the school that has gotten 300 signatures so far. He's also coordinated a letter-writing campaign that's filled my inbox with notes from parents and students at the school and targeted the state school board.

Here's an example:
Click to enlarge

Hillman has not responded to my requests for comment on whether the school will appeal.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: The school has appealed. Read the story here.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

hmm...nobody cares. Most students attend public schools in this community, or attend one of our fine private institutions or are homeschooled. How many Char Meck kids actually attend Charters anyway?

BTW, fortunately no one was injured on the two early morning bus wrecks today. Why a full sized (Magnet school) bus transporting only 12 students? This is a big problem (and expense) for CMS.

Anonymous said...

Anon 12:31,
I presume you are talking in gest, most good charters around Charlotte are filled to capacity with long wait lists of families trying to escape CMS. Lake Norman Charter is a prime example.

Of course if you had the option between North Meck or Hopewell (which are both almost all black) or Lake Norman Charter, where would you send your child, for most that would be an easy decision.

Wiley Coyote said...

12:31

...and there were ZERO students on the bus that was hit on Clanton Road.

Also, how many more students were in line to be picked up to go to Waddell?

Anonymous said...

I can't believe the moderators allowed that racist comment to go active. So Lake Norman Charter is better because it has no blacks? Thank you for affirming the true purpose of the charter movement...re-segregating schools.

Anonymous said...

anon 4:35,
Have you seen or been around either Hopewell or North Meck lately? I have, Lake Norman Charter is a much better and safer school than either Hopewell or North Meck.

Anonymous said...

sorry, and you're correct that I didn't think about all the charter schools in other parts of the county. Sadly, I live in the south charlotte area where there are NO charters available to our students.

Anonymous said...

5:48

The premier "gifted" charter school in your area was formerly located across the street from CMS' Endhaven Elementary (where my children attended school). This particular charter school has one of the highest and most consistent standardized test scores in the state - which I have no problem with. Good for this charter school.

You are correct that there are NO charter schools in south Charlotte to address the needs of average to above-average kids let alone those with learning disabilities.

Alicia
TeamCFA public charter school teacher