It's early, I know. The Charter School Accountability Committee still needs to release its final findings regarding Pencader Charter School. But, the debate has been brewing over at Kilroys' with the constant conjecture around charter schools flowing with gusto.
No one can deny that life under DE. Sec. of Education Murphy was been pretty humdrum. The turnaround unit is belly-up. DEDOE employees fleeing Dover to districts have been reclassified from resignation to "transfer" on all SBE reports. Murphy has yet to come out with a strong stance on anything education. If a stay-at-home mom with nothing better to do than blog can see it, surely Murph knows its time to take a stand and be accountable for something. Pencader is Murph's out. And that doesn't bode well for PCS.
The Landscape that will shape Penacader's future -
Moyer. Old Moyer. New Moyer. All the Moyer in between. Moyer that no one other the SBE ever talks about anymore. Moyer was Markell's fast tracking of the Delaware's award-winning Race to the Rop application. Our gov. had to come out hard on failing schools. Moyer was a sacrificial lamb. DOE under former Sec. of Ed Lowery in partnership with the gov that appointed her put Moyer under that state's control and handed it over to K12, essentially a cyber school. This was Delaware's first forray into the world of Charter Management Organizations (CMO). K12 was the operator under which the school made little if any improvement. In Moyer-Round-II, a new board of directors was established who submitted an application to the SBE to claim Moyer as their own and promised grandiose changes. They kept K12 as the managment partner. As of the Dec. 20 SBE meeting and at every SBE meeting in the last six months, Moyer has been under intense scrutiny. SBE members have made it clear that to them, there appears to be no difference between Old Moyer, In-Between Moyer, and New Moyer. Furthermore Moyer is missed the deadline to submit its annual report, is showing dismal test scores, and has been cited by the DOE charter office as needed correction in eight areas.
Yet, Moyer is largely absent from the Charter debate in the blogosphere. Why? The gov. is entirely silent on Moyer. He will not utter a word. He know that the state takeover of the school under his direction was a total failure. But, this is Delaware and he knows well the Delaware way. The poultry state's education cockitrice belongs on his 1st pick for sec. of education, Lowery. And she's gone, off to a bigger salary in MD. Now Lillian was a helluva politician. She's smart enough to know that she's better off forgetting little Delaware and never uttering Moyer again. She and her supporters are as distant from Moyer as Delaware is from Mount Kilimanjaro. And since cyber education is pretty weak in Delaware, there are few with any expertise who are willing to engage the conversation. So Moyer will hang around Lowery's neck. And Lowery is gone.
So Coach Murphy is up at bat. He gets a pass on Moyer b/c he basically inherited a school on life support. He's taking his direction from the SBE, the only entity that really seems to have skin the game.
And along comes Pencader. The CSAC recommended closure during FR III. Lowery overrode the recommendation with the help of SBE and placed the school on probation. She's gone. The school continues to erode in all areas but finance. The schools' board of directors commits such miserable malfeasance during summer of 2012 that Pencader becomes the education media darling. Murphy reacts by asking the SBE to again place Pencader on FR. Now Pencader is Murphy's ballgame.
FR IV.
Pencader supporters claim that there's been a lot of change at the school as the result of FR IV. Most of those sitting on the board during Summer 2012 have come and gone and the school leader ousted.
However, I see problems:
1. The interim school leader is a former member of the highly dysfunctional board of 2012. Sorry, Steve Q. But it's the truth.
2. Three new charter schools just requested deferrels. At least one school cited the lack of school leader as a reason to delay opening.
3. Pencader's new board, supporters, and admin are playing the same tune as those who fought to keep the school open during previous reviews. There is also considerably less public support from persons of influence in Delaware as compared to FR III.
4. Murphy owns putting Pencader of FR IV. He's young in his position and yet to make a strong stand on any issue.
5. Murphy would have to be blind to not see how the state's intervention and continued patience with Moyer as an epic failure on the department's end. Yes, he can push the Moyer situation off to Lowery, but he took the lead on Pencader after did the two-step followed by her grace exit to MD. Murphy's big risk is that if he allows Pencader to continue to operate, there's a strong possibility that Pencader will become the next Moyer. And that will be on his shoulders and forever tied to his reputation.
6. There are strong rumors that the leaders of Delaware's high-performing charter schools want to see Pencader disappear. The school's continued public problems give anti-charter folks something to discuss and dissect. It's their proof that charter schools are not the panacea of success. Pro-charter has every reason to want to see this school closed and removed from the public conversation so that they can return to their mission of establishing charters and privatizing education. They can redirect the conversation to failing district schools and would gain some ground in advocating for the closure of some schools or the consolidation of some districts.
7. Murph would likely gleam some respect from the anti-charter folks by closing Pencader. This group would be able to claim a measure of success in seeing the school closed. They would owe that to Murphy.
8. Take #s 6 and 7 together and Murphy has a win-win. It's an opportunity for him to make a stand - His DOE will only support high-functioning (vs high-performing) charters. This would also be his spring board to attack districts for their failures. Equal opportunity.
9. Pencader's latest board must write a plan that will prove that the school can overcome its deficits. That plan must be so dynamic and workable that it overcomes the educational landscape that currently exists in Delaware. It has to mitigate all fears and biases of the department and SBE. That's a monumental task. And I'm not sure it can be done by anyone, my doubts don't lie with Pencader alone.
So, without seeing Pencader's response to the preliminary report nor the CSAC final recommendation, and based solely on the information that is available in the public domain, I think this is Murphy's time to shine.
Only time will tell if my evaluation is on or near the mark. As you all know, this is just conjecture, a best guess. And it actually has less to do with Pencader and a whole lot more to do with DOE, Murphy, and Markell.
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