Panel OKs expansion of LISA Academy

The state’s Charter Authorizing Panel on Monday endorsed the expansion of central Arkansas’ LISA Academy charter school system into the state’s northwest corner but cut in half the requested 600-student increase in the enrollment cap.

The charter amendment, which will enable LISA Academy to absorb the struggling kindergarten-through-eighth grade Ozark Montessori Academy charter school in Springdale, now goes to the Arkansas Board of Education along with other panel decisions made Monday.

Specifically, the panel endorsed LISA Academy’s proposal to add a license to its existing state-issued charter to acquire Ozark Montessori, change the name of the school to LISA Academy-Springdale and make the Little Scholars of Arkansas (LISA) Foundation the sponsoring nonprofit organization for the Springdale school.

LISA Academy operators also asked to increase its 2,700-student enrollment cap to 3,300 students to allow an enrollment of 600 at the Springdale campus. But the panel cut that to 300.

The state Education Board can accept the authorizing panel’s decisions or conduct its own reviews of charter plans before finalizing the decisions.

Barbara Padgett, superintendent of the 148-pupil Ozark Montessori Academy, told the panel Monday that school operators are “confident that surrendering our charter is the best option for our children.”

That is to happen at the end of June.

The school — which has a D-letter grade from the state and has struggled to overcome financial as well as academic problems — has stabilized and is projected to end this school year with a balance, she said.

“Despite our strides, our model is not sustainable,” Padgett said.

School operators had earlier turned to the state Education Department and the nonprofit Arkansas Public School Resource Center for help. That led to a memorandum of understanding between Ozark Montessori and LISA Academy.

LISA Academy began to provide academic, technological and operational support to Ozark Montessori in the

current school year.

When it was proposed that Ozark Montessori join another charter organization, “Our board and administrative team looked at several options and we kept coming back to LISA, in part because of LISA’s commitment to educate all children,” Padgett said.

Luanne Baroni, assistant superintendent of the LISA Academy system — which has six schools on five campuses for 2,700 students in Little Rock and Sherwood — said the charter system was seeking a new part of the state in which to open schools.

Northwest Arkansas met the desired conditions of population growth, racial and ethnic diversity, and proximity to a university and to businesses that have interest in scienceand mathematics-trained students, said Baroni, who serves this year as a part-time project manager at the Springdale campus.

Charter Authorizing Panel member Toyce Newton of Crossett asked about the transition from a Montessori education program to a school that emphasizes science, technology, engineering

and mathematics as well as academic competition. Montessori education centers on self-directed student learning in which students of different ages are grouped together and teachers are facilitators rather than lecturers.

Padgett responded that the school has recently divided the multi-age groups into separate grade levels for some core academic subjects to enable educators to teach lessons based on the state’s academic standards for those grades.

She also said that parents of students at the school are receptive to the changes planned for the school, as families of 134 students have indicated they will remain with the school next year. While some parents initially enrolled their children at the school for the Montessori program, others have chosen the campus because of its small size and personalized teaching and learning, she said.

Ben Temple, chairman of the Ozark Montessori Academy board of trustees, said a review of charter organizations across the nation led him to conclude that the

LISA Academy is a high-quality program.

“Who wouldn’t want to be part of such a school?” he told the panel.

Baroni said as many as 90 families who do not currently attend the school have already expressed interest in enrollment for next school year — and that is without advertising.

Charter panel member Angela Kremers questioned why the LISA Academy budget for the new school does not include an increase in staff or funding for new staff members for at least two school years.

Fatih Bogrek, LISA Academy superintendent, said the school can increase the number of children in existing, very small classes without having to add staff members.

Baroni said the school will ultimately need to be remodeled to accommodate an enrollment of 600 pupils in kindergarten through eighth grades, but that can be done by dividing very large classroom spaces.

Kendra Clay, student, personnel and legal services director of the Springdale School District, told the panel

that the district wants to be a partner to any organization educating children in that district.

Clay noted that school bus transportation and instruction for students who are not native English speakers are services required by more than half of Springdale district students. Those student needs and services should be a consideration at a charter school, Clay said.

Panel members Newton, Kremers, Phil Baldwin, Mike Wilson and Greg Rogers voted unanimously for the charter changes. Panel member Naccaman Williams of Springdale was absent, and panel Chairman Ivy Pfeffer, the Education Department’s deputy commissioner, does not typically vote.

Rogers, the Education Department’s assistant commissioner for fiscal and administrative services, proposed increasing the enrollment cap by only 300.

“I think the transition makes sense, and I do believe LISA will be successful. I just want to see — before we move forward with a large cap increase — that all the kinks are worked out,” Rogers

said.

Also Monday, the Charter Authorizing Panel acted on amendments proposed by other charter schools in the state. The panel:

■ Endorsed Capital City Lighthouse Academy’s request to alter the grades the North Little Rock school serves from kindergarten through 12th grades to kindergarten through eighth grades.

■ Endorsed a request by the Fayetteville School District’s Virtual Academy to serve only fourth through 12th grades for the time being rather than expand to kindergarten through third grades, as was initially planned.

■ Endorsed Southeast Arkansas Preparatory High School’s request to waive state requirements for a counselor and librarian/media specialist at the 82-student school in Pine Bluff. Those services are being divided among multiple staff members, school leader Alex Noguerola said.

■ Endorsed Little Rock Preparatory Academy’s request for a waiver of the state’s teacher minimum salary schedule law. School leaders believed that they had previously received the waiver.