Orange approves alternative charter high school for renewal

Saying Sunshine High offers a “last chance” for students to graduate, the Orange County School Board voted unanimously to renew the contract of the alternative school.

Sunshine was the subject of a Pro-Publica investigation, which reported last week that the school served as a “release valve,” taking in students with poor academic records who were unlikely to graduate on time in a plan to boost traditional high schools’ graduation rate.

But board members said the school, and the four others in Orange run by Accelerated Learning Solutions, a for-profit management company, meets the needs of some students. The time period of Sunshine’s new contract will be negotiated with the school.

ProPublica reported that struggling students at Olympia High School were ushered into assemblies and told attending Sunshine could help them catch up on credits so they could graduate. The story noted that school grades are tied to factors such as standardized test scores and graduation rates.

School officials have denied that claim.

“There is no district effort to force children into any school,” Superintendent Barbara Jenkins said after Tuesday’s meeting.

She said she had already asked the principals’ supervisors to remind them of that stance. There are no plans for an internal investigation of the matter, she said.

Chairman Bill Sublette said he wasn’t hesitant to renew Sunshine’s charter, but the accusation that students are compelled to go there is serious.

“If there are folks who feel like [they] have been forced to go to an ALS school, we will thoroughly investigate that,” he said.

ProPublica reported that charters such as Sunshine exploit a loophole in state regulations by coding hundreds of students who leave as withdrawing to enter adult education such as GED classes. School officials can’t say whether the students actually took GED classes.

School and district leaders say the average Accelerated Learning Solutions student is 17.5 years old and two years behind their expected grade level.