Seminole prepares for rural charter school experiment
W hile some public school officials in Seminole worry the launch of a local charter school later this year could siphon students and state funding away from an already cash-strapped district, Seminole High School Principal Steve Osborn isn’t losing any sleep over the thought.
“They are not going to pull even five kids out of here,” Osborn said. “I can go talk to the student body and they will tell you they are not leaving because there is not a child walking the halls that isn’t connected to a teacher.”
Two years after the state Legislature allowed charter schools to open beyond Oklahoma City and Tulsa, a group in Seminole began work to launch one of the state’s first rural charter schools,
which are considered public schools that operate with some autonomy when it comes to hiring, daily schedule, fundraising and other aspects of school management.
Calling itself the Academy of Seminole, the charter school group filed an application last year with the Seminole school board, which unanimously voted it down twice. But the charter group eventually won an appeal with the state Board of Education, a decision charter advocates praised as support of school choice policies, while opponents viewed it as a knock against local control.
With a contract in place with the state Board of Education, the Academy of Seminole is set to open in the fall with some high school grades, followed by elementary and middle school in the following years, eventually serving prekindergarten through senior year.
Organizers of the new charter said they hope to enroll as many as 700 students when the school is fully functional in several years.
And while the Academy of Seminole hopes to attract new families to town, it also will rely on current public school students making the switch.
“I don’t know of any plans in place now on how to face that situation,” Jack Cadenhead, chair of the Seminole Public School board, said about the district’s response to the coming charter school and the possibility some public school students will switch. “But if all 700 of those students (in the charter school) come from the Seminole school district, or even 500 or 100 students, it’s going to significantly affect our budget and some really tough decisions are going to have to be made.”
The threat of losing students, and the state funding dollars that follow, comes at a time when the school district is struggling to build a new high school. Built in 1930, the old three-story high school with its art deco trim and giant clock above the front entrance was deemed uninhabitable two years ago and its nearly 460 students were moved into a former grocery store five blocks away.
Twice the school district has presented bond proposals to build a new high school and twice voters rejected the nearly $20 million property taxfunded packages.
The town largely has been divided over the issue with one camp supporting a renovation of the old high school and the other seeking a brand-new facility.
The political division over the building created an opening for the charter group to strike, Cadenhead said, and state Superintendent of Schools Joy Hofmeister acknowledged the condition of Seminole’s school facilities was a reason she supported the charter school’s application.
“The local school board put forward two different plans to provide for a new high school and it’s clear the local people of Seminole did not accept that twice,” Hofmeister said following last month’s state board meeting. “So when we are looking at making a decision that came from local business leaders and community members to really provide an answer that is an option, it’s hard to question why we would deny that option.”
Osborn admits his current high school facility isn’t ideal, but he scoffs at the idea it isn’t serving his students.
The building was formerly a grocery store and call center, but it underwent a swift renovation two years ago to build out classrooms, offices, science labs and a cafeteria.
Besides, Osborn said focusing on the facility overlooks the academic success of Seminole High School.
“You hear people complain that it’s an old grocery store, blah, blah, blah,” Osborn said. “But I came here three years ago and the test scores were a D- (on the state system). We are now a B. And when we start getting bonus points next year we are going to have an A grade. Look at our test scores compared to all the other schools in the county and they aren’t even close.”
Osborn quickly brandishes a spreadsheet from a stack of paper on his desk that compares Seminole’s scores in English, math, biology and U.S. history to nearby schools, and his numbers are higher.
“I’m not worried about the charter school,” Osborn said.
But Osborn’s confidence is not always shared with others in Seminole Public Schools.
“I have concerns,” Cadenhead said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Expanding school choice
Family roots in Seminole go back generations and living in town for even a decade, like Daniel Wyatt, isn’t necessarily enough time to shake the newcomer feel.
“I’m not from here, so maybe change is a little easier for me,” said Wyatt, who is the president of the future Academy of Seminole charter school. “But we’ve got to get people out of the mindset of it’s bad because it’s new.”
Wyatt, who has two young children he pulled out of the public school last year, said the addition of a charter school is going to offer the Seminole community the type of education choice found in larger cities.
Wyatt is also an executive at Enviro Systems Inc., a Seminole-based aerospace company of about 195 employees that has become the primary corporate supporter of the new school.
Paul Campbell, Enviro’s CEO, was one of the leading advocates for the new school that he hopes will help attract more families to Seminole.
“I’ve got a major problem for my company when it comes to recruiting,” Campbell told The Oklahoman last year when he first applied with the local school board.
“One of the reasons we get turned down by workers is they don’t want to live here because of the school system.”
Wyatt and his wife, Stacie, moved from California to Seminole in 2007, attracted by the affordability and slower pace. Without any children at the time, schools weren’t a major concern.
But Wyatt said that’s changed as he sees the value in the charter school as both a parent and a corporate leader.
“If we would have got these kids out of the grocery store and put together a bond proposal that the community would rally behind, we wouldn’t even be sitting here today,” Wyatt said. “When (the school board was) not willing to work with us you don’t just throw your hands up, you find a solution to the problem.”
Former state representative Lee Denney co-authored the bill that allowed charters to move into rural communities and she is also a member of the Academy of Seminole board.
“Change is hard for anyone and Seminole is really the first community to face adding a charter school, so I can understand how scary that looks,” Denney said. “I was disappointed that the board voted it down … but that’s exactly why we put the procedure in place to be able to appeal to the state.”
Rural charter schools may be new in Oklahoma, but they are common in some other states, including Arkansas where members of the Seminole charter found inspiration.
“When we visited Pea Ridge that was a game changer,” Wyatt said.
Pea Ridge Manufacturing and Business Academy, a charter school in northwest Arkansas, focuses its academics around technical-skilled trades, and is a model Wyatt said the Academy of Seminole seeks to follow.
The Academy of Seminole, which will initially be located on the campus of Seminole State College, also plans to offer a heavy focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, with the hope of preparing students for careers in some of the fastest growing fields.
Supporters of the charter also visited the Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy, where students of all grades were guided through a philosophy-rich curriculum that included lessons in Greek, Latin and other languages.
“Once we had that experience, I was on fire for coming back and trying to get something like that here because kids learn differently,” Wyatt said. “At this classical school the teachers put together an individual learning plan for each kid.”
Wyatt and others working to launch the new school said the Academy of Seminole won’t be for everyone, and while the state board is the official authorizer of the charter school, he is open to the district and charter working together in the future.
But he said his desire is to see Seminole have the type of options that have been unavailable in rural Oklahoma.” You look outside the rural communities, there are options in almost every big city out there,” Wyatt said. “All we are trying to do is bring that here.”
Fight for funding
One of the main concerns public school officials have with the charter school is the loss of state student funding that would shift from the public school to the charter school with any students that were to leave.
Charter advocates say the loss of funding is offset by the loss of the student because there is no longer an obligation to educate that student. But critics say the loss of a student doesn’t necessarily reduce the expenses a school faces, it just reduces funding.
Marilyn Rainwater is a local activist and Democratic candidate in Tuesday’s special election for House District 28, and she has made her opposition to the charter school a central part of her campaign.
“What I want is a solution for all of the kids in Seminole Public School,” Rainwater said. “The charter school is a quick solution for a small group. I worry anytime there is a plan that takes public funding from the public school system because that is a road we don’t want to go down.”
She also worries about the smaller districts outside of Seminole that could lose students to the charter.
“Losing just a few students in some of these districts could be really hard,” Rainwater said.
Wyatt said he understands the fear Seminole schools have over losing students, but he believes the condition of facilities has already driven some families to neighboring districts and prevented others from coming.
“That funding is already leaving town,” Wyatt said.
Chuck Mills, owner of Mills Machine Co. in nearby Shawnee, told the state board last month he worries about future recruitment of employees and considers charter schools in rural communities like Seminole to be a boost for producing career-ready graduates.
“I want to hire their students when they graduate,” Mills said. “I know they are going to have the skills that I am looking for.”
As the Academy of Seminole opens, there are already a handful of other rural communities where some have expressed interest in their own charter school.
“I hope this is an opportunity for all of rural Oklahoma,” Mills said. “I see this as a path or a model.”