After getting $600K in tax money, charter school is likely to be closed

The fate of a troubled Orange City charter school that was the source of a recent police investigation likely will be decided today at a Volusia County School Board meeting.

Reading Star Academy of Excellence, an Orange City charter school with ties to a failed charter in Orlando, will likely be closed for a series of 21 charter and state law violations.

The first-year school serves about 100 mostly black and Hispanic students in kindergarten through fifth grade. A recent police investigation found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing, but the school district outlined several ways the charter school has failed. The school had received more than $600,000 in taxpayer funds as of March this school year.

In its investigation, the school district found:

The campus had no school or classroom libraries and several classrooms were too cramped for students to work in groups

Individual education plans for special- needs students were not strictly followed.

Students learning English were not given instruction required by law in two classrooms and much of their student documentation was disorganized or missing.

Theschool did not background-checkits management consultant for six months or background-check all of its governing board members.

In its report, school district staff also said that in general, “there was little evidence of [Reading Star] students actually reading.”

Ardonnis Lumpkin, a Broward charterschool operator with a criminal record who contracts with Reading Star, served as a consultant for Imani charter school in its final days. Reading Star’s founder, board chair and another board member also have ties to the Orlando charter.

“It’s horrible,” said Volusia School Board Chairman Al Williams of Reading Star. “Kids are not getting a good education, and [charters are] taking money from out of the budget and some of them are just horrible.”