In Detroit, the University YES Academy convened its high school students to tell them to find another school because the charter school would not be opening.
Officials for University YES Academy held an impromptu meeting today to tell high school students they needed to find another school to attend. Only parents and students were allowed in the meeting, and they were barred from using recording devices.
“What are our kids supposed to do?” a parent told Metro Times reporter Allie Gross. “Another black school closed down. More black kids cannot be educated.”
The school’s management company, New Paradigm, handed parents and students a list of six other schools, including one of the company’s own schools, Detroit Edison Public School Academy, Gross reported from outside the meeting.
Students criticized New Paradigm for waiting until the last minute to announce the school’s closure.
“They call about everything else, but they don’t think to call about closing the school,” a student told Gross.
The University YES Academy, at 14669 Curtis St., will continue to teach K-8.
The school fought off a union drive in 2015.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on Matthews' Blog.
“. . . including one of the company’s own schools, Detroit Edison Public School Academy. . . ”
Lying Bastards!
Charters do NOT serve students and this country. It’s about $$$$$$ and total control for the oligarchy.
Another wide awake person who understands the real motives. Brava!
Michigan charter schools have authorizers. They’re paid by the public.
What are their names and can these parents reach them for an explanation on why the authorizer accepted payment when they didn’t do their job, which is regulating charter schools?
How much were they paid? What, exactly, did they they do to earn their cut of public school funding?
If we can’t reach the schools and we can’t reach the management companies maybe we can reach the authorizers. Can we get names and contact numbers for them? Why not?
I can’t be 100% sure because of the complete lack of transparency or reporting requirements for Michigan authorizers, but it appears that the authorizer is Bay Mills Community College.
Perhaps Bay Mills Community College could explain how they allowed this to happen, since they receive a cut of charter school funding.
Why is a community college that is located in Michigan’s upper peninsula authorizing a Detroit charter anyway? Why is money for public schools in Detroit flowing out of Detroit and to the upper peninsula? People in Detroit can’t authorize their own charter schools and keep the funding in Detroit?
Click to access Notice%20of%20the%20Intent%20–%20Communication%20from%20Board%20of%20Directors%20%20–%20052416.pdf
Is anyone in ed reform or state government in Michigan ever going to look at the extent these authorizers are dependent on K-12 funding for revenue?
When people in Detroit agreed to privatize public schools, were they aware they were paying a whole new layer of managers, many of whom are located hundreds of miles away?
Is there some reason we’re now sending a cut of every K-12 dollar to higher education entities?
All of these questions are spot on, as is your research on who authorized this charter school. Whether the money for doing some paperwork was the primary incentive for Bay Mills Community College to serve as an authorizer is unknown. In Ohio, I belived each charter authorizer gets a 3% cut on the amount (usually estimated) of the charter contract. Those contracts should be matter of public record….somewhere.
Being a charter authorizer pays nicely.
We need laws that require charter schools to give reasonable notice of closure to parents .
BLM
We need laws that protect the RIGHTS OF CHILDREN. Giving district permission for charters to open, and then finding fault and closing them suddenly is a game being played not only in Detroit, but across the nation — at the expense of so many unwitting kids/parents/teachers.
So who is financially accountable for this. The charter school operators get to use taxpayer money to do as they please, raise expectations, and because they aren’t qualified and fail they get to walk away free and clear. They have no skin in the game and get to ‘play’ school, feather nest, hire their buddies and relative and walk away Scott free “oh sorry”
CAN THEY BE SUED FOR FAILURE TO HONOR THEIR PUBLIC DUTY??
How do we organize and do this? The legislators are in bed with these guys, so no action from them.
They are “public schools.”
Charter school operators need to be licensed and instructed on their duties as a public servant. For starters.
Right now they are primarily run by bands of theives !
“Bands of thieves” is right. Put them in jail for felonious fraud AND vote the fools who support charter schools out of office. North Carolina has become rife with this trend and it sickens me to see it coming.