Nevada: Andre Agassi Charter School Is A Failing School, Along with Many Other Charters

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1. Chiara says:

   October 24, 2016 at 9:20 am

   Can someone in ed reform address this?

   “In a speech delivered at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., Cerf said there is a widespread perception that education reform attempted by public school systems cannot work.

   “The evidence of this sentiment is everywhere,” he said. “Reform has taken on a pejorative connotation.”

   Most people can’t attend ed reform conventions. It’s probably vital information for voters if The Movement have determined they will stop investing in public schools.

   We need to know this. Our kids are in public schools. If the engineers of this policy are just winding down our schools while they replace them with privatized systems it’s not really fair to hide that.

   Here’s a crazy idea- RUN ON what gets discussed at these exclusive events. Then at least the public will have a fighting chance.

   https://www.the74million.org/article/think-charters-are-the-path-to-salvation-no-way-says-newarks-school-chief

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   • tennis anyone - way to go andre says:

     October 24, 2016 at 9:59 am

     tennis anyone?

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     • dianeravitch says:

       October 24, 2016 at 2:16 pm

       Is this what happens when you let a high school dropout start a chain of schools?

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2. Laura H. Chapman says:

   October 24, 2016 at 1:19 pm

   Chiara,

   The new marketing pitch for the same old “reform agenda” is on behalf of “innovation” and “entrepeneurship” in education, which includes new “governance systems,” wall-to-wall tech all of the time, churn in start-ups, budget monitoring of public education to expose wasteful “support services,” focus on large metro areas with “accelerators” for enteepeneurs in education, also local foundations to complement the funds of venture capitalists, federal grants for innovation and business-friendly mayors and incubators for start-ups. Never a word about the ethics of this takeover or making money from “failed public schools” which are now regarded as “assets,” a driver of innovation. See for example
   http://digitalpromise.org/2015/07/15/digital-promise-holding-annual-education-innovation-clusters-convening/

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3. Scisne says:

   October 24, 2016 at 1:32 pm

   IT’S UP TO EACH OF US NOW AS INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS TO SPREAD THE WORD to our state and local lawmakers and social media friends everywhere because they need to know right now that the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education has issued a warning that charter schools posed a risk to the Department of Education’s own goals. The report says: “Charter schools and their management organizations pose a potential risk to federal funds even as they threaten to fall short of meeting the goals.”

   The report documents multiple cases of financial risk, waste, fraud, abuse, lack of accountability of federal funds, and lack of proof that the schools were implementing federal programs in accordance with federal requirements.

   Throughout our nation, private charter schools backed by billionaire hedge funds are being allowed to divert hundreds of millions of public school tax dollars away from educating America’s children and into private corporate pockets. Any thoughtful person should pause a moment and ask: “Why are hedge funds the biggest promoters of charter schools?” Hedge funds aren’t altruistic — there’s got to be big profit in “non-profit” charter schools in order for hedge fund managers to be involved in backing them.

   And even the staunchly pro-charter school Los Angeles Times (which acknowledges that its “reporting” on charter schools is paid for by a billionaire charter school advocate) complained in an editorial that “the only serious scrutiny that charter operators typically get is when they are issued their right to operate, and then five years later when they apply for renewal.” Without needed oversight of what charter schools are actually doing with the public’s tax dollars, hundreds of millions of tax money that is supposed to be spent on educating the public’s children is being siphoned away into private pockets.

   One typical practice of charter schools is to pay exorbitant rates to rent buildings that are owned by the charter school board members or by their proxy companies which then pocket the public’s tax money as profit. Another profitable practice is that although charter schools use public tax money to purchase millions of dollars of such things as computers, the things they buy with public tax money become their private property and can be sold by them for profit…and then use public tax money to buy more, and sell again, and again, and again, pocketing profit after profit.

   The Washington State and New York State supreme courts and the National Labor Relations Board have ruled that charter schools are not public schools because they aren’t accountable to the public since they aren’t governed by publicly-elected boards and aren’t subdivisions of public government entities, in spite of the fact that some state laws enabling charter schools say they are government subdivisions.

   Charter schools are clearly private schools, owned and operated by private entities. Nevertheless, they get public tax money. Moreover, as the NAACP and ACLU have reported, charter schools are often engaged in racial and economic-class discrimination.

   Charter schools should (1) be required by law to be governed by school boards elected by the voters so that they are accountable to the public; (2) a charter school entity must legally be a subdivision of a publicly-elected governmental body; (3) charter schools should be required to file the same detailed public-domain audited annual financial reports under penalty of perjury that genuine public schools file; and, (4) anything a charter school buys with the public’s money should be the public’s property.

   NO FEDERAL MONEY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO GO TO CHARTER SCHOOLS THAT FAIL TO MEET THESE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY TO THE PUBLIC. Hillary Clinton could, if elected President, on day one in office issue an Executive Order to the Department of Education to do just that. Tell her today to do that! Send her the above information to make certain she knows about the Inspector General’s findings and about the abuses being committed by charter schools.

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4. Angie Sullivan says:

   December 12, 2016 at 1:17 am

   Agassi charter failure has been all over the news – in the paper and on TV.

   Democracy Prep is supposed to take them over and the parents are scared. Agassi “volunteered” to be part of the Achievement School District. It is the only way a charter can become part of the Nevada ASD

   http://www.ktnv.com/news/parents-outraged-over-possible-six-day-school-week

   The state is trying to find a remedy for the low performing charters.

   http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/education/agassi-prep-las-vegas-tries-calm-fears-takeover-national-charter-operator

   Military Style Group being brought in to try to get students under control. Parents are scared.

   http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/33581826/agassi-academy-eyes-merger-possible-military-style-learning

   http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/education/21-ccsd-schools-eligible-be-converted-charter-schools-through-new-initiative

   At the bottom of this article is the “Rising Star List”. The lowest performing schools are published in the paper every year.

   You can search for information on the Nevada Report Card. Nevada charters are failing to graduate students. They are the worst performing school system in Nevada.

   Agassi had a 75% graduation rate last year. Claims they graduate all students are just that. Claims. They fail to graduate students every year.

   http://nevadareportcard.com/di/report/reportcard_1?report=reportcard_1&scope=e20.y13&organization=c12315&fields=309%2C310%2C311%2C313%2C318%2C320&hiddenfieldsid=309%2C310%2C311%2C313%2C318%2C320&scores=1007%2C1015&num=160&page=1&pagesize=20&domain=cohort&

   In 2012 Agassi graduation rate dipped to 65%.

   http://nevadareportcard.com/di/report/reportcard_1?report=reportcard_1&scope=e20.y10.y11.y12.y13.y7&organization=c3089&fields=309%2C310%2C311%2C313%2C318%2C320&hiddenfieldsid=309%2C310%2C311%2C313%2C318%2C320&scores=1007%2C1015&num=160&page=1&pagesize=20&domain=cohort&

   Agassi’s flagship charter is a huge failure. And has been almost since it opened. Scandal after scandal. Im writing a huge report trying to document charter failure in Nevada. Agassi is at the top of the list.

   TFA has been heavily involved at Agassi charter at every level.

   Agassi’s hedgefund is also involved with other Nevada charters. Huge money is changing hands in Nevada with Agassi’s charter business.

   Lots of politicians involved.

   Im trying to document but as you know charters are not transparent

   Angie.

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