Josh Moon of the Alabama Political Reporter reports that Montgomery’s first charter school has devolved into a chaotic messonly six weeks after opening.
LEAD Academy, Montgomery’s first charter school, has been a chaotic mess since it opened less than six weeks ago, with staffing shortages leaving more than 70 students crammed into one class, angry teachers left without necessary supplies, student shortages threatening the school, extensive discipline issues and an ongoing fight between staff and the LEAD board over a strange contract that faculty members are being forced to sign several weeks after school has started, according to numerous LEAD teachers and employees who spoke with APR.
Most of the issues have remained internal, with few details leaking outside of LEAD’s walls … until Friday, when the school’s first principal, Nicole Ivey, resigned unexpectedly. Almost immediately, rumors began to swirl and worried faculty members started to discuss the multitude of issues at LEAD.
Two staff members who worked closely with Ivey said she ultimately resigned after a heated argument with LEAD board president Charlotte Meadows, who was pushing Ivey to require the staff to sign an at-will work contract which would allow the board to fire or reduce the pay of any LEAD employee without cause. But those staff members, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear that they could be fired by Meadows, said Ivey’s resignation was likely inevitable due to a litany of mismanagement issues and odd decisions by leadership at the school….
For several weeks now, LEAD Academy staff members and their family members have been sending APR information about problems at the school. Prior to Friday, those issues ranged from the mundane to something just short of serious. But following Ivey’s resignation, a flood of information, including details of troubling safety issues and possible fraud allegations, came pouring in from LEAD staffers….
”This is the craziest place I’ve ever worked,” said one employee who has experience working in other school districts in Alabama. “There are no rules. They don’t follow the law. And when you ask Charlotte about it, or say that we can’t do something because it’s illegal, she’ll just tell you that ‘LEAD is a charter school and charter schools don’t follow laws.’”
”Lawless” is the word that teachers use most often to describe the school.
Read the story.
Then ask yourself, why do Alabama state leaders want to inflict this disruption and chaos on children? Why do Republican politicians think that schools like this are just what children in their state need? Do they want to dumb down future generations? Are they preparing children for a jobless economy where robots make decisions? What’s the game?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am positive that the main appeal of charters in Alabama is to create separate and unequal schools for minority students. Alabama remains fond of racial separatism, and private charter schools are the perfect vehicle to establish separate and unequal schools.
The fact that this school is mismanaged will encourage students to return to their public schools where they can get a better education. I hope that Gulen does not succeed here or elsewhere for that matter.
BTW, Montgomery is the home of the SPLC. Over the years it has been fire bombed. It has had its windows shattered many times, and it has had several displays of burning crosses in front of the building over the years. There is a metal detector at the door as staff members often receive death threats.
“…who was pushing Ivey to require the staff to sign an at-will work contract which would allow the board to fire or reduce the pay of any LEAD employee without cause.”
What an odd thing to start a fight over. Alabama is already an at-will state (as are most states) where any employer can fire, demote or reduce pay for no cause (as long as they don’t state a cause which could is discriminatory). And I assume this charter schools is not unionized, so making people sign this document just seems redundant.
Cx: “… a cause which is discriminatory).”
This is good a time as any to re-post John Oliver’s foundational charter school expose:
(approbating 12,000,000 Views, btw)
That’s “approaching”, not “approbating”
Perfect description of publicly-funded, private-sector corporate charter schools, LAWLESS.
It’d up sy OpEd https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/Alabama-Montgomery-s-Firs-in-General_News-Charter-School-Failure_Disruption_School-Reform-191004-403.html#comment746599. with this comment which has embedded links a the site.
The NPE is the reliable place for FACTS about the war on public schools, and the plot to end an educated citizenry.
The nonprofit advocacy group Network for Public Education, is the BEST place to go if you want FACTS about schools.
Newsletters – Network For Public Education and this:
Asleep at the Wheel: – Network For Public Education
Also, if you wish to know how this began…don’t miss her book:
Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.