District raises web academy concerns

The Sister School District is asking the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to analyze and possibly investigate actions taken by the Sisters Web Academy to transfer students out of the academy and into other Web academies run by the parent company, AllPrep Academies & Early Colleges.

In a letter to ODE dated November 30, School District Attorney Shawn Swisher stated that "as far as Sisters School District can determine, these transfers apparently occurred without acquiring prior consent from the parents of these students..."

Swisher further stated that, "The Sisters School District is very concerned about this situation and submits it to your agency for review. Please advise if the activities detailed below violate state or federal law or regulation as administered by the Oregon Department of Education, and whether the district should take any further action, such as moving to terminate the charter."

(See the full text of Swisher's letter to ODE accompanying the online edition of this story at at http://www.nuggetnews.com.)

AllPrep director, Tim King, told The Nugget that students were transferred out of concern that the Sisters School Board was narrowly defining the Sisters Web Academy Charter to include only online education.

"What we're trying to do is become a blended model - some would call it a hybrid model," King said.

That model combines online education with "AllPrep options" such as field trips, group study, classes meeting a couple of times a week and other activities that are not conducted online.

"We are continually adding options," King said. "It was our impression that the original charter allowed us to do that. I think that's one of the points of debate."

The contretemps over the Sisters Web Academy grew out of meeting with the school board on October 7, in which King advocated for a merger between Sisters Charter Academy of Fine Arts (SCAFA) and the Web academy.

"The board told him at that meeting that it would like to see a written proposal for amending the charter agreement," Swisher's letter states. "The following day, nearly 100 students were transferred out of the Sisters Web Academy and placed in other charter schools administered by Mr. King and hosted in other school districts."

King said the immediate transfer occurred out of concern that students would not be able to continue to use the options added to the program.

The district says that King told them that his "lieutenants" had obtained consent for the transfer from parents, "but he could not produce any documentation that this had occurred."

King told The Nugget that verbal consent was quickly and easily obtained.

"We didn't have written consent," King told The Nugget. "The question is, do you need written consent. That's an interesting question."

King and his attorney argue that the answer is no - that written consent is not necessary.

None of the 100 students transferred out of the Sisters Web Academy actually live in the Sisters School District.

"None of these young people live in Sisters," King said. "All of these young people live in other school districts and attend the Sisters Web Academy."

King said enrollment in the Sisters academy currently stands at a little more than 50 students. He said when it becomes clear what the academy is allowed to do, he will start enrolling more students. He is hopeful that the board will accept more than online education.

"It's a little tough to find kids who just want to do online education," King said. "Most want to literally and figuratively keep their options."

In the meantime, SCAFA has offered a proposal for merger with AllPrep that would allow the bricks-and-mortar school to continue to operate.

The school has been under threat due to enrollment that falls well short of the 25 student minimum required by the state. Because the school is not financially viable, the district has initiated termination of its charter. The school is working within a 60-day window to "cure" its defects.

A successful merger plan could be that "cure."

School board chair Christine Jones declined to comment on whether the district's concerns with the Sisters Web Academy will derail efforts to merge and continue SCAFA.

"We have a board meeting (December 9) where this will be discussed, so I think it would be premature," she said. "I don't know how (SCAFA) will be affected because it hasn't been discussed. Clearly it would be helpful to have a response from ODE to guide our discussion, but I don't know when ODE will be responding to us."

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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