Killer Competition

PVCIC recently completed $10.6 expansion project behind original building

Not only does the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School have nicer digs than Amherst Regional Public Schools -- courtesy of a $10.6 million building project just completed -- but their student 10th grade academic performance is also superior (if you have faith in MCAS results that is).

 Boston Globe 9/24/15

In the current school year PVCIC has approximately 83 Amherst Regional students (up from 68 two years before) who have jumped ship, costing the Amherst Regional Public School District around $1.5 million in state money. 

And based on these test results, next year could be even worse. 

Click to enlarge/read

Amherst Regional Middle School.  Officials are considering abandoning building as student classrooms and moving grades 7 & 8 into the High School

It's Only $

Amherst School Committee enduring the gauntlet known as Town Meeting

Considering the venerable Amherst Regional Public School system consumes the lion's share of the town budget, Town Meeting did not spend all that much time in discussion before overwhelmingly passing both the Regional Schools $30,022,840 budget or Elementary School's $21,869,835 budget.

Yeah you would think otherwise, considering $30 million here and $22 million there, pretty soon you're talking real money.

 Vince O'Connor being, well, Vince

Although leave it to Vince O'Connor to unleash the unorthodox by making a "Motion to Refer" the Regional School budget back to the Regional School Committee for further study.

Since the other three towns (Leverett, Pelham and Shutesbury) had already approved the Regional budget it would be a moot point, as per the Regional Agreement any major action does not require unanimous support of all four towns, 3 out of 4 is close enough.

Vince seemed to think Superintendent Maria Geryk, who is appointed rather than elected, has too much power and is not being micromanaged properly by the elected School Committees.

He also expressed concern that the School Committees have not done enough to get payment out of UMass for the 56 students attending ARPS that emanate from UMass tax exempt housing.

His motion failed to get a majority vote by a fair amount.

The real problem with the public schools is two fold:  The exceeding high cost per pupil, averaging about $21,000 per student vs state average of around $15,000.

At $6,000 per student over state average that means the Amherst Public Schools, with 2,638 students, will cost taxpayers in FY16 an "extra" $15,828,000.

Ouch!

And because Amherst has such a high average cost per student when a Charter School attracts them away that is the amount the town is charged for losing a customer.  Sure the state formula is not overly fair, because Choice students are only valued at $5,000.

Thus if an Amherst student attends Hadley's Hopkins Academy we are only assessed $5,000, but if that same student attends the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School a mile away we are charged the full $20,000.

In the FY16 Amherst Public Schools will shoulder the burden for 155 students attending Charter Schools and at the Regional level an additional 55 attending Vocational Schools (at $18,000 each).


School Business Director Sean Mangano told Town Meeting last night that overall cost between Choice, Charter, and Vocational the Amherst Regional Public Schools lose around $2 million. 

Now factor in the 56 students attending Amherst Public Schools who live in UMass tax exempt housing and you have another $1.2 million that is not coming into the system.

 UMass Amherst is the #2 landowner and #1 employer in town

Can you imagine the outcry if there were 56 homes in Amherst each sending a child to the public schools that refused to pay their annual (exceedingly high) property tax bill?

With the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School expanding into a full elementary and secondary High School the costly prospects for losing additional students in the near future is pretty high.

If UMass would kick in their fair share maybe the Amherst Schools could afford programming that would better compete with Charter Schools and keep those valuable students in the ARPS system.

Although, Hopkins Academy -- with an under $12,000 per pupil average cost -- seems to be handling the Charter School exodus quite well.

                            
           

ARPS: Sinking Ship?

Amherst Regional High School dealing with a cold reality

If ever a chart starkly demonstrated the treacherous waters that lay ahead for an education organization, this would be it:

Click to enlarge/read

Now keep in mind when a student is stolen away from a pubic school via Charter or Vocational Schools it costs the District the full amount of their average cost per student, which in Amherst is extraordinarily high.  This current Fiscal Year ARPS broke the $20,000 barrier, compared to state average of $14,000.

Less costly are the students who leave via "choice" for another public school at only $5,000 per student. But add them all up and it comes to a whopping $540,000 carved out of the FY16 $30 million operation budget. Yikes!

 PVCICS Death Star addition

The Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School looms as the Death Star, expanding into a full high school with a gleaming new building to show for it. In just the past two years PVCIC has gone from 68 ARPS students up to 83 for the upcoming FY16 year. Double yikes!

Interestingly before the Chinese Charter School was founded the Amherst Schools had the opportunity to offer their Chinese language curriculum via the same founders who were rejected by public school officials, so they went off and opened their own Charter School.

Amherst Public School officials are now considering a major reorganization by "repurposing" the Middle School building, which currently houses 7th and 8th grade.

 Administration report to Regional School Committee

The Regional Assessment Working Group, who are recommending their own major reorganization by having the four-town Region expand all the way down to pre Kindergarten through 6th grade, spent a lot of time discussing the "repurposing" of a building.

 Amherst Regional Middle School ... mothballed?

The RAWG Final Report states:

"The law is not entirely clear about whether such decisions are matters of educational policy (School Committee domain) or administrative operations (Superintendent).  To the extent that decisions are within the purview of the superintendent, the RAWG recommends that there will be a lengthy and open process before the use of a school is changed." 


Either way let's hope school officials take to heart the concept of a "lengthy and open process," something the RAWG certainly has not demonstrated over their three year tenure. 

Jumping Ship at ARPS

 Irv Rhodes former School Committee member (left), former principal Mike Morris (right)

One of the downsides to principal Mike Morris abdicating his leadership position at Crocker Farm Elementary School is the scuttling of plans to become an "innovation school" to help the Amherst public schools compete with charter schools that are currently eating their lunch.

Six months ago the state awarded the Amherst schools $10,000 to support "planning activities" to turn Crocker Farm into an innovation school, a first for Amherst --  and hopefully a transformative template for more.

Not much of a chance now. According to Mr. Morris, "Crocker Farm decided not to go forward with applying for the ($75,000) implementation grant."

As a founding member of the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, I know all too well the rigors involved with taking an innovative concept and making it happen.  But with Mr Morris at the helm, Crocker Farm had a good chance for achieving that goal.

Interestingly, PVCIC did not get the coveted state education charter in its initial year (2006) of application. The state, however, was impressed enough to award -- for the first time ever -- $10,000 to help make the not-ready-for-prime-time concept, ready.  And that did the trick.

Now PVCIC is the number one competitor to ARPS siphoning away children from Amherst elementary schools at $16,413 per child, while Pioneer Valley Performing Arts continues to drain away kids at the middle school and high school level at a whopping cost of $17,144 per student.

If Crocker Farm had become an "innovation school," maybe those losses could be mitigated, keeping all that money in the district.

B-I-G problem #2 is ARPS is known for being top heavy with highly paid administrators, spending  $697.73 per student vs. state average of $445.97.   A difference of $252.76 per student, 57% higher than state average, or in real dollars $388,969.20!  And this was before they added this new $100K position.

Interim co-principals (don't you just hate that term?) Derek Shea and newcomer Annemarie Foley, I'm told, will have "revenue neutral" budget impact once they agree on a contract, since Mr. Shea will make less than Mr. Morris's previous $87K and Ms Foley will make less than Mr Shea was currently making as Assistant Principal.  

While Mr. Morris was already a member of the $85K Club, he will now move into the more exclusive 100K club in an entirely new position.  Amherst Regional schools will now have eleven (11) employees in the 100K Club compared to Northampton's, umm, one (1)!

And God help anyone who dares to mention it!

Walls do a prison make

Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School: clueless in Hadley

What a dramatic difference in response to incidents of solitary confinement enforced on a child at the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter in Hadley last March vs. the "handfull" of times the "pink room" was used at Old Mill Pond Elementary School in Palmer last winter.

After an anonymous complaint sent to the state from a "group of concerned grandparents" about the "prison-like" conditions imposed on 5-9 year old children, the state then demanded to see investigation results and any corrective action implemented.

That corrective action did not take long! The School Committee Chair (probably overstepping her authority) immediately told the Principal to remove the locks and doors on the three cells, errr, I mean"cubbies."

The interim Superintendent stated the public school has "disbanded" use of the rooms (which had a 15 minute maximum time limit for use) and the new principal readily agreed.

Meanwhile back in Hadley at the PVCIC, the two highest paid "public" employees, Principal Kathy Wang and Executive Director Rich Alcorn, who just happen to be married, closed ranks and defended placing a 9-year-old boy, unattended, in a small room...for seven and a half hours!

Even worse, defended their business, errr, school by blaming the victim--branding him a "bully."

In fact, the child was himself the victim of bullying in a bathroom when he pushed another child out of the way to escape. The seven-and-a-half-hour sentence, errr, "in-house suspension" was imposed the next day and without any parent notification either day, even though the mother dutifully dropped off and picked up the boy daily.

Department of Children and Families found the actions of the 3rd grade teacher and principal rose to the level of "neglect," and according to the school's own handbook they were automatically suspended...but quickly reinstated by a unanimous vote of the School Committee, errr, "Board of Trustees", probably with back pay for the week missed.

I say "probably" only because a public documents request for Executive Session minutes of that June 13 meeting was denied by the school's attorney on the grounds it was a "personnel" issue. That decision will be appealed to Public Records czar Alan Cote.

Since Charter Schools upper management--Principals and Superintendents, errr, "Executive Directors"--have nonexistent job qualifications compared to the traditional public school system, could it be the lack of educational training that directly lead to such different outcomes?

Traditional Public School Administration requirements (note 7.09, 7.10)

Charter School Administration requirements (note there are none, other than "staff".)

The Springfield Republican reports:

Board of Trustees comes clean

So the parent revolt over at the Pioneer Valley Immersion Chinese Charter school seems to have made a difference as we learned at 7:00 AM this morning that the Board of Trustees voted on 6/14 just after the public 'Parent Speak Out' to reopen the search for an 'Executive Director' to oversee the school like a Public School Superintendent.

Problem in this particular case is the person originally appointed, Richard Alcorn, happens to be married to the Principal, Kathy Wang. And Mr. Alcorn is the current (volunteer) Board of Trustee Chair and has been since the founding of the school. The Board of Trustees--that he Chairs--voted him into the highly-paid position, although I assume he abstained.

Still, a clear case of Conflict of Interest. And according to PVIC bylaws: "Members of the Board of Trustees shall serve the Pioneer Valley Immersion Charter School with the highest degree of undivided duty, loyalty and care and shall undertake no enterprise to profit personally from their position with the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School."

What upset some of the parents was the shadowy, inside deal nature of the process. Yes, Mr. Alcorn founded the school and without his blood, sweat and tremendous time commitment the school would never have been granted a Charter (in fact the first year the state turned it down).

But the school is now in a growth spurt and can no longer be considered a small Mom-and-Pop startup. Oftentimes in entrepreneurial ventures the founders who have the vision and determination to get a business started are not necessarily the ones to guide it to the next stage.

Besides, neither of the two founders have a background in the education industry. Having one or the other in top management is fine for sure, but certainly not both.

Thus the parent listserve came alive last month when rumors spread that Mr. Alcorn was appointed to the top position. Comments flew back and forth like ping pong balls at a Chinese tournament.

I invited the media to the 6/14 Speak Out, although only the Springfield Republican covered it. After all, the Charter school is a public school subject to the Open Meeting Law just like any other school in the district.

This actually prompted a minor backlash on the listserve, with some other parents (happy with the status quo) questioning if anyone should be airing "dirty laundry" in public and pointing the finger at one (of the many) vocal parents--but the only one who happened to get quoted extensively in the Springfield Republican article.

But now this late course correction by the Executive Board of Trustees underscores that there's nothing wrong with dirty laundry. It is, after all, natural: all you do is throw in a load of wash.

The Springfield Republican Reported

Depends on how you define "flush"

So I figured the Daily Hampshire Gazette, after publishing an AP story on the Front Page “Charter Schools Cushion: As critics howl, surpluses are defended”, would have showed some due diligence and requested the financials for our local Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, the one my daughter attends.

The one that created a Hell of a stir two years ago fighting for its very creation/existence in an Israeli sort of way (powerfully opposed by Amherst school officials, individuals now gone or in the process of going.)

PVCIC is after all a public school, and although autonomous from our local school committees still subject to Open Meeting Law and Public Documents Law.

I just wish the AP had done a better job of “fair and balanced” research/reporting. For instance, they headline how Charter Schools ended the Fiscal Year (2006) “flush with cash,” but did not bother to ask Regional Public Schools about their E+D accounts (Excess and Deficiency).

For instance, the venerable Amherst Regional High School has almost $1 million stashed away for emergencies ($927,546 to be exact) in the current Fiscal Year--one everybody considers a crisis.

And 10 years ago the state reimbursed the town 80% of the $22 million Override to renovate the High School. Charter Schools, on the other hand, cannot get state funding for buildings from the Massachusetts State Building Authority.

As of June 30, 2008 the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School had an “excess” of $104,881, WELL below the statewide$365,000 (2006) average surplus for charter schools cited in the AP story.

PVCIC generated total revenues of $841,603 against total expenses of $736,822, so unlike most businesses in The Happy Valley this past year –mine included—they showed a “profit.”

But the interesting math to do is simple division: total costs divided by number of students. PVCIC served seventy-seven children or an average cost per student of $9,569; below the state average and well below Amherst’s $14,000 average.

But even more interesting is that state tax education money (Chapter 70) from sending districts--the ones who whine that Charter School robbed them of that money-- came to $488,611 (58% total) and the other $352, 367 (42%) came from Grants (mostly Federal) and Contributions.

These figures do not include the recent $1.5 million Federal Grant paying out over five years for curriculum development because the Feds consider Chinese a “critical language.”

So…as far as Amherst taxpayers are concerned, the average cost to educate was only $6,345 (or less than half the cost of the venerable Amherst Schools)

Pretty good bang for the buck.