Springfield, Mass., charter school loses appeal to stay open

From The Springfield Republican: A judge in Massachusetts has refused to block the state-ordered shutdown of the Robert M. Hughes Academy, a charter school in Springfield. Judge Regina L. Quinlan ruled that the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was justified in revoking the K-8 school’s charter following a test cheating scandal in 2009. Springfield Public Schools officials are working with parents at Hughes to arrange new schools for students. Until last week, about 98 percent of Hughes’s 180 students had signed up for another year at the School Street academy.

JANUARY 2010...from The Boston Globe: The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has voted to close a Springfield charter school, two months after an investigation uncovered widespread cheating among administrators and staff on state exams. A state investigation of Robert M. Hughes Academy found that the school’s principal orchestrated an extensive plan to cheat on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests last spring, enlisting the support of several teachers and other staff members.