The Anchorage (Alaska) school board has voted to take over a charter school and transition it to a district alternative school.
The Anchorage Daily News reports that the takeover of Family Partnership Charter School comes after district officials raised concerns earlier this year with the charter school's governing board.
The K-12 charter school has about 1,700 students.
The school’s governing committee, according to the district, has been riddled with problems, including breaking the law, breaching its charter and “incessant infighting."
At the school board meeting, several Family Partnership parents and students asked the district to keep the charter in place and expressed concern over potential changes.
In a memo to school board members, district officials said "the Family Partnership [governing committee] has shown that it is fundamentally dysfunctional."
Throughout testimony at the Monday board meeting, parents and students praised the school’s existing structure and explained how the flexibility and agency students had in their studies had benefited them.
Amy Sims, a sponsor teacher at the school, said several families had told her they would leave the district upon elimination of the Family Partnership charter. Sims argued the school would fundamentally change if the charter was dissolved.
Family Partnership student council president Josiah Tshibaka said that termination of the charter was “blowing up a mountain to address a molehill. It will harm students more than it will help them and it’s not in the best interest of our school.”
A few current and former members of the Academic Policy Committee testified in favor of the district’s plan.
