State advisory panel recommends transferring school's charter

By Mindy B. Hagen, The Herald-Sun
February 10, 2005  

RALEIGH -- Officials from a Durham charter school once in danger of being shut down by the state told an advisory panel Thursday the school is making progress.

Members of the state Charter School Advisory Board voted to recommend transferring Carter Community School's charter from an umbrella group called Financial Reform in Educational Excellence to the school's own board of directors.

The state Board of Education needs to approve the transfer for the move to be official.

Officials with Carter Community School, located at 1305 W. Club Blvd. in the Walltown community, said self-governance would clear the way for significant changes in the school's operation. Those changes, they said, could lead to increased student achievement.

"We see this school as an integral component to the development of that neighborhood," said Michael Palmer, co-chairman of the school's board of directors and director of Duke University's Office of Community Affairs. "We are making definite strides to improving our school."

North Carolina's 99 charter schools get state money but are free from many of the regulations that govern traditional school districts.

Carter Community School was almost closed in the fall of 2002 after being labeled as a "low performing" school for three consecutive years. The school would have been the first charter school shut down since charters opened in the state in 1997.

That fall, the Charter School Advisory Board voted 4-3 against renewing the school's charter. But the state Board of Education gave the school a reprieve for the 2003-04 year.

In June 2004, the state board was impressed enough by the school's plan for the future that it granted the school a new 10-year charter. New principal Gail Taylor arrived in September, following stints as a consultant to the state's Office of Charter Schools.

Taylor told committee members Thursday that transferring the charter to the school's own board of directors would allow officials to change the school's calendar from a year-round to a traditional schedule.

A more-traditional calendar would enable the school to support the needs of the low-income families of the children it serves, she said. On the year-round calendar, many families are forced to scramble to find day care when school is not in session.

"We want to restate our vision, and frame our vision so that our school can move forward," Taylor said. "We want our school to become a better fit for the kids in our community. To do that, we need to make significant changes inside and outside of the school."

Taylor also told the committee that the school's most immediate goal is boosting enrollment. Its building can hold 200 students, but only 112 are enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade, she said.

Taylor credited some of the school's recent strides to Duke students who volunteer through the university's Office of Community Affairs.

Duke students spend time tutoring children and even helped the school recently begin a structured physical education program. Taylor expects art and music courses will follow soon, and said a playground is being built.

The state Board of Education could vote to finalize the charter transfer at its March 2-3 meeting.

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