Erie Rise appoints monitor for charter school's closing. But will it fight to stay open?
The Erie Rise Leadership Academy Charter School has made a key appointment to help wind down its operations, though the school remains mum on whether and how it will fight its ultimate shutdown.
The Erie School Board on Jan. 18 voted to force the closing of Erie Rise due to poor student test scores. Erie Rise must close by June 30, according to the board's resolution. The state Department of Education details how a charter school must designate a person to oversee the closing of the school.
The Erie Rise Board of Trustees said it made that appointment at a meeting on Jan. 19, though the board did not inform the Erie School District of it decision until Jan. 28, according to the district. The district on Jan. 20 had asked Erie Rise to let the district know when it had appointed someone to the oversight post.
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The appointee is Christian Anderson, a consultant with Erie Rise, according to Erie Rise's resolution, which it sent to the Erie School District on Jan. 28. The Erie Times-News obtained the resolution from the district through a request under the Right-to-Know Law.
Though the Erie Rise trustees appointed Anderson, the trustees in the same resolution said they continue to disagree with the Erie School Board's decision to close Erie Rise.
Why did Erie School Board vote to close Erie Rise?
The Erie School Board voted to invoke a "surrender clause" in an improvement plan that the school district and Erie Rise signed in November 2019 to keep the school open. The clause requires Erie Rise to close if the school fails to meet academic standards it negotiated with the district as part of the improvement plan.
In the resolution it approved on Jan. 19, the Erie Rise Board of Trustees said the school "disputes the findings of the School District and the validity of its vote to invoke the Surrender Clause" and that Erie Rise has "an ongoing dispute" with the school district over the dissolution of the school.
Notwithstanding those disagreements, the Erie Rise trustees voted to authorize Anderson to "execute and and enter agreements for ... the purpose of effectuating the wind down and dissolution of Erie Rise," according to the resolution.
What is next step for Erie Rise and its charter?
Whether Erie Rise will fight the dissolution of the school remains unclear. The school's solicitor, Thomas Fitzpatrick, a lawyer from Philadelphia, did not respond to an email from the Erie Times-News on the school's intentions in light of the trustees' decision to appoint Anderson to the oversight post.
After the Erie School Board voted, the Erie Rise board said it would "vigorously oppose this decision using all possible legal options" but said it would have no further comment on "any pending litigation" and that all questions should be sent to Fitzpatrick.
Anderson is scheduled to meet Feb. 16 with Neal Brokman, the assistant Erie School District superintendent who oversees charter schools, Brokman said on Monday. Erie Rise's intentions could become clearer following that meeting.
Erie Rise's options are severely limited if not nonexistent. According to the improvement plan that it negotiated with the Erie School District in November 2019, the surrender clause mandates that Erie Rise forfeit its charter automatically and "without protest" or recourse to the courts if the school fails to meet the benchmarks in the improvement plan. The benchmarks are based on Erie Rise's scores on the 2021-22 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests.
The Erie Rise trustees said the Erie School Board failed to consider the effects of the pandemic on student scores. The Erie School District said data shows Erie Rise's scores would have been substandard even if the scores had been adjusted to account for the COVID-19 outbreak.
Erie Rise, in the former Emerson School building at West 10th and Cascade streets, enrolls about 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The Erie School District pays about $3.4 million a year to cover the students' tuition at Erie Rise, which is public.
Erie Rise opened in 2011. In 2014, the state Auditor General's Office faulted Erie Rise for its academic performance and other issues. The Erie School District has raised similar concerns for years.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Rise appoints consultant to oversee closing, but questions remain
