Updated: FCPS, some parents renew concerns about Frederick Classical Charter School's governance

May 4—Frederick Classical Charter School's governance is again under scrutiny from Frederick County Public Schools after some parents expressed frustration with what they say is a lack of transparency from its leaders.

FCPS Superintendent Cheryl Dyson sent a seven-page memo to FCCS' Board of Trustees last month, saying she was concerned the body was "incapable of making the needed change" that the Frederick County Board of Education expected.

An independent Head of School manages FCCS' day-to-day instructional operations, like a principal would, but the Board of Trustees handles the finances and logistics associated with running the nonprofit Frederick Classical Charter School.

Some FCCS parents have taken issue with the trustees' leadership since at least 2020. In June 2021, the county school board voted to put FCCS on a one-year probation, saying its governance needed to be reformed.

That probation has been lifted for nearly a year, but Dyson wrote in her letter last month — and reiterated this week — that she was concerned trustees were backpedaling.

"Since the probation ended in the spring of 2022, the Board reversed course on public promises of transparency and reverted to some previous practices that resulted in the probationary status of their charter," Dyson's letter said.

At a Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, members voted to temporarily eliminate vacant board positions rather than hold elections to fill them, effectively canceling a vote that was set to take place later this month. The next election will now take place in June 2024.

The organization's bylaws say the trustees can decide how many members it has and can change that figure from year to year.

In order to elect new members each year, though, the trustees are supposed to form a nominating committee every July, according to its bylaws — something the current board failed to do.

The committee is supposed to vet candidates and organize elections, the bylaws say. Trustees said Monday it was too late to form one in time for the upcoming vote on May 25.

A lawyer representing the Board of Trustees did not provide answers to The Frederick News-Post's questions before deadline Thursday.

On Friday, the trustees responded, but did not directly answer questions about why they did not form a nominating committee and how many vacant positions they eliminated Monday.

"[O]ver the last two years there have been open Trustee positions and calls to action to the community for requests to fill these positions have had minimal response from volunteers willing to fill these positions," the response said.

The response also said the trustees had been "in constant communication" with Dyson and had formally responded to her concerns.

It remains unclear why the trustees did not form a nominating committee like they were supposed to. In a list of meeting highlights sent to the community this week, the board said it was an "oversight."

Jackie Kotei, a parent at FCCS who has been critical of the board, said Monday's meeting — which came two weeks after Dyson's memo — was "the straw that broke the camel's back."

John Funderburk, a former board of trustees member who resigned earlier this year, said the current Board of Trustees was "corrosive."

"[Parents] wanted to express how they felt during this election process that was coming up because they wanted a change. They wanted a voice," Funderburk said. "And [the trustees] have effectively taken away that voice by manipulating the electoral process."

But parents at the school are not united on the issue, said Allison Rizzo, a former Board of Trustees officer and a current member of its Parent Teacher Committee.

In Rizzo's view, any discord in the school community has been largely caused by what she classified as "a small group of parents [who] are complaining that they're not getting their way."

She agreed that the board had room to grow in its governance strategies, and said she'd like to see the volunteer trustees hire a paid employee to manage Frederick Classical Charter School.

"That would be a huge improvement," she said. "The Board of Trustees could focus on more strategic questions, and allow their director to operate the typical day-to-day activities of a nonprofit."

But the bigger problem, Rizzo argued, was that FCPS chronically "picks on" the school.

While Kotei and Funderburk praised Dyson's memo, Rizzo said its contents were inaccurate and unnecessarily critical.

Rizzo said the failure to form a nominating committee put the board in a difficult spot, and emphasized that the trustees' decision to eliminate vacant positions was permissible under its bylaws.

Patrick Kitcher, another parent at the school, said that was not a good reason to eliminate the positions.

"Progress comes about not just by doing what the law allows you to do," he said. "If you want to make progress, you do what is right for your scholars."

The Board of Trustees is set to present the school's annual report to the school board at a meeting on May 17.

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