by admin | Oct 12, 2021 | Uncategorized
LELAND, North Carolina –The Charter Day School network of charter schools, anticipating further growth and heightened enrollment demands, is adopting a new name reflecting the schools’ unique classical curriculum and emphasis on civic virtue: Classical Charter Schools of America. The new names will be phased-in for the network and each of its schools beginning immediately.
Charter Day School, Inc. Board Chairman Robert Spencer said the name change was prompted by “the need to clarify what makes our schools different and better” and a desire to “bring unity and uniformity to our family of schools” at a time when charter school popularity has been rapidly accelerating.
Headquartered in Leland, a Wilmington neighbor, the Charter Day School, Inc. network began 20 years ago with a single charter school in grades K-5. Today, the network includes four schools—in Leland, Southport, Whiteville and Wilmington—enrolling more than 2,500 students. Spencer said Classical Charter Schools of America will likely apply for a fifth area school in the next 18-24 months and is planning additional schools elsewhere in the state “and even in other states.”
In North Carolina, charter schools became law on June 22, 1996 as independently controlled, tuition-free schools open to the public. Charter school boards are accountable to the state for maintaining high academic performance and financial stability.
Spencer said the network’s first school, Charter Day School, opened in 2000 in Leland. Just five years later the State Board of Education recognized its academic success, designating Charter Day School one of the Top-25 elementary schools out of 1,800 in North Carolina.
As a result of this success, a second school was established in 2007: Columbus Charter School in Whiteville. A third school was added in 2013—Douglass Academy in downtown Wilmington—and a fourth in 2014, South Brunswick Charter School in Southport. All four schools will be renamed. Columbus Charter School, for example, is becoming Classical Charter Schools of Whiteville and Douglass Academy is becoming Classical Charter Schools of Wilmington. All schools will continue to be under the central control of Charter Day School, Inc. which is becoming Classical Charter Schools of America.
“While all of these schools share the same management team and use the same time-tested, field-proven classical curricula and instructional methods, their legacy names didn’t reflect that fact,” Spencer said, “the new names do.” Spencer also noted that uniforms and other materials bearing the old names would be grandfathered.
Spencer said that renaming the network and its schools is one of several steps the Board is taking. The second step, which is ongoing, will be to evaluate future locations for possible expansion. “We have a terrific educational model as our wait lists attest; we want to share this model,” he said.
The Board also is looking at ways to “further differentiate the way our schools teach citizenship and life lessons to impressionable young students as distinct from the highly politicized ways many traditional public schools have been adopting,” Spencer said. “We teach students to work hard, do their best, respect their teachers and each other and to love their country; the contrast with what’s going on in many traditional public schools couldn’t be greater, and many parents are choosing our educational model.”
Schools in the Classical Charter Schools of America network are managed by The Roger Bacon Academy charter school management firm, which provides the schools’ curriculum, instructional, and operational services—including professional development for teaching staff, accounting, human resources, recruiting, IT, maintenance, and security.
For virtual tours of the network and its schools visit www.CCSAM.net and select the location of interest for enrollment and employment opportunities, or contact The Roger Bacon Academy, 3610 Thaddeus Lott Lane, Leland, NC 28451. Phone: (910) 655-3600.
by admin | Oct 12, 2021 | Uncategorized
A recent headline in the Arizona Republic newspaper said it all: “Across the U.S., charter schools are growing — and teachers unions are trying to stop them.”
Charter schools are growing, both nationally and in my home state of North Carolina, because they offer parents an alternative to the traditional government-run public schools — schools in which many children, for various reasons, feel ignored, unsafe, or unchallenged.
The National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and their state and local union affiliates are trying to curtail charter schools because they consider them a threat. Truth be told, so do many public-school administrators.
The reason is understandable. Charter schools, which are largely non-unionized and don’t answer to the local school superintendent, have proven they can educate America’s children as well as, or better than, local district schools, and at a lower cost. As a result, taxpayers are starting to ask questions about the school systems’ and unions’ never-ending demands for bigger budgets, higher pay, smaller classes, additional classroom aides and, lest we forget, fewer charters.
Unionized teachers, in their “Red for Ed” demonstrations and strikes during the past two years, have been unwavering in their claim that they’re taking to the streets “for the children.” We saw that in Raleigh. Yet, what activist teachers have been demanding will do little to help students.
Benefits and pay may increase, but it’s unclear how that helps the children. Student achievement probably will stay about the same. Schools that already are doing well will continue to do OK, while “underperforming” schools will continue to struggle.
Meanwhile, parents looking for alternatives to underperforming schools — especially low-income parents who can’t afford private schools — will be out of luck if independently run charters are unavailable. That’s a net loss.
American taxpayers already spend a fortune on education — much of which is devoured by the gluttonous bureaucracy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, annual public spending on K-12 education increased from $593.8 billion in fiscal year 2012 to $694 billion in fiscal 2017 (the last year for which reliable data are available).
U.S. spending on K-12 education is greater than the gross domestic products (GDP) of most of the world’s countries. Yet, on international learning tests, students in much poorer countries outperform U.S. students by significant margins.
So what is the problem?
One problem is the public-school establishment’s non-competitive attitude. This bias against choice and competition was woven deeply into the education establishment’s DNA in the 1840s by Horace Mann, who started the new “common school movement” as superintendent of education in Massachusetts. He embedded the anti-choice gene in his declaration, “We who are engaged in the sacred cause of education are entitled to look upon all parents as having given hostages to our cause.” Competition from charter schools is setting these hostages free.
Another problem is the teachers’ unions. Though the education establishment doesn’t like to talk about it, research shows that children in unionized school districts, where the fight against charters is most intense, “have slightly higher dropout rates and slightly lower rates of math and reading proficiency” than students in nonunion school districts.
The source for this is not a charter advocacy organization, but “Journalist’s Resource,” a project of the Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School. In North Carolina, a right-to-work state, charter students in every demographic group outscore their peers in the traditional government-run schools.
What traditional public schools are lacking is exactly what attracts many parents to charter schools: orderly classrooms, a solid no-nonsense curriculum, and teachers and administrators who recognize that helping children feel good about themselves is meaningless if you haven’t also helped them learn what they need to know.
For these and other reasons, the parents of some 3.2 million children in 44 states and the District of Columbia now choose charter schools over traditional public schools to educate their children.
Charter schools are proving that success is possible even with fewer resources than traditional public schools enjoy, and even with children the traditional schools have given up on. Though the unions and education establishment will continue to fight charters, parents will continue to choose them.
(To view/comment on this post on FoxNews.com, please visit: https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/baker-mitchell-why-charter-schools-keep-growing )
by admin | Jun 10, 2021 | Fit Row
Leland – Charter Day School, (CDS, Inc.) which operates charter schools in the coastal area, announced plans today for major expansions at three of its schools after a privately-financed bond offering was successfully oversubscribed.
“I am excited that we are now able to move forward with these major projects,” announced CDS, Inc. Board Chairman Robert Spencer. Spencer highlighted the importance of the privately-financed bond issue by pointing out that charter schools receive no state or local tax funds for facilities. The projects include the following additions.
South Brunswick Charter School, Southport, NC, expands from grades K-5 to K-8 by adding middle school classroom buildings, a multi-purpose auditorium/gymnasium, and adding more classrooms for exceptional children.
Columbus Charter School, Whiteville, NC, will add a new elementary school office, additional classrooms for exceptional children, and a new, enlarged computer lab.
Charter Day School, Leland, NC, adds a new elementary school office building with a multi-purpose auditorium/gymnasium along with a new exceptional children’s classroom building at the middle school.
“Charter schools are loved by taxpayers because they educate students for less than 75% of what regular district schools receive,” he said. “This means, however, that some facilities must wait until the schools build up enough savings to attract private investors for their construction.” Spencer said this privately-financed bond offering is the culmination of several years of planning and evaluation of financing alternatives by the non-profit’s Board of Trustees.
With a Moody’s credit rating that puts it among the top 10% of all charter schools and a very stable steady growth with outstanding test scores, Spencer said the family of CDS schools, managed by The Roger Bacon Academy (RBA), was able to get a very favorable interest rate as it placed its municipal bond offering into the investment community. Prominent investment banks such as Goldman Sachs were quick to buy into the offering which was oversubscribed. “The favorable terms of this private financing are due to the dedication and hard work of the teachers and staff of our schools,” said Chairman Spencer, “as well as the loyalty, support, and trust shown over the years by our students’ parents.”
“The multi-purpose auditoriums will greatly facilitate a number of our competitive curriculum events such as the FASTAR reading/math races, the History Bowl Tournaments, and Science Olympiad practices, and as well as indoor practice space for PE-related activities such as our championship archery teams and our National Championship Cheer Squads,” said Baker Mitchell, Founder of The Roger Bacon Academy. Mitchell said these popular programs, as well as regular physical education classes would no longer have to contend with last-minute inclement weather rescheduling or renting indoor venues or having to bus students to use the auditorium at our downtown Wilmington school, Douglass Academy. Use of the new facilities would also free up scheduling and additional funds for the downtown school which is still growing into its existing facility.
“Parents will benefit greatly from the new auditoriums for drama productions and student observances such as Kindergarten’s ‘I Can Read’ ceremony, awards for Student of the Month, Exemplary Character Trait, and Accelerated Reader, and the year-end graduation ceremonies,” Mitchell added. He also said site preparation has been underway for a few months, and two years is the projected time for the completion of all construction. To learn more about the schools’ classical curriculum, view a video tour of a school, or to enroll online, please visit www.EnrollRBA.com.
by admin | Jun 1, 2021 | Uncategorized
Whiteville, NC – Kindergarten and eighth grade students received diplomas and accolades in front of a glowing crowd of family and friends. The occasion capped off a year of hard work and inspired persistence in the face of adversity.
Steve Smith, Headmaster of Columbus Charter School, commented, “We are incredibly proud of our amazing students! Their resilience, optimism, and dedication are an inspiration to us all. Congratulations!” Columbus Charter School is one of four charter schools managed by The Roger Bacon Academy, Inc. founded in 1999 by education pioneer Baker Mitchell.
The other schools include Charter Day School in Leland, 1Douglass Academy in Wilmington, and South Brunswick Charter School in Southport with a combined enrollment of over 2,100 students in K-8. All four are tuition-free, charter schools that welcome all students, regardless of income, ability, or address. To learn more or enroll online, please visit EnrollRBA.com
