As first year ends and teachers turn over, some parents are unhappy with school’s administration

By all accounts, Tooele County’s first charter school has had a rocky inaugural year. Some parents and teachers at Excelsior Academy claim that’s down to mismanagement. But the school’s board of trustees and administrators point to a combination of factors, including the normal growing pains that new charter schools across the state have experienced, and say the school’s future remains bright.

“The first year has gone pretty well,” said Ann Gubler chairman of Excelsior Academy’s board of trustees. “The majority of our parents have said that their children enjoyed the school and learned. Two-thirds of our teachers still find the school to be a good fit for them and will be returning, 220 families are returning to the school next year, and all the board is coming back.”

But officials acknowledge some growing pains as well, with the board of trustees revising the school charter and a mid-year change in leadership. Excelsior’s top administrator, school director Deb Lloyd, said the charter school is likely to lose approximately a third of its teachers at the end of the school year.

“So far, out of 30 teachers, 20 have returned a signed contract or have said they plan to,” said Lloyd. “Another 10 have either said they are not coming back or have not made a verbal commitment to return.”

That’s raised questions among some parents about overall teacher morale at the school.

“I think good teachers left not so much because they were forced or encouraged to leave,” said Excelsior parent April Resendez, “but because the administration did not let teachers know in a timely manner if their contracts were being renewed. Not knowing if they had a job put many of them in a difficult position.”

However, Lloyd insists that in a meeting held in March not long after she started at the school, teachers were told that it was the administration’s intent to hire all the current faculty for another year, though formal contracts could not be issued until performance evaluations were completed.

Of the 10 teachers that are likely not returning, two are middle school staff whose positions were eliminated when the board decided to reorganized the sixth grade into the elementary school for next year, according to Lloyd. Sixth grade was initially part of the middle school.

Lincoln Fillmore, president and founder of Charter Solutions, a charter school consulting firm working for Excelsior, said in his five years of experience working with charter schools about one-third of the staff and student body of a new charter school will turn over in the first year.

“When a new charter school opens up, especially the first one in an area like Tooele, both parents and teachers will rush to it because it is new and different,” Fillmore said. “Then some of them realize that although it is different it still may not be a good fit for them and they start looking for something else.”

But some parents don’t see the teacher turnover data the same way.

“Those are unacceptable numbers,” said Resendez.

Teacher and student turnover was one of several issues a group of about 100 parents raised during a meeting with the school’s board on May 27. Other concerns included a perceived lack of openness and communication on the part of the board, the makeup of the board itself, and a host of other issues ranging from curriculum to general school governance.

Part of the reason for the tumult at the school centers around the departure of the previous school director, Ernie Nix, in February. Nix, 50, who had hired most of the present faculty, said he was retiring for health reasons.

Nix’s departure was difficult on the staff, according to Gubler.

“Ernie hand-selected the staff,” Gubler said. “They came from all over the country looking forward to working with Ernie after interviewing with him.”

The board decided two weeks after Nix left to contract with American Preparatory Schools, a charter school management company that manages charter schools in Draper and West Valley City, to provide academic leadership for the school.

“We are not becoming part of the American Preparatory Academy,” said Gubler. “We are contracting with the American Preparatory Schools, led by Carol Sharrette, executive director who founded the American Preparatory Academy to provide us with staff. We remain our own independent school.”

The concept was not new. The school already had contracted with Charter Solutions, a charter school consulting firm based in Sandy, for business and finance support. Fillmore is the president and founder of Charter Solutions.

Cathryn Matheson, a first-year middle school English teacher sent an e-mail to parents on May 28 indicating that changes to the school following Nix’s departure had made it a place where she was not comfortable teaching.

Among her reasons for leaving, Matheson listed the end of a mentoring program for new teachers when Nix left, a lack of experience among Excelsior’s new APS administrators, a board and administration that micromanage teachers, curriculum moving in a direction she does not support, and a lack of transparency on the part of the administration and board.

Parents and teachers have expressed concerns over the qualifications of the administrative director provided under Excelsior’s contract with APS. Cindy Barrs, administrative director, admitted in response to questions at the parents’ meeting that she did not have a college degree. Barrs has, however, worked as an office manager for charter schools for the last five years, including the American Preparatory Academy in West Valley City and Legacy Preparatory Academy in North Salt Lake. She has also helped open three new charter schools. Before working for American Preparatory, Barrs worked in human resources.“She may have the minimum qualifications for the job,” said Resendez. “But is that what we want for our school?”

Those concerns were largely echoed by parents during the May 27 meeting.

Some parents were upset that the school’s original charter, which called for trustees to be elected by the parents, was changed by the board this summer to allow board members to select their own successors. The change was made to make it more difficult for a small dissenting group of parents to change the direction of the school, as well as to allow current board members to work with potential new board members and make sure their vision matches the vision and mission of the school, according to Gubler.

Nonetheless, the change didn’t sit well with some parents.

“I get an overwhelming feeling of arrogance,” said Resendez. “The decision to make the board appointed rather than elected removes all accountability.”

Fillmore said Excelsior’s board was never meant to function as a traditional public school representative school board.

“Excelsior Academy is a not-for-profit organization with their own board of trustees,” Fillmore said. “The not-for-profit organization then applies for and receives a charter from the state to operate a school. The organization then invites students to attend the organization’s school.”

Public accountability is provided through the elected state school board, according to Fillmore.

Gubler said there is ample opportunity for parent input and feedback into the school.

“We have an open-door policy, an annual survey, a parent advisory board, board meetings and a position on the board of trustees for a parent advocate,” Gubler said.

In response to concerns about micro-managing by the board and qualifications of the new administrators, Gubler said the board provides oversight to the directors, who are very qualified.

“We aren’t in the classrooms,” said Gubler. “As a board, we provide oversight and work through the director. The only time we would step in would be when we see something that is a violation of law, the charter or policy.”

In regards to administrative qualifications, Lloyd has a college degree, a level II teaching certificate, six years teaching experience, and has worked as a grade level lead teacher.

“Along with their experience, our contract also provides for mentoring by Carolyn Sharrette, who is very experienced charter school director,” Gubler said.

All of the first-year upheaval doesn’t seem to have dampened demand for the charter school.

“We have a full enrollment and 590 scholars on a waiting list,” said Lloyd.

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com