School, district dispute closing

Sea Islands YouthBuild leaders keeping program open during appeal process

Although the Charleston County School Board voted more than a week ago to shut down Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School, the school still is up and running.

School officials disagree with charter school leaders on whether the school should be allowed to continue operating while the charter school exhausts the appeal process.

The charter school plans to ask an administrative law judge to hear its case and overrule the school board's decision to close the charter school. That process could last several months.

Charter school law isn't clear about what should happen in the meantime. John Emerson, the in-house district attorney, said the school board views the revocation as immediate and plans to give the charter school until Oct. 21 to transfer its students to other district programs or schools. The charter school's money is funneled through the district, and the district plans to stop sending payments in the near future, he said.

"If they chose to ignore that, they would be operating without authority," he said.

Michele Patrao Forsythe, attorney for the charter school, disagrees with the district's interpretation and said the charter school intends to continue operating until the appeal is complete. She didn't think the law permits the district to stop sending money to the charter school until the appeal finishes, she said.

The charter school for at-risk students has had difficulties since it opened last fall, and this year was the second time the school board tried to close the school. The board closed the school on the grounds that it failed to follow state law last year by not employing enough certified teachers and that it failed to follow federal law by not serving students with disabilities, according to district officials.

Charter school officials say they have made changes since last year, that its teachers are in the process of receiving certifications and that they have hired a special education teacher.

Ed Leary, the charter school's interim director, said significant changes have been made, such as banning cell phones in classrooms, instituting a dress code and tightening discipline.

"We're going to go on helping the kids that Charleston County couldn't help," he said. "We have kids coming from across the district. ... This is their last shot."