DPS board votes to close White Hat charter school

"Charter schools are public institutions that are privately operated under contract with school districts. Life Skills Center is run by an Ohio-based for-profit company, White Hat Management. But the students are still Denver kids, and DPS's responsibility."

Denverpost.com editorial

February 21, 2007

Charter school fizzles, sadly

Charter schools are too often the final destination for at-risk children before they drop out of the school system entirely and become the grim statistics we continue to wring our hands about.

The Life Skills Center of Denver is one of those schools, accepting some 260 students who, for whatever reason, could not succeed - or even survive - in a traditional public school. But the school hasn't show improvements in student performance, and its attendance rate of 45 percent is the worst of all alternative-education schools in Denver Public Schools.

So last week, DPS board members voted to close the school at the end of the spring semester. It was a tough call. A few tears were shed as the board cast its 6-1 vote.

Tears should be shed. These students are among the city's most vulnerable, and their futures are important to all of us. What's next for them? Certainly they are at risk in traditional pubic schools, which, for multiple reasons, didn't work for them.

Board member Kevin Patterson, who represents northeast Denver, voted to keep the school open.

"I feel like we're punishing the child more than the adults," he said at the time, adding that he didn't feel there was a "viable alternative" for many of the students who had already dropped out of other schools.

The school will appeal DPS's decision to the state Charter School Institute, which can grant permission to run a charter school even if a district wants it closed.

We don't quarrel with DPS's decision to shutter the Life Skills school, but now officials must offer alternatives that give these teens a fighting chance. When leaders closed Manual High, DPS officials worked double-time to make sure those students didn't fall through the system's proverbial cracks. They must do the same for these students.

Charter schools are public institutions that are privately operated under contract with school districts. Life Skills Center is run by an Ohio-based for-profit company, White Hat Management. But the students are still Denver kids, and DPS's responsibility.

Charter schools can play an important role as DPS develops its reform agenda, should the district embrace them. If not, it's up to DPS to come up with a better plan for kids who struggle in traditional schools.