Proposed Charter Schools Named After Dwayne Wade Meets School Board Resistance
Three proposed charter high schools designed for dropouts that plan to use PlayStation and Xbox as academic incentives and Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade’s name want to open in Broward County (FL) next school year. But the Broward County district staff has recommended the School Board deny the applications.
Mavericks High D. Wade’s Schools are among 11 charter schools going before the School Board on Wednesday seeking approval for the 2009-10 school year. The D. Wade’s Schools are the only ones recommended for denial. Nine others withdrew their applications.
The reason Mavericks High shouldn’t open this fall: insufficient curriculum, specifically the reading curriculum, said Luwando Wright-Hines, Broward’s director of charter schools. The schools don’t have lesson plans to address the needs of students who read at or above grade level, according to district documents.
Other reasons to deny the applications, according to district documents, include the management company’s failure to provide plans to educate students learning English and exceptional education students, a plan to recruit and maintain quality staff and evidence of proper insurance and budgetary projections.
The schools would provide a mixture of classroom and online courses.
Mark Thimmig, head of Mavericks in Education, the private management company that would run the schools, called Broward’s application process “deeply flawed.” He said district staff is unfamiliar with the chosen curriculum — Web-based Apex Learning — and is therefore uncomfortable with it.
“They haven’t reviewed it yet, and they can’t really make a fair judgment,” Thimmig said.
According to Wright-Hines, five other Broward charter schools currently use Apex Learning, so that is not the issue. “The deficiency in the reading curriculum is,” she said. “We look forward to working with them next year if they decided to resubmit.”
Mavericks in Education submitted applications for 16 charter schools statewide, including three each in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. All schools are named for the NBA All-Star guard.
The goal of the schools, with their small classes, top-notch technology and Wade’s name, is to return to the classroom high-school dropouts and those at-risk of dropping out, so they can graduate, learn job skills and make plans to continue their education, the applications said.
Part of the schools’ lure will be the Cyber Athletics and Club Gaming program. With regular attendance, academic progress and good behavior, students could earn chances to compete against each other and gamers in cyberspace in the NBA Live, Madden and Rock Band video games
The approach “minimizes negative stereotypes of school being ‘uncool’ and gives our school ’street credit,’” the management company’s application says.
The decision to approve or deny the schools rests with School Board members. If approved, the schools would run three, four-hour shifts a day, beginning at 7:15 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. at each campus.
School administrators would recruit 400, 15-to 21-year-old students per campus. Students would learn at their own pace in classrooms and online.
“This is about kids who need this education the most,” Thimmig said. “You have the support of an Olympic athlete, you’re creating 90 new education jobs and $4 million in payroll at a time when we have tremendous need for jobs.”
- Akilah Johnson, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Comment by shonda smith on 25 November 2008:
i think its a one in a million oppertunity for societys young men who dont have interest in school and no one to encourage them to do the right thing. I myself have a son who like school but have a temper and is easily distracted by noise , sometimes loose focus when doing assignments which means( he dosen’t always completes them)would shut down when accused of something he might do in defense of someone ,or didnt do but rather than allow the teacher to handle the situation , would respond in their manner. His name is Famous he’s 12 years old very affectionate ,respectful, and loved by all adults that comes in contact with him , and he’ the same at home.I said this to say that although my son won’t benefit from your program , i think that there sould be more people to open more doors for children who have different issues like the ones that qualify for your program and who like Famous who allows his temper to be his weakness an oppertunity to explore and be understood for his actions rather than misunderstood and treated fairly. If I could I would.
I’d like to thank you for allowing me to express my opionion, and having my voice heard. Our children today would very much appreciate what you”ve done. Sincerly, Shonda Smith