Recently on the internet some further facts have come out on the proposed closure of the Sanford New School charter. This school began as a high school program granted by an elementary school district years ago. The charter got caught in the legislative net that was cast in 2002 that created a new stipulation: an LEA is only able to grant charters that encompass (and can extend beyond) their own grade levels. So if the Sanford charter wanted to continue to exist it had to also have a K-8 program because that is the is the grade level its LEA district served. This information provides some insight and logic into why the high school portion is performing well - it was the school program that was planned for and implemented - and the elementary is not - it did not have the benefit of being part of the initial vision and planning by the Stanford team and Dr. Darling-Hammond.
[Note: The Ravenswood Elementary School District made a surprising decision to allow a two year extension of the charter - to the 5th grade and to the high school. The district did not have a choice to only continue the high school portion because of the regulation noted above. The district, by this two year extension, is giving the Stanford New School a two year time frame to find a high school district to be their sponsor so that the elementary grades are not mandated.]
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This clarifies the issue somewhat... I now get why the HS is higher functioning ... but I still wonder why with all those resources they couldnt do better than they did with the elementary?
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