Sierra Crest Academy charter set to expire

After a 6-year run, Douglas County's only public charter school, Sierra Crest Academy in Minden, may be closing its doors after the spring semester.

On Thursday, Sierra Crest Principal David Brackett said that on Jan. 27 the charter school's board voted 5-0 not to commence renewal of its charter, which expires June 28.

"As of right now, the board has not taken specific action to close, but only action to not take up renewal," Brackett said. "Our operational assumption is that if we're not renewing, then the charter will expire."

On Friday, Sierra Crest board member Erik Papp said there was no pressing need time-wise to commence renewal without more stake-holders and parents involved.

"If someone on the board or parents came forward and wanted to renew, then, with the timeline in place, we'd have to renew sometime in March," he said. "The alternative is that if we choose not to renew, then the charter will expire."

Sierra Crest Academy's charter is sponsored by the Douglas County School District, and is supported by the taxpayers. The renewal application must be submitted 90 days before the expiration date.

"It seems the district is not interested in sponsoring charter schools anymore," Brackett said Thursday.

On Friday, district Assistant Superintendent Lyn Gorrindo said the Nevada Department of Education is now in a much better position to sponsor charters.

"When we decided to sponsor the charter six years ago, the state wasn't sponsoring charters like they are now," she said. "Now, the state has things dialed in, and we feel it's more appropriate for the state to be monitoring charters. It's really a monitoring issue. I totally agree that we need to have an alternative education charter school; but, if the district has to do the compliance audits every year, it's a lot of our time that we could be focusing on our own schools. The state really has a much better system to monitor."

Unfortunately, Brackett said, Sierra Crest can't switch to state sponsorship at this time.

"You have to have a clean track record for three years," he said. "We've had some compliance issues that make us ineligible for state sponsorship."

Brackett said the school district has audited Sierra Crest every year on 35 different things. He said the charter school would need 100 percent compliance in all areas to move forward with state sponsorship.

"In the past, we've had corrective action plans that mandate we fix the problems," Brackett said. "We're not currently on one."

He said many compliance issues have revolved around inadequate reporting, whether teachers not keeping proper attendance books or, in one case, a special education teacher not properly filing students plans.

"Those teachers no longer work here," Brackett said. "I don't know how much more corrective action you can take than that."

Brackett said he's had high staff turnover in the past. But now, he said, he has five full-time teachers who are committed to the school's 71 seventh-12th-grade students, mostly at-risk youth.

"It took us four years, but we finally have staff who are doing what it takes and who want to continue," he said.

Brackett said the school district also has had some issues with Sierra Crest's curriculum and instruction. He said last year was the first time the school did not make adequate yearly progress, as mandated by No Child Left Behind, but that it was for attendance issues.

"Our achievement is fine," he said. "We're on the watch list right now, but we've never dropped into the 'needs improvement' category."

Brackett said the school is currently operating on about a $490,000 budget, funded mostly by state per-pupil dollars. He said it would be extremely difficult to weather another round of budget cuts.

"If you're talking 10 percent of our budget, that's huge," he said. "Basically, where is the support for this school? Wanting the school in existence doesn't make it happen. We've been plagued by staff turnover and economic disadvantage. We don't have the funding sources other schools have."

Sierra Crest, which prides itself on its "project-based" curriculum, saw its first graduating class of seven students last summer. This year, they have eight potential graduates.

So where would the remaining 63 students go if the school closes after graduation?

"We would work with the Douglas County School District to appropriately place students," Brackett said. "They'd be reabsorbed. Counselors would work with us and with every kid to find what's available."

Sierra Crest students would be looking at the district's secondary schools or the ASPIRE alternative education program currently housed in Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School.

"For some of the kids, it would be a really hard transition," Brackett said. "I don't know where some of our kids who've been expelled from Douglas County would go, or those kids who had a history of failure prior to us."

Brackett said Sierra Crest and the school district have to consider what's best for students.

"Does every school meet every student's needs? The answer is no," Brackett said. "But, I think we've done a pretty good job meeting most of the needs of our kids."

Gorrindo said she is confident that the school district would make any transition for students as smooth as possible.

"We'll bring our counselors over in the last month to make the transition and get kids in class," she said. "We'll do whatever we can."

School board members are scheduled to discuss the issue at 4:20 p.m. Tuesday at Douglas High School.