Laupahoehoe’s interim board members have claimed that they sought the change after reviewing the state’s charter school law and concluding that they cannot legally hold the elections until they have identified the participant groups that will make up the new charter school — including parents, community members, faculty and staff. They argue that those currently at the school would not be the same pool as those who would choose to attend and work at the charter school, and therefore the elections cannot be held until the school year is about to begin.
BY COLIN M. STEWART | STEPHENS MEDIA
HILO — The Hawaii Board of Education has agreed to hear an appeal by organizers of the Laupahoehoe charter school, who claim that their charter has effectively been revoked by the school’s oversight body.
Meanwhile, the state’s Charter School Review Panel maintains that it has merely instructed the charter school to delay its July 2012 launch until the 2013-14 school year.
The BOE notified the Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School’s Interim Local School Board last week of its decision to hear on Tuesday a pair of appeals the ILSB filed on Nov. 28 and Dec. 29.
In its November appeal, Laupahoehoe’s ILSB claimed that the state Charter School Review Panel had failed to respond to a request to amend the charter school’s Detailed Implementation Plan. The ILSB sought the amendment to push back a deadline by which it was to have held elections for a permanent school board. The school’s plan had initially called for it to hold elections no later than September 2011.
Laupahoehoe’s interim board members have claimed that they sought the change after reviewing the state’s charter school law and concluding that they cannot legally hold the elections until they have identified the participant groups that will make up the new charter school — including parents, community members, faculty and staff. They argue that those currently at the school would not be the same pool as those who would choose to attend and work at the charter school, and therefore the elections cannot be held until the school year is about to begin.