Charter school receives tentative nod

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

By Allison L. Smith
Source: Northwest Herald

CARPENTERSVILLE – The District 300 school board voted Monday night to grant the charter for a developer-backed school in its western corridor.

But the agreement is tentative, and it puts charter applicant Northern Kane Educational Corp. in the financial hot seat.

The corporation, with which Cambridge Homes is a partner, has until Oct. 17 to file a revised plan. And if even one of the board’s conditions are not committed to in writing, a final charter will not be granted, officials said.

The unanimous vote in front of an overflowing audience came with Superintendent Ken Arndt’s blessing. He had berated the proposal earlier this month as a financial “Trojan horse.”

Arndt told the board Monday that in a meeting last week with developer Jerry Conrad and others, Conrad had shifted to his attitude to “whatever it takes.”

“A tenor definitely changed,” Arndt said. “We will now be holding Mr. Conrad to his promises.”

The corporation wants to build and operate the $18 million elementary and middle school in Cambridge Lakes. The Pingree Grove subdivision is slated for construction off Route 72.

The campus, which would be built in stages and eventually house up to 1,000 students, could be open as early as Fall 2006.

It would be open to all District 300 students by a lottery. Families with children enrolled in pre-kindergarten at the school would not get preference when they moved on to kindergarten.

The corporation had not offered to take students with special needs, but the board set the condition that it must.

“And if NKEC wants to use District 300 resources for that, fine,” Arndt said. “But for a charge.”

Because there are more low-income students and children who speak English as a second language in the eastern part of the district, the board will require the corporation to set a busing plan to give all families equal access.

“I really hope this [charter] school will be inundated with students who are not from Cambridge Lakes,” Board Member Karen Roeckner said.

Bus service will also be provided for Pingree Grove families who choose to send their children elsewhere in District 300. The board is requiring Cambridge Homes to open up its recent agreement with village officials, to give the district instead of the charter operator any impact fees from the homes of those families.

The board decided not to sign a backup lease, as the corporation had wanted in case the school fails.

“District 300 would not be obligated to assume any debts or financial responsibility for the charter at any time,” said Charlie Rose, lawyer for the district.

While school backers had pushed the district to give them $7,170 a child, the board held firm that the district would only pay them the state-set tuition rate, now at $6,518 but expected to rise between 2 and 6 percent in the next month.

Before the vote, a representative of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools told the board that Illinois has 30 charter schools, though not in connection with home developers.

Some of the schools are in Chicago, where a program by American Quality Schools has improved educational performance. The program would be used in the Cambridge Lakes school.

“I think our district can be a champion for the state of Illinois if this works,” Board Member Susie Kopacz said. “And I sincerely hope it does.”

Charter school in District 300 still iffy

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

By Brian Slupski
Source: Northwest Herald

CARPENTERSVILLE – When Dave Kading agreed to buy a home in Pingree Grove, he did so believing that a school would be built nearby.

“They said they had donated land for a charter school and that it was pending board approval, but obviously, things weren’t as rosy as they were making it out to be,” said Kading, who has been wondering whether there will be a school for his 7-year-old daughter to attend.

On Monday, Kading got his answer – sorta, kinda, maybe. The District 300 school board approved the charter-school proposal with a series of conditions that home builder Cambridge Homes must meet by Oct. 17.

The charter school would be built, at a cost of $18 million, by Cambridge. It would serve as many as 1,000 elementary school students. It would be part of District 300 but would be operated by the Northern Kane Educational Corp.

Among the conditions that must be met are that the charter school be open to all District 300 residents. Also, the charter school must have a transportation plan and a plan to deal with special-education students, and it must meet all life-safety codes.

None of that seems unreasonable, yet for six months the two sides were unable to work things out. School officials said the conditions never changed, so what took so-oooo long?

“I’m not going to comment on that,” said a somewhat grumpy Larry Fuhrer, Cambridge’s consultant on the project.

Fuhrer likely is grumpy because the burden of whether the charter school becomes a reality is now firmly on his and Cambridge Vice President Jerry Conrad’s shoulders. Meanwhile, school board members have the best of both worlds. They approved the charter but also looked out for the district’s best interest. If Cambridge can’t meet the conditions, that’s not their problem.

However, District 300 finance guru Cheryl Crates said that in five years, the charter school could end up costing the district $2 million. Legally, such a cost is not enough of a reason to vote the charter school down, and Crates admitted that the $2 million projection likely was too high.

The biggest hurdle facing the project is money. (Isn’t it always?) Cambridge has wanted to be reimbursed at $7,170 a child. District officials have said they would not pay more than 100 percent of the district’s per-student educational cost, which now is at $6,518.

New cost figures are expected sometime this month, and Cambridge officials are banking on them increasing. If they don’t rise substantially, then the project still could be dead.

And Dave Kading’s daughter likely will have a long bus ride to look forward to.