January 2016 Status Report

A summary of our charter school application status as of the end of January 2016 is as follows:

1. All submissions and correspondence have been in writing for purposes of thorough documentation and are publicly available for review on this blogsite Northfield Charter School Petition.
2. We contacted KSDE to confirm the proper online forms required to apply for approval to open a charter school in Wichita.
3. We thoroughly completed all the required KSDE forms and submitted them to USD 259 prior to the December 1, 2015 deadline.
4. USD 259 General Counsel responded with a letter in early January 2016 indicating that he considered our petition to be de jure incomplete, because the KSDE application form "unfortunately" did not [in his opinion] comply with the requirements of Kansas law.
5. Due to this alleged procedural defect, USD 259 declined to consider the substantive merits set forth in our petition and advised us to review the Kansas law to make certain our application conformed with the full legal requirements for charter schools [the official KSDE charter school application form notwithstanding ... "unfortunately"].
6. We sent USD 259 General Counsel an immediate response requesting clarification before we proceeded and we copied KSDE [which USD 259 did not do when it denied our application based on its allegation that the KSDE application form did not meet Kansas legal requirements].
7. We have, to my knowledge, received no further communications on this matter from either USD 259 or KSDE as of this date Jan 29, 2016.

Reply.01 Email to USD 259

January 7, 2016 [by email]

Thomas Powell
General Counsel USD 259

Wichita KS

RE: Northfield Charter School of the Liberal Arts Petition & Narrative

Dear Thomas,

I am in receipt of your Jan 4, 2016 letter informing me that USD 259 has reviewed my Petition and Narrative referenced above and determined them to be procedurally incomplete for which reason USD 259 cannot consider [and will not comment further on] them at this time. Thanks for recording your findings in such daunting detail ... it must had taken a good deal of time and extraordinary legal expertise well beyond the capacity of the average Kansan concerned with the quality of [and alternatives to] public education in our state at this important time of shrinking budgets.

It would be of great assistance to me if you could respond in some detail to the following questions [by number] before I take any further steps in an already difficult and complex task of seeking approval to open a charter public school in Wichita.

1. Are all 14 deficiencies in my Petition [as listed in your letter] a subset of the 16 factors which you believe are required [under KSA 72-1906(c)] to be included in a charter school petition before it can be considered complete? Or in other words, which [if any] of the 14 deficiencies are not derived from the 16 factors and what is the basis for requiring them?
2. How long has USD 259 been aware that the official charter school petition forms published by KSDE do not contain sections that correspond with the 16 factors set forth in KSA 72-1906(c) which [according to your letter] are required for any charter school application in the state of Kansas to be considered complete?
3. What steps has USD 259 taken to inform KSDE of this problem?
4. Can you provide me copies of the correspondence between USD 259 and KSDE seeking resolution of this problem?
5. Has USD 259 considered, denied or approved any other charter school petitions made using the same [or similarly flawed] KSDE forms?
6. Can you provide me with copies of documentation showing such prior considerations, denials or approvals?
7. Have any other Kansas unified school districts accepted the KSDE forms as sufficient for formal consideration and approval of a charter school petition?
8. Have any other Kansas unified school districts rejected a charter school petition based solely on the KSDE forms being legally flawed?
9. Before I proceed further, would USD 259 be willing to comment on the pedagogical substance and educational merits of my Petition and Narrative as currently presented in the format requested by KSDE?

As you know, your response to my Petition [as well as the text of this email] are public documents which are being published to record the entire process undertaken to make this petition. You may find all such published documents on the Northfield Charter School Petition blogsite. Since you did not copy anyone at KSDE on your letter to me, I am taking the liberty of copying Jessica Noble on this email so that KSDE is fully aware of your important findings in this matter. [Jessica can find your letter and this reply on the blogsite].

I look forward to working with you, Superintendent Allison and everyone else at USD 259 and KSDE to show that there are many "people" outside the establishment who can and will improve educational opportunities for the children of Wichita ... if only they are allowed to try.

respectfully,

Bob Love

on behalf of Petitioner

rwlove51@gmail.com