Southern California Muslim Charter school is shut down

[Demovictory9]

http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-edu-guidance-charter-school-20180823-story.html

A Palmdale charter school borrowed nearly $30 million to build a new campus. Then it got shut down

For the last year, construction on the corner of Avenue R and 40th Street East in Palmdale hummed along as a massive school campus took shape.

On its Facebook page, Guidance Charter School posted photos of students holding shovels adorned with yellow ribbons and contractors pouring the foundation for what would be an 87,000-square-foot campus with a swimming pool, library and playing fields — paid for with nearly $30 million in bonds.

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On Tuesday, the board rejected Guidance’s last-ditch effort to open for the 2018-19 school year. Unless a court overturns Palmdale’s decision, Guidance Charter School will not be able to enroll students — or receive the state funding that comes with them. But it still will be responsible for repaying the debt.

Supporters say the school is a victim of a process that puts decision-making power in the hands of the very districts that compete with charters for students and funding. Opponents see it as proof that charter schools, regardless of the quality of the education they offer or the extent of oversight they receive, are able to access bond money too easily.

The school’s executive director, Kamal Al-Khatib, blames its closure on the Palmdale School District, which he said purposely set the charter school up for failure in order to win students back. In the spring of 2017, less than a year before voting not to renew the school, the district had declared that Guidance was on solid ground, he said.

“They gave the bondholders assurance that the Guidance Charter School is in good standing. And then when we submitted our charter, they denied our charter,” Al-Khatib said. “It was their plan from the beginning.”

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Guidance was founded in 2001 by Muslim leaders who promised to offer students a secular education and Arabic instruction.

The school leased space from a mosque owned by the American Islamic Institute of Antelope Valley, a religious organization run by the charter’s founder and its executive director, which would later prompt a host of conflict-of-interest concerns. Guidance’s ties to the mosque — and the thin partitions erected to separate its students from a prayer room — drew criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Anti-Defamation League that there was not enough of a wall between church and state.

Regardless, the school grew. It had opened with 65 students but by last year had about 900 in grades K-12. And every five years, when its right to operate came up for renewal, the Palmdale school board voted to keep it open. Guidance also rented classroom space from the district.

[dembotoz]

1. Wonder what actually happened

Often thought the best way to eliminate charter schools was Muslim schools
Catholic? Ok
Lutheran? Why not

[Archae]

2. All too often, charter schools are a scam.

Every year I read about a charter school where the top people run off with a lot of money, leaving teachers and students in the lurch.

I would like to know more about this "Guidance" program before I say anything about it, though.