On the agenda for the Public Charter School Board's January 10th meeting is to consider beginning the revocation process for Imagine Southeast PCS. This Performance Management Framework Tier 2 school, according to the Washington Post's Emma Brown, has over 500 elementary and middle school students. The reporter states that the facility has not been able to satisfy four out of five goals laid out in its charter.
Imagine Southeast says it is surprised by the move. “We feel a little bit like the carpet’s being pulled out from under us in the middle of what’s going to take a little more time,” Ms. Brown quotes the vice chairman of Imagine Southeast's board Matt Engel as saying in response. The charter has been in operation since 2008.
Perhaps the school was caught a little off guard. There are seven Tier 3 elementary and middle schools according to this year's PMF results and two Tier 3 high schools. You have to wonder why these facilities were not targeted first for closure. However, in fairness I need to point out that Imagine Southeast just barely made the Tier 2 category with a score of 35.6 percent. The floor of this category is 35 percent. The charter's rating was almost identical last year.
I do think it is important for the PCSB to offer criteria as to why this school was picked for closure compared to the ones on the Tier 3 list. This body should also move quickly to shutter these other facilities.
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