The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools has served a notice of intent to revoke the charter for American Virtual Academy, which runs Primavera Online School.
Primavera serves about 7,000 K-12 students. Many of them have disabilities or did not succeed in a traditional setting for other reasons and are considered “at-risk.”
Under state law, if a charter doesn’t meet certain academic standards for three consecutive years, it could face consequences. Primavera has been given a "D" letter grade three years in a row.
At a board meeting Tuesday, the school’s CEO, Damian Creamer explained that Primavera didn’t apply for alternative-school status for three years, which meant it was graded as a traditional school, even though it was still serving at-risk students.
“Had we simply applied like we had applied for the previous 10 years, we would have retained our alternative-school status,” Creamer said. “We would have been rated as a performing school for all three years, and we would not be here today.”
In late 2019, Creamer’s wife was diagnosed with a terminal disease, so he stepped away from the school to take care of her. Creamer said that, combined with the switch to online work during the pandemic, led to the staff’s failure to apply for alternative-school status.
Since he’s returned to the helm of Primavera, Creamer said the school has reapplied for alternative-school status and been approved.
“And we will be a performing school when the letter grades come out this year,” Creamer said. “We’ve been a performing alternative school since the state came out with the alternative-school system in 2012. This is the very first time in 24 years of operating Primavera that I have ever had to come before the board for anything.”
The matter now goes to an administrative law judge. The board and the school will have a hearing to present their sides of the story. The judge will make a decision, but the board has the right to accept, reject or modify it. A spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Education said while it is possible for the board to change its decision, it appears unlikely.
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