BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
As Cincinnati Public Schools leaders worriedly devise ways to stem projected enrollment losses, two proposed charter schools nearing state approval promise to lure away more students.
A Fairfield woman and a Columbus man have applied to the Ohio Department of Education to open charter schools in the district next fall.
The Riser Military Academy, proposed by 14-year U.S. Army Reserve veteran Darryl Riser, would be a year-round, extended-day military school for chronically misbehaving students.
Lisa Hamm, a CPS teacher for seven years and Central Fairmount School assistant principal, aims to open the Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy.
State lawmakers passed Ohio's charter school law last year to increase competition among districts and give parents more educational choices. Critics complain that the independent public schools drain students and money from districts.
State education officials have approved 15 charter schools, or community schools as they're known in Ohio, since last year. One CPS leader expressed exasperation after learning of the proposals, saying state lawmakers aren't giving the district enough time to implement reforms. Approving so many charter schools will cripple a district on the cusp of widespread improvement, he added.
"This is bad news for the kids. People, in the name of children, are going to wreck generations of kids with this kind of foolishness," school board President Arthur Hull said. "You're not going to get well quick overnight, and to think that you can is totally irrational."
CPS administrators are devising a policy to allow them to charter existing schools, giving successful schools more autonomy, overhauling failing schools and filling unmet needs. A military academy and college preparatory school were two ideas leaders liked.
Officials expect to lose 8,000 students in the next decade due to declining birth rates and high transfer and dropout rates.
Ms. Hamm's "holistic education" proposal espouses many of the ideas CPS leaders have stressed in their strategic plan - parental involvement, a safe and orderly environment, team-based schooling and high academic standards.
But children would study in multiage classrooms in a "school families" concept, according to her proposal.
In an "imaginary university" held for three weeks every spring, students would choose a major, take courses in that field and receive a "degree."
"The whole approach is to prepare kids for higher learning," said Ms. Hamm, a former Woodford Paideia assistant principal. The school would enroll 336 students in kindergarten through sixth grade its first year, expanding to 432 students in K-8 within three years.
"We believe that effort, not ability, of the school, the parents and the students determines the rate of academic progress," she said. "High academic achievement is a sign of diligence. At this school, all kids will be achieving."
Ms. Hamm ultimately hopes to open four academies throughout the city.
The Riser Military Academy would have a boot-camp structure with a technical and vocational curriculum that would "produce self-disciplined, smarter students, more eager to learn."
Students and teachers would wear military uniforms. Drill instructors would lead students through rigorous physical training and after-school extracurricular activities including martial arts, weight lifting, computer programming and entrepreneurship. The school would enroll 80 students in fifth through eighth grades its first year, expanding to 160 students in fifth through 12th grades within five years.
Mr. Riser would target students with no respect for authority, possible gang or drug involvement, poor grades and uninvolved parents, according to his proposal.
The school wouldn't be affiliated with an Armed Forces branch as most military schools are. Mr. Riser aims to open several academies statewide.
Mr. Riser, a doctoral student at Ohio State University, works in human resources in the 325th Finance Battalion. He couldn't be reached for comment.
