Investigators: Curriculum and Costs of a Charter School

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. - Is a Minnesota charter school setting students up for failure by letting them slide by too easily? That's what some former teachers and counselors are saying. The school is BlueSky online school. And critics says it’s not just its curriculum but its spending that needs more scrutiny.

School as most of us know it is not for everybody. Chad Vennerstrom says it was hard for him to concentrate.
A friend told him about Bluesky online charter school.
He signed up and is now getting straight A’s.

“It’s better. They help you a lot more.” Vennerstrom says.
The Interim Director Jeffrey Schulz says, “Perhaps it's that three person team that's giving that student the flexibility and support he or she needs.”
But a former teacher, Kyra Campbell is one of several former blue sky employees who say blue sky let students take shortcuts.

“To me it's the student, that's the worst thing. That they're getting cheated to keep enrollment numbers high. I think it's about the numbers and the money.”
She believes it's gone on for years because the people who are supposed to oversee the school allow it. She says BlueSky has a reputation for being easy to get through.

Bluesky was the first online charter high school in the state. It’s an alternative school for kids who need flexibility.
Teacher Laura Welciek explains, “One student of mine might work a couple weeks ahead because they're going to have a baby or they're a competitive athlete and they have a big competition so they can work ahead or they might fall behind and I can let them get caught up.”
But one person's flexibility is another's red flag.
Campbell says the school’s leaders took it beyond the law.

In Minnesota, a student has to pass certain core classes to graduate: math and social studies for example. A year ago a group of former BlueSsky teachers and counselors complained Bluesky was cheating on some requirements.
In April of 2009 an Education Department review of Bluesky's math curriculum found it falls seriously short of alignment to state statutory math course requirements.

Keith Lester is superintendent of Brooklyn Center Schools which is BlueSky’s sponsor. He says, “If they told me Brooklyn Center schools had fallen that far behind, I'd be concerned.”
Interim Director Schulz says he has a plan to improve the math scores.
“We have a math team working diligently to address those scores because they're very concerning.”
But Campbell expressed the same concerns regarding social studies.
“I was like, how does this person not have to pass U.S. history? It's a state required standard.”
She raised concerns that students aren't being required to pass all required social studies classes.
Fox 9 reporter Trish Van Pilsum shows Schulz an email from last summer. It says that in a meeting it was decided that as a rule the scheduling of students in social studies will have to meet education department standards
A counselor then writes in a later e-mail she's disappointed. She hopes it's only temporary because she'd like to substitute a class called The History of Rock and Roll for U.S. History if the staff could figure out a way to align the two classes.
Van Pilsum asks Schulz, “How much rock and roll was there during the revolutionary war and the civil war?” He responds, “I don't know the answer to that in terms of how they would build that in. At this point that's not a replacement course.”
Van Pilsum says, “But it might have been if teachers hadn't been vocal.”
And the counselor’s email continues; she worries it's only a matter of time before this move to bring departments in line with state standards carries over into English and Science.
Now until this point, it's worth noting that these e-mails are fairly widely distributed. Then comes one from Renee Parcheta, Student Services Director.
She asks would it be okay to keep the schedules the same for 11th and 12th graders at risk. What we fear is they will drop out. It says please do not forward.

Van Pilsum asks Lester, “They don't want people to know they're still trying to circumvent the state law- does it concern you?” He says, “If that's the case, yes. If that's what they're trying to do, yes.”

So what would be the problem with a school doing what it could to get a kid a diploma? Especially a kid who might not get one otherwise?
Campbell says, “How does that help a student? How does that help them in the future?”

Campbell reported her curriculum concerns to the state education department.
BlueSky fired her and a counselor, Misun Bormann who also complained to the state.
Bormann claimed in her complaint that BlueSky was cheating students out of a complete education by not meeting all graduation standards.
Van Pilsum asks Schulz, “Do you feel you're cheating students out of a complete education?” He says, “Absolutely not.”

On December 10, Bormann wrote a blistering email criticizing BlueSky and claiming employees are afraid for their jobs if they speak out. Layoffs were pending.
Van Pilsum asks, “Do teachers