Ultramarina- Lotteries are required to be held publicly. Did you go and observe?
As for finding a way to kick out kids with LDs, I hate to say it but traditional public schools do this all the time. If you don't believe that to be the case, I suggest you find out how many expulsions your local high school had last year. How many kids transferred to the continuation or credit recovery school? How many simply dropped out?
In my former charter, and all over California, charters do not simply "kick out" kids with LDs. There is a progressive discipline policy as well as a progressive academic policy. Often we find that kids with LDs, with support and assistance can be successful in our school. Sometimes they can't.
Let me give you an example to illustrate. In my former school (where I worked for 10 years and my son is now there in the umbrella as a homeschool student), high school students ALL take college prep classes. There is no credit-recovery or remedial academic track. Students are physically at school from 8am to 4pm, at a minimum, then have one to two hours of homework a night. Students are all required to participate in an art major and an art minor. Some students are dancers, musicians, actors, game designers, painters etc. Students may be at school until 11pm for several weeks before a big show. The school has a minimum GPA requirement of 2.5 at all times. If you fall below 2.5, you get extra tutoring, assistance with homework etc. If you fall below 2.0, you have one semester of no activities allowed, plus additional support, 3 different SST meetings and a special afterschool class 2x a week for assistance with homework.
Sometimes, even with all of that built in, a kid cannot make it in the system. If we know this in advance, they have an IEP or a 504 in place when school starts. They may have modified homework, different books to read or extra time on tests (as examples). If the parent doesn't tell us, it will take a full school quarter (by law) to get a 504 in place because of the required meetings and evaluations that have to take place.
Sometimes a kid just doesn't do their work. Period. It's that simple. I can beg and plead, their parents can bribe and cajole. But sometimes, they just don't do it. There really isn't much I can do about that. Why would I hold a spot at a coveted arts academy for a kid who isn't going to try when I have a waiting list of 200 who are dying for the opportunity?
And while I'm on a roll, let me also say that the rumor that schools kick kids out right before standardized testing is also baloney. In CA, and most other states, the date of enrollment determination is in October. The STAR test is in May. It doesn't matter if a kid left my school the day after the determination date or the day before the actual test, his STAR scores still count in our final tally.
