Chesapeake Science Pointe Public Charter School in Hanover will open this fall on probation until it can prove to the Anne Arundel County school board that it has enough financial support to keep going.
“If we can?t get a better accounting, then I will recommend we not renew the charter for the following year,” said new Superintendent Kevin Maxwell in one of his first major decisions since taking over as the top school official.
School officials said a financial report produced by a certified public accountant hired by Chesapeake Science Pointe contained accounting errors and showed the school being supported by large private loans. School board member Konrad Wayson wanted to set an absolute deadline for the school to comply with district regulations or be shut down.
Instead, the board accepted Maxwell?s proposal that the school be given until the end of the first semester to fix the remaining problems or face closure. The math and science charter school has struggled throughout its first year of existence, most recently weathering the dismissal of its director and an administrative shakeup.
Kathy Lane, director of charter schools for Anne Arundel County, said Chesapeake Science Pointe had also submitted new revisionsto the charter agreement between the school and the board at the last minute. Prior to that, Lane said the two sides had already completed a renegotiation of the agreement to include additional accountability requirements.
Spear Lancaster, spokesman for Chesapeake Science Point?s board of directors, said the school?s board was not part of the renegotiation effort and members objected to some language in the new agreement that limited some of the board?s authority to hire and fire staff members.
