Parents of school-age children now have more choices to make as the D.C. Public Charter School Board approved four applications to open new schools in 2012. Amid a record 19 applications, Creative Minds, DC Scholars, and BASIS DC got the nod conditionally but must satisfy a few board requirements, while Latin American Youth Center Career Academy got the full-on green light. Fourteen other applications were denied. An application for Bedford Academy was withdrawn — it was proposed by Friends of Bedford, which was ousted as the private operator of Dunbar Senior High School for lax security and an inability to unite students and staff. – Lisa Gartner