Marcus Garvey Public Charter School (Washington, DC)

“School principal avoids jail sentence in assault on reporter, police.”Reporters Committee for Fredom of the Press, 11/3/1997

WASHINGTON, D.C.--A Washington, D.C. charter school principal was sentenced in mid-October to two years' probation for assaulting a Washington Times reporter and two D.C. police officers.

A D.C. Superior Court judge rejected the prosecutor's argument that Mary A.T. Anigbo, principal of the Marcus Garvey Public Charter School, deserved jail time for assaulting reporter Susan Ferrechio and the two officers at the school in early December. Instead, Anigbo will have to perform 240 hours of community service.

Ferrechio had gone to the school to complete a story on charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed. According to testimony during the trial, Ferrechio said that inside the school, she was assaulted by Anigbo, other staff members and students. She said Anigbo, who is black, yelled racial epithets as Ferrechio was physically ejected from the school.

Ferrechio returned two hours later with a Times photographer and two police officers. Another scuffle broke out when the photographer began snapping photos of Anigbo and other school employees.

In D.C. Superior Court in early August, Anigbo was convicted of three counts of simple assault for attacking Ferrechio and the two police officers and one count of taking property without right for stealing Ferrechio's notepad. Three other Garvey employees were also found guilty of similar charges.

Prosecutors urged that Anigbo be jailed for the incident because "a defendant who expresses no remorse for her crime and no respect for the court shows little chance of genuine rehabilitation on probation," The Washington Post reported. Anigbo could have faced up to 21 months in prison and fines totaling $3,300.

According to The Post, Judge Truman Morrison III called Anigbo's conduct "serious," but added that "by failing to incarcerate her, the court is not condoning her conduct."

Morrison also said he was not pleased with Anigbo's recurring claim that the trial was an exercise in racism, The Post reported.

Anigbo said she is appealing her conviction and that she will file a civil suit against The Times and the D.C. police. Her attorney would not elaborate. (D.C. v. Anigbo)

Read More

Northwest Charter School (attempt)

“Charter School Bid Draws Scrutiny; L.A. district officials are concerned that organizer's ties to Scientology could raise 1st Amendment questions.” Los Angeles Times, 7/24/1997

A proposed charter school in the east San Fernando Valley is receiving close scrutiny from Los Angeles Unified School District officials who are concerned about the organizer's ties to the Church of Scientology and are questioning whether church teachings would appear in the new public school.

Advocates of the Northwest Charter School acknowledge that they want to employ teaching methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but say his system emphasizes common-sense strategies appropriate for a public school setting and children of any religion.

After hearing of a possible Scientology link, however, school board President Julie Korenstein placed the charter school proposal on the agenda of the board's closed-door session for discussion Monday. She and other board members expressed concern that the Hubbard materials could violate the separation of church and state...

Scientology was founded by Hubbard in the early 1950s as a movement combining philosophy, modern psychoanalysis and Eastern religion into a system aimed at self-improvement. Criticized as a cult unforgiving of defectors and a front for a profit-driven business, the controversial movement received official status as a tax-exempt religion in 1993 from the Internal Revenue Service.

The author of the Northwest Charter School petition, Los Angeles school district special education teacher Linda Smith, insisted that the teaching approach she wants to employ--known as Applied Scholastics--is nonsectarian...[*]

"Scientology is a religion. This is Hubbard Study Technology. It has nothing to do with religion," said Smith in an interview at Applied Scholastics' central office in Hollywood, just down the street from the Church of Scientology's headquarters. "It's totally above board."

Applied Scholastics President Ian Lyons said the organization is an "independent, nonprofit corporation" separate from the church, with its own board of directors. However, he acknowledged that Bridge Publications, which prints Applied Scholastics materials, also produces literature for the Church of Scientology...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

About Applied Scholastics and Study Technology

Study Technology is a method for learning developed by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology. Applied Scholastics is an organization founded to promote the use of Hubbard's Study Technology. It provides training and services. In response to the NCLB requirement that districts offer Supplementary Educational Services to students, Applied Scholastics has been able to become an SES provider in a number of states. For example, read “Controversial church linked to tutors on state list.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/1/2009

• Wikipedia entry about “Applied Scholastics” @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Scholastics
• Official Applied Scholastics Web site: http://www.appliedscholastics.org/
• Critical analysis of Applied Scholastics:“Applied Scholastics Exposed” by Project Chanology Anonymous AND studytech.org @  http://studytech.org/

Read More

Dakota Open Charter School

DAKOTA OPEN'S SECONDARY GRADES TO CLOSE; September 16, 1997; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

The state Board of Education on Monday finalized a decision to close the secondary grades of the Dakota Open charter school, located on the Lower Sioux Indian Community in Morton, Minn.

In a 7-0 vote, the board heeded a strongly worded recommendation from Bob Wedl, commissioner of the state Department of Children, Families and Learning, to end its sponsorship of the school's secondary program. "Most secondary students attend irregularly, and the school operates more like a teen drop-in center than a place where planned education takes place," Wedl wrote.

In June, the board voted to stop sponsoring secondary grades of the K-12 school. At the request of school organizers and Southwest State University, which agreed to sponsor the school in the future, the board held a July hearing to review its earlier decision.

Since then, board members received letters urging them to close the school from two former elementary teachers at the school and a petition from the Lower Sioux Indian Community Council. Board members said that the community had expressed interest in setting up another charter school for Indian students.”

"The best hope that school and those students have is a fresh start," said Jeanne Kling, board vice president.

The second charter school, Eci' Nompa Woonspe', was also closed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

INDIANS IN MINNESOTA; author Kathy Davis Graves, Elizabeth Ebbot 

…Two Dakota Communities established K-12 state-chartered schools at Prairie Island and in the Lower Sioux (Dakota Open School). Dakota Open School was born of parents’ frustration with the quality of education and the perceived hostility in the regular school. The school faced bureaucratic barriers in receiving special Indian education funds.  In 1997, the state withdrew sponsorship of the secondary program at the Dakota Open School because academic standards were not strictly enforced, and the school closed in May 1998. The school at Prairie Island closed for lack of funding after one year of operation…

Read More