Vermilion Country Charter School Application Denied

Article from the Cook News Herald, Nov. 18th, 2010 Link:  http://www.cooknewsherald.com/page1.html____________________________________________________

Babbitt Blog Editor's Note: A copy of the Nov. 9th, 2010 letter and deficiencies sent is provided at the link below for review.

Vermilion Country School Affidavit Denial (PDF File)
Tower Charter School application shot down

Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Alice Seagren notified the Vermilion Country School proponents in a copy of a letter dated Nov. 9, 2010, that their affidavit for a Charter School was disapproved.

The letter was sent to Novation Education Opportunities (NEO), Bryan Rossi - Executive Director, Golden Valley, Minn. NEO would have chartered the new school. The letter is reprinted as follows:

Dear Mr. Rossi:

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) received documentation from Novation Education Opportunities (NEO) on October 25, 2010, in response to MDE's letter dated October 11, 2010, disapproving the New Charter School Affidavit (affidavit) for Vermilion Country School. As provided under Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.10, subdivision 4(b), documentation submitted by NEO was reviewed. We regret to inform you that the affidavit for Vermilion Country School is not approved.

The documentation submitted by NEO provides a point-by-point response to the deficiencies identified in MDE's October 11, 2010, letter disapproving Vermilion Country School's affidavit. However, the information submitted falls short of evidencing that NEO followed the new school review and approval process presented in NEO's approved authorizer application.

Please see the attached document for MDE's final analysis of information submitted by NEO regarding Vermilion Country School's affidavit. The document is organized by deficiency, followed by an analysis of NEO's response to each deficiency and when applicable, suggestions for improvement are offered. NEO is encouraged to implement suggestions for improvement when facilitating future new school application review processes and submitting New Charter School Affidavits to MDE.

If you have questions regarding this letter, please contact Cindy Murphy at (651) 582-8217 or cindy.murphy@state.mn.us.

Sincerely,
Alice Seagren, Commissioner

Included with the letter were six deficiencies that NEO was to address. They sufficiently addressed two, but not the remaining three.