Businessmen Push for Charter School in GR - article in GR Press

Friday, July 20, 2007 By Beth Loechler and Dave Murray The Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- Some high-powered businessmen, including the heads of Alticor and Steelcase, are proposing a charter middle/high school in Grand Rapids.

Their application to Grand Valley State University to create a school modeled after the University Preparatory Academy in Detroit should be accepted or rejected in the next six months, said Ed Richardson, GVSU's charter school director.

"We are very pleased with this model. We have seen success in Detroit," Richardson said. "But the final decision on who is going to get a charter has not yet been decided."
The applicant is CEO Partnership for Urban Education, which includes Steelcase CEO James Hackett, Alticor President Doug DeVos, Alticor Chairman Steve Van Andel and others. The group began meeting with Grand Rapids Public Schools superintendents in the late 1990s, when Patricia Newby had the job.

The idea of GRPS chartering the proposed school has been discussed, GRPS Superintendent Bernard Taylor said, but he isn't ready to commit. Several organizations have approached him about specialized programs and he said he would like to see a "menu of options."

Brian Cloyd, Steelcase's director of corporate and community relations, whose name appears on the charter school application, took Taylor and some school board members to Detroit earlier this year to tour the prep school.

Taylor was unaware Thursday the CEO group had filed an application with GVSU. By law, new charter schools in Michigan must be authorized by either a public school district or a public university.

The difference on who charters such a school is dramatic. Under a GVSU charter, Grand Rapids loses students and cash -- about $500,000 in the first year and up to $3 million if the school grows to a proposed capacity of 448 students. If Grand Rapids charters, the district gains a school based on a successful model and, as a result, additional students.

No one from the CEO group could be reached for comment.

GVSU has received 31 applications for the two charters it has available for new schools, Richardson said.

The application for Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy is among four that have made the first cut. It's the only application that includes a high school and the only one that's local, he said. The others propose schools in Lansing and Detroit.

Like the Detroit model, the school would start small with a 64-student sixth grade. It would add one grade each year until it included grades six through 12 and about 448 students, according to the application.

If approved by GVSU, the school likely would open in the fall of 2009 at a location that has yet to be determined. Also unanswered is who would manage the school. The nonprofit, New Urban Learning, manages the Detroit prep school and is listed as a consultant on the application from the CEO group.

"We want them to confirm who would operate the schools and they are working on that," Richardson said. "Until we get details finalized, we can't move forward with any contract. This is not a done deal."

If Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy becomes a reality, "I think we'd go there in a heartbeat," said Pam Sult, a parent of two children who attend Excel Charter Academy. "At this point, I think it would be the best option for our children."

Sult, a Grand Rapids resident, is part of a group of parents who has lobbied National Heritage Academies, which operates K-8 schools, to open a charter high school.

In an e-mail to Sult, NHA Chief Executive Officer Jeff Clark said he continues "to explore additional charter high school providers" and has invited one provider to Grand Rapids to learn more about NHA, perhaps later this summer.