Pinnacle Charter School has been granted a temporary restraining order by State Supreme Court Justice John A. Michalek, which temporarily blocks the New York State Department of Education from taking any steps to close the school by June 30.
In its court papers, Pinnacle’s administration, parents and students charge the State Board of Regents and the State Education Department with denial of federal and state constitutional right to due process by failing to establish a procedure to appeal non-renewals of school charters.
The lawsuit also charges the state with violation of its Administrative Procedures Act which governs state agencies. Pinnacle charges the state Education Department has failed to adopt rules to define standards by which charter school performance and renewal applications are evaluated.
“Depriving Pinnacle and its families of their rights without due process of law not only is fundamentally unfair but should offend any fair minded individual, particularly where safety and security of children is involved,” said Pinnacle’s lawyer, Lisa A. Coppola, a partner with Rupp, Baase, Pfalzgraf, Cunningham & Coppola LLC.
The Board of Regents voted April 24 not to renew Pinnacle’s charter based on a recommendation from the Education Department which cited poor student performance on state-mandated tests administered in Spring 2011.
The language and math tests administered to Pinnacle students in grades 3 through 8 were administered during a tumultuous period when the school’s administration was in flux. The school’s new chief academic officer, board of trustees and parent council have argued strenuously that a charter renewal decision should be made based on current year tests, which have yet to be scored.
“We made a commitment to ourselves, our parents and our students that 2011-12 would be a turnaround year for Pinnacle. We hired a new chief academic officer and adopted a school-wide turnaround strategy, only to have the state judge us on where we were a year ago,” said Dr. Fenice Boyd, Chairwoman of Pinnacle’s Board of Education.
Robert Bennett, Chancellor Emeritus and Buffalo resident who serves on the Board of Regents, was unable to attend the April 24 session due to a family illness, submitted a written statement to his colleagues asking them to give the school more time to show the fruits of it current efforts.
“While I am well aware of the issues presented and the policy implications for keeping Pinnacle opened for an extended term, these issues are far outweighed by what the outcomes will be for these children by placing them back in the Buffalo City School District,” Mr. Bennett wrote.
The restraining order puts on hold the state Education Department’s planned May 14 meeting with parents to detail school closure plans and explain the process by which Pinnacle’s 550 students would be assigned to Buffalo Public Schools.
“Pinnacle has solid academics but it also provides so much more to our children. It offers a safe, supportive environment, and it would be traumatic for these children to lose their Pinnacle family,” said William Preston, president of the Pinnacle Parent Council and a party to the lawsuit.
Pinnacle’s position is that the state’s action is unfair and unwarranted and ignores all of the progress that the charter school has made in improving academic performance. The board, staff and parents of the school have vowed to fight this action and have already begun reaching out to elected officials and community supporters to enlist their support and help.
Pinnacle’s administration and board also said the non-renewal recommendation, which is predicated on poor student performance, is based on faulty data, most notably inaccurate student demographic information. The socio-economic data led to unfair test score comparisons against schools with lower poverty rates.
In the eight years since Pinnacle opened its doors, the school was cited twice by the state for its academic improvements.