In November 2019, ìThe New Falcon Heraldî began a multi-part series on charter schools, describing how they differ from traditional schools. According to the Colorado Department of Education, there are 264 charter schools operating in Colorado during the 2019-2020 school year. Charter schools are public schools that operate in accordance to a contract or charter, along with an authorizer.Last month, the NFH focused on charter school waivers. Bill Kottenstette, executive director of the school of choice unit at the Colorado Department of Education, said charter schools can request waivers from the CDE for a provision of education law so it does not apply to that school.This month, the NFH is focusing specifically on waivers for dress codes and teacher accreditation ñ- two waivers that have sparked controversy in the past.First, there is one area where waivers are not allowed ó separation of church and state. Andy Franko, iConnect Zone leader with El Paso County Colorado School District 49, said although charter schools and traditional public schools with innovation status can waive out of some state requirements, they cannot waive any federal laws, including the law separating church and state.”Under the Charter School Act, they cannot waive out of any federal law,” Franco said. “Charter schools and traditional schools can teach the educational purposes of a religion, but they are not a parochial school so they cannot teach to a specific religion or faith.”Dress codeKottenstette said dress code waivers are not handled at the state level; they need to be addressed by the district, in case there was a policy already in place that the charter school wanted to opt out of. ìIt would not be uncommon for a charter school to have its own dress code and enforcement through its code of conduct,î he said.Franko agreed and said often charter schools have a uniform policy that requires students to dress more conservatively, which can include a ban on certain things like hair dyed in an unnatural color or a restriction on how many ear piercings a student can have.According to an article posted on The Gazetteís website Dec. 17, 2019, a kindergarten student at the Rocky Mountain Classical Academy in D 49 was suspended twice in one week for ìwillfully disobeying the schoolís rules by wearing earrings to school.îThe schoolís dress code allows female students to wear earrings but not males. The boyís mother has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Federal Court claiming her son had been discriminated against based on his gender.ìPeople might consider that to be gender discrimination; and, if the charter made a policy that was illegal or discriminatory, it would be our place to step in as the authorizer,î Franko said. ìHowever, the school is allowed to create a policy that applies to one sex and not the other.îParents and students have to agree to abide by the rules in the student handbook, which is distributed by each school at the beginning of every school year, Franko said. By choosing to attend a certain school, both the parents and the students agree to follow the code of conduct in the student handbook, he said.ìThe parent has to decide to comply or not,î Franko said. ìBut what if the parent decides not to comply and sends the student in violation every day? The school has to determine how to respond. The parent said they wanted the rule and now they are saying they do not. The school can end up looking like the bad guy but the other side is the parents agreed to that policy and if they do not, they do not have to go to that school.îWhile the fight might be worth it for some schools, Franko said others might choose to change their policy instead. Ultimately, he said authorizers encourage charter schools to create policies they can enforce, as opposed to those impossible to enforce.ìIf they are getting into that realm, we ask them to consider whether the policy is worth it,î Franko said. Sometimes the school backs down and opts to consider changing it, but often the policy remains because it was put in place by the charter schoolís founding families and approved by their board of directors, he said.RMCA has had the same dress code policy since its inception 14 years ago; so far, the lawsuit has not been resolved, Franko said.ìShould that parent choose to take her student to another school, there would be a seat for him there so that is an option,î he said.Teacher licensureKottenstette said a waiver from teacher licensure is not an uncommon request for a charter school to make, but that does not mean the school does not intend to hire licensed teachers, which is often the perception.ìThe waiver gives the school the flexibility to hire licensed or unlicensed teachers,î he said. ìWhy they choose to ask for that waiver can vary. Sometimes they are looking for a teacher with particular content knowledge, like someone with an advanced math degree but no teacherís license.îWith the admitted shortage of teachers across the nation, Kottenstette said more charter schools are opting for this waiver because it expands the potential pool of candidates who can be considered for a position.Franko said schools or districts with innovation status have also begun to request this waiver but that comes with some caveats. The teacher does not need to have a license from the stateís education department but under the current legislation, teachers must have ìin-fieldî qualifications or be working toward it.ìThat in-field status requires teachers to either have their teaching license or 36 credit hours in the field of what they would be teaching,î he said. ìThat means they have to have their bachelorís degree in that field or pass a placement test.îD 49 as a district has innovation status but it is their policy not to hire more than 10 percent of teachers at any one time without licensure and they must obtain their ìin-fieldî status within one year of being hired, Franko said.Charter schools often have a specific education niche, whether it is a classical education model; a science, technology, engineering and math model; or an arts model, he said. The licensure waiver allows those schools to hire industry experts versus hiring a general educator, Franko said.ìAll of the D 49 charter schools have a waiver to hire teachers without licensure but all the schools have a majority of the teachers in their schools with a license,î he said.
