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How one virtual charter school is addressing AI use
A fully-online learning environment would not only make AI use among students and teachers more likely but also render AI-assisted cheating concerns more relevant. Here’s a look at how Ohio Virtual Academy, Ohio’s largest online charter school, is dealing with both aspects of the AI revolution.
A home of one’s own
Several charter schools that have been renting space for years in underused Tulsa Public Schools buildings have at last been given the opportunity to purchase those facilities. Not surprisingly, they leaped at the chance. “We have a great relationship” with the district, said one charter leader. “But it’s still a landlord-tenant relationship. So when the toilet backs up, we’ve got to call them to get it fixed. We can’t make improvements to the building without their permission.” Sounds like all that will change for the better very soon.
De-conversion
It’s the opposite situation in rural Oregon, where the governing authority of Powell Butte Community Charter School has voted to re-join the county school district 15 years after first converting from a district to a charter school. The reason: Their 100-year-old building needs a lot of repairs. The district has funds to do that that and the charter operator does not. District officials say that nothing much will change when school starts next fall—the school’s mission and curriculum will “essentially” stay the same, currently enrolled students can continue if they wish, and current staff members can also stay on if they wish—except the name. Which is still TBD.
The next legal battle moves forward
The latest effort to open a religiously-affiliated charter school in Oklahoma took another legal step last week. After having their application rejected by the state earlier in the month, founders of Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School sued the state’s attorney general and the Statewide Charter School Board in federal court on Tuesday. They allege that religious groups are wrongfully excluded from opening charter schools with faith-based instruction and contend that Ben Gamla’s rejection amounts to religious discrimination under the U.S. Constitution. They have asked the judge to block the state from enforcing Oklahoma laws that require charter schools to be non-sectarian.
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