Charter school defies order to shut

The state education commissioner, faced with a defiant charter school that has refused an order to close, yesterday asked the attorney general what action the state can take to force the closing of the small Roxbury school.

The Roxbury Charter High Public School was supposed to close last Friday, but opened its doors yesterday, ignoring state education officials who said the tiny, financially troubled high school could not stay open. Officially, a state education spokeswoman said, the students are truant because they are not in an approved school.

The state Board of Education voted unanimously last week to close the Roxbury school. The dispute has added a new chapter to the state's charter school movement, which began a little more than a decade ago. Lawmakers and school leaders have been debating for years how many of the schools, which are publicly funded but independently run, should be allowed to form. Now, the state has to figure out whether it has the power to close a failed charter school.

Five charter schools have closed in Massachusetts. The state board refused to renew two charters, while the other three shut down on their own. Roxbury is the first charter school to defy an order to close.

J. Richard Crowley, a State Board of Education member, said he has no idea what comes next.

''No pun intended, it's uncharted territory," Crowley said. ''I can't imagine they can hope to win."

The state board had initially voted in December to revoke the school's charter, citing numerous problems including the school's near bankruptcy. It allowed the school to stay open the rest of the school year, pending an appeal.

Only about two dozen students appeared to be in attendance at the school yesterday, based on one reporter's count of the number seen leaving upon dismissal. The charter school's officials would not say how many students were there, and said they would seek a court order to keep their doors open.

''What are they going to do about it?" said Bill Owens, a former state senator and current chairman of the school's board of trustees who vowed last week to mortgage his house to help finance the school. ''The parents want their children there. We have no intention of closing."

The school, which has a new principal and staff this year, raised money to stay open, its leaders said.

Charter schools, meant to be an alternative to regular public schools, receive more freedom to spend their money and teach students the way they want. In exchange for that freedom, the schools' charters are up for renewal every five years. But the state may revoke the charter at any time. The Roxbury school, which opened in the fall of 2003, has been the only one to have its charter revoked. At its peak, the Roxbury charter school had more than 100 students, according to state education records.

Heidi B. Perlman, the state Education Department's spokeswoman, said the state does not want to deal with the school in an aggressive way, such as bringing in police, and is discussing its options with the state attorney general's office. In the meantime, she said, the school has received no funding for this year from the state, and it is unclear what funds it is using to operate.

''We're a little bit perplexed about what they're doing, to be honest," Perlman said. ''We're trying to be reasonable about this. We don't want to do anything super-aggressive here."

State Senator Robert A. Antonioni, a Leominster Democrat who cochairs the Joint Education Committee and who is a supporter of charter schools, said state education officials probably have to be more cautious about whom they award charters to in the future.

''When you've got a group acting like this one is, it doesn't help everyone else," Antonioni said.

State Representative Patricia A. Haddad, a Somerset Democrat and the House co-chair, said the Legislature should consider adding ''policing powers" to the state Education Department to deal with charter schools.

''They're putting themselves above the rules," she said. ''This isn't helping their case with people who are opposed to charter schools."

The state has 58 charter schools, including Roxbury, and charter school opponents have complained that they take money away from public schools.

Parents who picked up their children at the Roxbury school yesterday said they have more confidence in the beleaguered charter school than in public schools. They said it feels safer and smaller, with just 90 students reportedly enrolled at the beginning of this school year. Others said they like the academic program.

''It's better," said Ismael Santiago, speaking in Spanish, as he picked up his daughter Emely, 17. ''There are fewer students. In the public schools, there are many problems."

Sitting in her minivan, Sharon Porter said she enrolled her teenage son in the Roxbury charter school from a Catholic school. But she refused to place him in regular public schools.

''It's a great school," she said, shrugging off the State Board of Education's vote to close the school. ''It's helped his grades. The class sizes are very good. I'm not worried. I believe it will stay open."

Boston Public Schools said that as of Friday afternoon, four students from the charter school had enrolled in the city's regular public schools.

Carlos Brossard, the principal of the Roxbury school, declined to provide an enrollment count yesterday. He smiled and clutched a Spanish textbook as he watched students leaving for the day.

It looked like a regular school day: Students clad in powder-blue shirts and khaki pants lugged backpacks and shouted ''See you tomorrow!" to one another. Some stayed late to toss a football.

Many said they are not worried that the school may close.

''They said they weren't going to close on Friday," said one ninth-grader who wouldn't give his name, ''and they didn't."

An opponent of the charter school movement said the dispute shows the state lacks the power to control charter schools.

It is not educationally sound to threaten to close schools if they fail, said Paul Dunphy, policy analyst for Citizens for Public Schools, a Boston-based nonprofit calling for a moratorium on new charters.

Instead, he said, the state should provide enough money and oversight so that schools can succeed.

''It's not a game of 'Survivor,' " he said.