FCSA Leads Conversations about Charter School/Authorizers Compliance, Best Practices Training and Collaboration

For the third consecutive year, the Florida Charter School Alliance (FCSA), in collaboration with the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE), hosted The Charter School Leaders and Authorizers Compliance and Best Practices Training and Collaboration.

This innovative approach to collaboration is made possible by the Florida Department of Education’s Charter Schools Program (CSP) grant. The FCSA facilitated trainings and provided support to Florida charter school authorizers, specifically focusing on district superintendents and school board members, and not only included a series of Authorizer trainings, but also collaborative roundtable discussions between charter school leaders and authorizers.

Authorizer Training

The Authorizer Training was launched as a series of 4 live streamed virtual sessions for School Board Members, Superintendents, and Superintendent Designees. The training was hosted by Ms. Ashley Barber. Ms. Barber is a former teacher and former instructional specialist for Palm Beach County School District’s Department of Charter Schools. She has been appointed to the Charter School Appeal Commission by former Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran, and she currently works with charter schools across Florida as an Educational Consultant.

The purpose of this training was to provide an introductory overview to enhance authorizers’ understanding of their responsibilities. For some attendees, this may have been a refresher course, while for others it may have been their first charter school training. Additionally, the course reinforces the fact that it is the District School Board members who serve as authorizers. Superintendents and district staff make recommendations to the school board members, who hold final responsibility and decision-making. These sessions were held in December 2023, with over 30 participants joining throughout the 4 live virtual sessions.

Charter School Leaders and Authorizers Collaborative Cohort Roundtable Discussions

This initiative fostered a collaborative environment among trailblazing charter school leaders, charter school experts, school board members, and superintendents. The cohort aimed to be a platform for sharing innovative strategies and best practices to improve educational quality and collaborative relationships between district authorizers and charter schools.

Six school districts opened their doors and hosted live roundtable discussions, and 7 sessions took place in the following counties: St. Lucie, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Osceola, Orange, and Polk.

A market analysis was conducted to gather information about what topics would be the most relevant. Dr. Tony Arza led the roundtable discussions on topics such as: mental health, leadership pipelines, academic best practices, dropout recovery, compliance with the charter contract, and school transformation and turnaround. Dr. Tony Arza is a former teacher, and currently works as an Education Consultant with Mountain Moving Strategies, Inc., providing support to educational organizations across the state of Florida. Dr. Arza has collaborated with the Florida Department of Education, both as a member of the Charter School Appeals Commission (CSAC) and a CSP Grant reviewer. Dr. Arza was also appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to the Florida Virtual Board of Trustees.

The roundtable discussions were live broadcasted and also available as on demand recorded sessions. Participants included School Board Members, Superintendents, and Charter School Leaders and Experts.

Click here to watch the Collaborative Round Table Discussions:

• Student Mental Health, Polk County

  https://oldsite.flcharterschool.org/district-charter-collaborative-student-mental-health/

• Compliance with the Charter Contract, Orange County

  https://oldsite.flcharterschool.org/district-charter-colab-compliance/

• School Safety, Palm Beach County

  https://oldsite.flcharterschool.org/district-charter-colab-school-safety/

• Drop-Out Prevention, Osceola County

  https://oldsite.flcharterschool.org/district-charter-collaborative-drop-out-prevention/