The new, secretly formed Alpine Charter School board is asking for the Town of Alpine to give them a long-term (decades-long?) lease of valuable public land, to leverage that land against a building, and to enter into a contract with American Preparatory Schools, a private, for-profit company. This alarming excerpt about APA's financial practices is from the linked article:
"APA LV board members say since late last year they have asked for specific details on how the millions of dollars they have paid to America Preparatory Schools were spent with no avail. At their June 11 meeting, an attorney for the education management organization told APA LV he would not be providing the information requested to the board: "As you know, APS is a private, for-profit company and is not required to disclose any of the information."
1/4 of charter schools fail within the first 5 years, largely due to low enrollment and fraud. The deck is already stacked against a charter school. Why would we decrease the chance of a successful school for Alpine by entering into a contract with a charter school business that has a questionable financial history? Please contact the Town of Alpine Town Council and urge them not to enter into a contract with APA and APS. We MUST learn from the mistakes of others, or we are doomed to repeat them.