Business continues as usual at Excel Public Charter School

Excel Public Charter School in Kent will continue its mission of preparing students for college even as charter schools in the state fight to stay open.

“We are committed to stay open,” said Adel Sefrioui, Excel’s founder and executive director. “We have commitments from funders to stay open for the rest of the year.”Excel opened its doors to sixth- and seventh-grade students in August three weeks before the state Supreme Court ruled charter schools unconstitutional.

On Nov. 19, the Supreme Court denied motions by the Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the Washington State Charter Schools Association to reconsider the ruling.

The decision was announced as Excel students, parents and staff were on their way home from Olympia, where they had spent the day testifying before senate, meeting with legislators and participating in a rally with other charter school supporters.

”It was really, really successful,” Sefrioui said of the visit to the capital. “Our students knocked it out of the park. Our parents knocked it out of the park.”

In light of the recent announcement from the Supreme Court, Sefrioui said charter school supporters have turned their efforts toward asking legislators to change state law to allow charter schools to continue to operate.

“I think there is going to be fix,” Sefrioui said. “It was very clear and a lot of legislators during the day pulled me aside and they said, ‘We like your school. We want to keep it open. The kids are awesome. It is just a glitch in the system that we need to figure out and we are committed to figuring it out.’ ”In the meantime, Sefrioui said, he is inviting legislators to visit Excel to see a charter school in action.“I am a confident that something is going to happen that positively affects us,” he said. “Both democrats and republicans are very supportive of this. We just need to find something that everyone can feel comfortable voting on. ”

Positive effects of Excel

Susan Scheid enrolled her son, Keiran, in the sixth grade at Excel five weeks after the school year started.

“I needed to make a change with my son,” she said. “A lot of the same old stuff was happening. He is a very, very bright child. He does well in school. What gets in the way is sort of the regimen, the routine.”Scheid said Keiran was not excited about leaving his old school and his friends, but has warmed up to Excel.

“He said within first week or two weeks it has really changed his life,” she said. “He is more involved. He understands adult respect, community. He has made friends. With any kid finding new friends is hard. It taught him a different way of learning he feels he can learn the rate that he learns.”Teachers at Excel care about their students and the school, Keiran observed.

“Here, there are multiple teachers they have time to take out of their day to come and help you and figure out your problem,” Keiran said.Scheid tries not worry about the uncertainty Excel faces.

“I just take this one day at a time,” she said. “I am a person of hope and prayer. I live for a moment in the sense I am very hopeful with the success of these kids and what this program does for the kids that need it, that others will see it. “Jennifer Oldright, enrolled her sixth-grade son, Jackson, at Excel after struggling to find the right fit for him. She said he has been homeschooled and attended public and private schools.

“This is the first year that he has come home and on his own sits down at the table and starts doing his own homework and he has never been able to do his own homework before,” Oldright said.

She said Jackson has all As in school.

“He has never done this well in school before so we are just thrilled,” she said. “He’s understanding. Somehow the teachers are able to teach him so he understands his own homework and he can do it on his own.”

Oldright said Excel is a safe environment.

“I love that there is no bullying in the hallways because there is no talking,” she said. “The kids have to go from one class to another without speaking so there is not a chance to bully anyone.”

A teacher’s perspective

Cristina Marcalow, who teaches sixth-grade language arts and social studies, came to Excel after teaching two years at a public charter school in Massachusetts.

“I love the excitement and energy around starting a school and doing something different and being a part of change in community, especially in places I feel there is change needed,” she said.Marcalow said not all charter schools are the same.

“They are not a one-size-fits-all type thing,” she said. “There are charter schools with lots of different types of missions and lots of different strategies and approaches. The two schools I have chosen to work at and work for have a very cohesive, collaborative team between the administration and the teachers.”

All the teachers at Excel expect the same out of their students.

“It was very intentional and very thoughtful about how we set expectations for students, about how we explain why our exceptions are so high and why we expect certain behaviors,” she said. “It is not, ‘Do this because I tell you. It is always do this because I am trying to help you get to college.’ And that message, I know I am not the only one saying it, I know that every teacher is saying it.”Marcalow said she sees a lot of animosity toward charter schools.

“People feel we are combative toward or against the traditional public school model and that is just not the case,” she said. “I think people who work in the traditional public school model know it’s not perfect, and I have nothing against traditional public school model. I do think there are changes that need to be made, and this is a place where students who maybe weren’t seeing growth at their old schools are finding a place here and getting a lot of good support.”Marcalow said when the Supreme Court decision was announced earlier this year some parents pulled their students from the school. Enrollment started at 150, Sefrioui said, and 29 students withdrew. Nine have enrolled since then, bringing enrollment up to 130.

“That was really heartbreaking to lose some students we had been working with and that we had already seen a lot of growth from,” Marcalow said. “They (the parents) made it (the decision to withdraw their children) for their own reasons and I totally understand wanting to make sure their child was in a place that was going to be there for them.”