Some Colorado charter schools illegally
require parent "volunteer" hours
Page created Oct 18, 2014
The law seems to be clear in Colorado: charter schools may not mandate that parents contribute service hours, or demand that they pay for hours they have not served.
The law seems to be clear in Colorado: charter schools may not mandate that parents contribute service hours, or demand that they pay for hours they have not served.
Colorado Law
A document entitled "Charter School Governing Board Member 'Test Your Knowledge' Worksheet" (link) was downloaded from the Colorado Department of Education website in Oct 2014. This Q & A document states:
15. May charter schools require parent volunteer hours?
15. No. Charter schools can encourage parents to volunteer a suggested number of hours, but the
requirement cannot be mandated. Article IX, Section 2 of the State Constitution stipulates that
all residents of the state, between the ages of 6 and 21 years of age, be educated without cost.
While the Colorado Department of Education is presumably an authoritative source, this is further confirmed by the website of an organization called "Charter School Solutions," which states that its business is "Advocating for Quality Charter Schools; Assisting school districts with the authorization and management of charter schools." The following is quoted from their website (link)
"Tuesday, February 19, 2013. Mandatory Parent 'Volunteer' Hours. At least one state in the nation, Florida, allows charter schools to require parents volunteer x number of hours in the school in order for the student to be re-enrolled the following year. Oftentimes parents are 'encouraged' to volunteer in their child's school and many charter schools even suggest an appropriate number of hours to donate. But in Colorado, these 'volunteer' hours cannot be mandatory, nor can parents be told they can buy out their hours with a donation."
15. May charter schools require parent volunteer hours?
15. No. Charter schools can encourage parents to volunteer a suggested number of hours, but the
requirement cannot be mandated. Article IX, Section 2 of the State Constitution stipulates that
all residents of the state, between the ages of 6 and 21 years of age, be educated without cost.
While the Colorado Department of Education is presumably an authoritative source, this is further confirmed by the website of an organization called "Charter School Solutions," which states that its business is "Advocating for Quality Charter Schools; Assisting school districts with the authorization and management of charter schools." The following is quoted from their website (link)
"Tuesday, February 19, 2013. Mandatory Parent 'Volunteer' Hours. At least one state in the nation, Florida, allows charter schools to require parents volunteer x number of hours in the school in order for the student to be re-enrolled the following year. Oftentimes parents are 'encouraged' to volunteer in their child's school and many charter schools even suggest an appropriate number of hours to donate. But in Colorado, these 'volunteer' hours cannot be mandatory, nor can parents be told they can buy out their hours with a donation."
The actuality
Despite Colorado law, some Colorado charter schools are requiring "volunteer hours" from parents. This is concerning on several levels. Many parents are likely unaware that this "requirement" cannot be legally enforced. Also, such requirements create barriers for many struggling families, and result in selective enrollment. Such policies penalize students for the behavior of their parents, resulting in unequal opportunities.
Some charters tell parents they can satisfy part or all of their volunteer requirement with a monetary "donation" to the school, again in violation of the law.
It is noteworthy that these schools even threaten parents with punitive actions such as writing them up in a school newsletter, or calling them before the Principal or School Board, or taking away the priority for sibling enrollment, all for failing to satisfy a "requirement" that the Colorado Department of Education says they have no legal right to institute.
Why are charter schools allowed to flout the law? Clearly, government oversight of these schools is inadequate.
Following are some (randomly-selected) examples of charter schools requiring parent service hours, which are euphemistically termed "volunteer hours." This list is not intended to be comprehensive, and more examples may be added in the future.
Some charters tell parents they can satisfy part or all of their volunteer requirement with a monetary "donation" to the school, again in violation of the law.
It is noteworthy that these schools even threaten parents with punitive actions such as writing them up in a school newsletter, or calling them before the Principal or School Board, or taking away the priority for sibling enrollment, all for failing to satisfy a "requirement" that the Colorado Department of Education says they have no legal right to institute.
Why are charter schools allowed to flout the law? Clearly, government oversight of these schools is inadequate.
Following are some (randomly-selected) examples of charter schools requiring parent service hours, which are euphemistically termed "volunteer hours." This list is not intended to be comprehensive, and more examples may be added in the future.
SkyView Academy, Highlands Ranch Colorado
The following text is excerpted from the school's "2014-2015 Lower School Parent Handbook Preschool – 5th Grade", accessed from the school website Oct 2014.
"SVA requires a minimum of 40 volunteer hours per Lower School family per school year. Single parent
families are required to volunteer a minimum of 20 hours per school year. ... Each family must complete MANDATORY traffic duty. Six shifts per family are required per school year. ... Families who make a financial contribution to the school can also earn volunteer credit. Families can earn ONE volunteer hour for every $20 worth of value donated to SVA. ... Families not meeting the requirements for the Volunteer Program for the school year will be contacted by the volunteer coordinator to discuss how this may be remedied. Should a family continue to not meet volunteer requirements they may be asked to go before a volunteer review committee and the Board."
The following text is excerpted from the school's "2014-2015 Lower School Parent Handbook Preschool – 5th Grade", accessed from the school website Oct 2014.
"SVA requires a minimum of 40 volunteer hours per Lower School family per school year. Single parent
families are required to volunteer a minimum of 20 hours per school year. ... Each family must complete MANDATORY traffic duty. Six shifts per family are required per school year. ... Families who make a financial contribution to the school can also earn volunteer credit. Families can earn ONE volunteer hour for every $20 worth of value donated to SVA. ... Families not meeting the requirements for the Volunteer Program for the school year will be contacted by the volunteer coordinator to discuss how this may be remedied. Should a family continue to not meet volunteer requirements they may be asked to go before a volunteer review committee and the Board."
SkyView's "volunteer" program is profiled in a very positive light in the Winter 2013 issue of "Focus," which labels itself a "quarterly journal for charter school business managers," and which is produced by the Colorado League of Charter Schools. The article is, somewhat ironically, entitled "Building a high-participation volunteer program." Nowhere in the article is it mentioned that the school tells parents the "volunteer" service time is mandatory, nor is it mentioned that parents are threatened with consequences. The closest the article comes to insinuating that there is a (mandatory) quota is in the following lines:
"We have found that families begin volunteering because they need to fulfill their volunteer hours, but go above and beyond this goal because they want to. Over the past two years, we have had over 93% of our parents meet and/or exceed their annual volunteer hours."
"We have found that families begin volunteering because they need to fulfill their volunteer hours, but go above and beyond this goal because they want to. Over the past two years, we have had over 93% of our parents meet and/or exceed their annual volunteer hours."
Global Village Academy Aurora; Colorado Springs; Northglenn; Fort Collins (four campuses at different sites)
From the 2013-2014 Parent-Student Handbook (accessed from school website Oct 2014)
"GVA requires 30 hours/per year of volunteer work from each family."
From the 2013-2014 Parent-Student Handbook (accessed from school website Oct 2014)
"GVA requires 30 hours/per year of volunteer work from each family."
Cherry Creek Academy, Englewood CO
From a document entitled "Cherry Creek Academy Volunteer Policy," accessed from school website Oct 2014.
"All parents/legal guardians of children at CCA shall volunteer as outlined below:
Any family not completing their volunteer hours will lose sibling priority privileges and will be found ineligible to vote in CCA elections. Families with incoming siblings are asked to complete 20/10 volunteer hours by February 1st, with the understanding that the remaining hours need to be completed by June 30th. CCA retains the right to publish in the CCA Gazette all families who fail to complete their proscribed hours. The CCA Senate retains the right to call any family before the CCA Senate who repeatedly ignores their volunteer commitment. Any family with circumstances prohibiting their ability to perform their volunteer hours must meet with the CCA Director."
From a document entitled "Cherry Creek Academy Volunteer Policy," accessed from school website Oct 2014.
"All parents/legal guardians of children at CCA shall volunteer as outlined below:
- Two parent family – 40 hours, per school year (both parents in the same household)
- Joint parenting family – 20 hours each parent, total of 40 hours, per school year (parents in separate households, but both responsible for child’s care)
- Single parent family – 20 hours, per school year (one parent solely responsible for child’s care)
Any family not completing their volunteer hours will lose sibling priority privileges and will be found ineligible to vote in CCA elections. Families with incoming siblings are asked to complete 20/10 volunteer hours by February 1st, with the understanding that the remaining hours need to be completed by June 30th. CCA retains the right to publish in the CCA Gazette all families who fail to complete their proscribed hours. The CCA Senate retains the right to call any family before the CCA Senate who repeatedly ignores their volunteer commitment. Any family with circumstances prohibiting their ability to perform their volunteer hours must meet with the CCA Director."
Collegiate Academy of Colorado, Littleton CO
From school website www.collegiateacademy.net/volunteer
"Volunteerism At Collegiate Academy of Colorado. A charter school has several backbones: the teachers, the students, and the parents. The key to the parent backbone is volunteerism. At Collegiate Academy of Colorado, all parents (or students in lieu of parents) are required to volunteer a total of 40 hours. Regardless of the size of the family, the requirement is 40 hours. Parents can also pay $10.00 dollars for every hour of volunteer time, or simply pay $400.00 in lieu of their physical volunteering. Help us track community participation by logging your hours."
From school website www.collegiateacademy.net/volunteer
"Volunteerism At Collegiate Academy of Colorado. A charter school has several backbones: the teachers, the students, and the parents. The key to the parent backbone is volunteerism. At Collegiate Academy of Colorado, all parents (or students in lieu of parents) are required to volunteer a total of 40 hours. Regardless of the size of the family, the requirement is 40 hours. Parents can also pay $10.00 dollars for every hour of volunteer time, or simply pay $400.00 in lieu of their physical volunteering. Help us track community participation by logging your hours."
Colorado Springs Charter Academy, Colorado Springs CO
From Parent-Student Handbook 2014-15, accessed from school website Oct 2014
"Parent/Guardian Commitment. We fully commit to CSCA in the following ways: (...) We will support the school’s programs by volunteering at least 40 hours per year (or 15 hours per year for single-parent families). (...)
Volunteer Hours. All parents/legal guardians of children at Colorado Springs Charter Academy are expected to volunteer as active, contributing members of the school community. Requiring that families participate in this manner accents the critical part a family plays in the child’s education. (...)
The volunteer hour requirements are as follows:
From Parent-Student Handbook 2014-15, accessed from school website Oct 2014
"Parent/Guardian Commitment. We fully commit to CSCA in the following ways: (...) We will support the school’s programs by volunteering at least 40 hours per year (or 15 hours per year for single-parent families). (...)
Volunteer Hours. All parents/legal guardians of children at Colorado Springs Charter Academy are expected to volunteer as active, contributing members of the school community. Requiring that families participate in this manner accents the critical part a family plays in the child’s education. (...)
The volunteer hour requirements are as follows:
- Two parent family—both parents in the same household: 40 hours per year;
- Deployed Parents—when a parent is deployed for military service, the single parent family requirements apply;
- Joint parenting family—parents sharing responsibility for child’s care but living in separate households: 20 hours each parent for a total of 40 hours per year;
- Single parent family—one parent solely responsible for child’s care: 15 hours per year.
Another point of concern: unfair advantage in grant applications
By requiring parents to log hours, charter schools can obtain an unfair advantage in grant applications. Many grant agencies require schools to give evidence of parent involvement or community support, and some charter schools report the required service hours as "volunteer hours." The grant reviewers likely have no idea that these supposedly "volunteer" hours were mandated. Traditional public schools cannot make such requirements of parents and get away with it, causing them to appear at a disadvantage in applying for these highly competitive grants. Honest charter operators who comply with the law and do not attempt to require parent service hours are similarly at a disadvantage.
Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act is the largest federal source of funding for K-12 public schools, and it contains extensive requirements pertaining to parental engagement. In instituting Title I, the federal government was acting out of a sincere belief that requiring schools to show evidence of "parental involvement" would have a positive effect on student learning and would help to empower marginalized families. It seems unlikely that the authors of that law ever anticipated that it would backfire by encouraging the creation of barriers to access to certain schools, thus further marginalizing some families. They likely also never imagined that in actuality some schools could get away with using illegal means to get an unfair advantage in applying for Title I funds.
It is not merely hypothetical that some charter schools are using logs of required "volunteer hours" in grant applications. Evidence is provided by the website of the Collegiate Academy of Colorado, which directs parents to a document stored in Google docs (link) with the following text:
"Collegiate Academy requires each family to commit to 40 hours of volunteer service in the school community. Any family member can complete these volunteer hours. It is very important that we accurately track volunteer hours, since many grants we apply for require us to demonstrate community involvement in the school by providing statistics on family volunteer hours (e.g. '99% of our families fulfill their volunteer commitment', or 'Collegiate families donated 15,000 hours of time to the school.') Some families who are unable to commit 40 hours of time opt to donate in lieu of time at a rate of $10 per volunteer hour. These donations are collected through the Collegiate Academy of Colorado Foundation. Checks can be made payable to CACF."
Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act is the largest federal source of funding for K-12 public schools, and it contains extensive requirements pertaining to parental engagement. In instituting Title I, the federal government was acting out of a sincere belief that requiring schools to show evidence of "parental involvement" would have a positive effect on student learning and would help to empower marginalized families. It seems unlikely that the authors of that law ever anticipated that it would backfire by encouraging the creation of barriers to access to certain schools, thus further marginalizing some families. They likely also never imagined that in actuality some schools could get away with using illegal means to get an unfair advantage in applying for Title I funds.
It is not merely hypothetical that some charter schools are using logs of required "volunteer hours" in grant applications. Evidence is provided by the website of the Collegiate Academy of Colorado, which directs parents to a document stored in Google docs (link) with the following text:
"Collegiate Academy requires each family to commit to 40 hours of volunteer service in the school community. Any family member can complete these volunteer hours. It is very important that we accurately track volunteer hours, since many grants we apply for require us to demonstrate community involvement in the school by providing statistics on family volunteer hours (e.g. '99% of our families fulfill their volunteer commitment', or 'Collegiate families donated 15,000 hours of time to the school.') Some families who are unable to commit 40 hours of time opt to donate in lieu of time at a rate of $10 per volunteer hour. These donations are collected through the Collegiate Academy of Colorado Foundation. Checks can be made payable to CACF."