Atlas

Life Skills Centers Locations: Lakeland, plus Fort Lauderdale, Miami, St. Petersburg, Delray Beach
Combined enrollment: 464
Combined revenue: $12 million
Opened: 2005
Type: Alternative high school
Students: 36 percent poor, 21 percent disabled
Ungraded: School type, low matching rate

Four of the five charter schools run by the for-profit company White Hat Management in 2006 had less than 15 percent of students reading at grade level last year, including the campus in Lakeland. The fifth, in St. Petersburg, had one in five students pass the subject on the FCAT. Florida did not calculate the learning gains of kids in these charters, but two schools the company runs for the Palm Beach County district had the lowest in the state. The Ohio-based company started four more in Florida this past fall and has been approved to open three more this August in Orlando, Winter Haven and Liberty City. White Hat and the company's founder, David Brennan, have contributed more than $100,000 to Florida GOP politicians and causes. They also have two Tallahassee lobbyists. Life Skills classes primarily consist of four-hour, self-paced sessions on the computer each day. Students are also required to complete one hour daily working a job, taking a vocational course, volunteering or attending counseling. Karen Axelgard, state director for Life Skills Centers of Florida, said the company was always looking for new ways to better teach struggling kids. Our students are several months or years behind, she said. This has a tremendous impact on test scores.
St. Peter's Academy Location: Vero Beach
Enrollment: 103
Revenue: $826,707
Opened: 1998
Type: Elementary school
Students: 53 percent poor, 16 percent disabled
Reason ungraded: Incomplete test scores

This campus, which teaches kindergarten through sixth grade, is the only currently-operating school in Florida investigated twice in the past two years for possible irregularities in its FCAT scores. No school grades were given to St. Peter's as a result. A state official described the learning gains reported for students as unrealistic, because the portion of third-graders passing the FCAT reading and math doubled from 50 percent to 100 percent from 2004 to 2005. The high results were duplicated last year. Historically, the school has reported high scores for third-graders only to have them drop once they become fourth-graders to as low as 8 percent meeting state standards. Members of St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church founded the school, sit on its board and rent the facility and a bus to the school for $39,000 a year. The principal, Ruth Jefferson, hired two in-laws to work in the cafeteria. She is also the wife of the Rev. Andrew Jefferson, pastor of the church and chairman of the nonprofit board overseeing the school. Ruth Jefferson did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.
Love to Learn Educational Center Location: Gainesville
Enrollment: 68
Revenue: $416,758
Opened: 1999
Type: Elementary school
Students: 82 percent poor, 29 percent disabled
Reason ungraded: Too small

Only 5 percent of students at this school passed the FCAT in reading and math last year. Love to Learn has a long history of low test scores. In 2002, no fourth-graders passed the FCAT in reading. In 2003, no fifth-graders mastered the subject. In 2004, no fifth-graders met state standards in math, and in 2005, only 6 percent of all students at the school passed the subject. The average class size in kindergarten through third grade last year was 29 students, 11 more than the state school cap for that age. Principal Lavetta Palmer, who also serves as chairman of the charter-school board, said her students score so low because many are disabled and poor. However, a regular public school with the same share of students with these characteristics -- Cedar Grove Elementary in Bay County -- had 10 times the percentage of kids scoring proficiently in reading and math. We do not turn children away, Palmer said. We cannot discriminate based on a child's previous academic history.
Ruby J. Gainer School for Reaching Your Dream Location: Pensacola
Enrollment: 110
Revenue: $860,998 (for the 2004-05 school year)
Opened: 2000
Type: Alternative high school
Students: 81 percent poor, 16 percent disabled
Reason ungraded: School type, low rate of matching students to previous year's FCAT scores

For the past four years, zero percent of children at this school passed the FCAT in reading and math. About one in 10 students managed to graduate in 2005, the most recent figures available. The founder and executive director is Derrick Gainer, former World Boxing Association featherweight champion. He and the charter board spent $90,000 more on administration than instruction in 2004-05. Less than a third of expenditures went to the classroom in the 2004-05 school year. The school has not filed a financial audit for 2005-06, due seven months ago. Principal Lynn Jones-Baldwin, who assumed her post this year, said the charter board cut three administrative positions last summer, including one held by a relative of Gainer's. The savings would be spent in the classroom this year, Jones-Baldwin said. She attributed the low test scores in part to students not taking the FCAT seriously, as well as their troubled academic histories. She said she hopes a new schoolwide reading program makes a difference this year. Gainer did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.Everglades Preparatory Academy Location: Pahokee
Enrollment: 142
Revenue: $1.1 million
Opened: 2002
Type: High school
Students: 89 percent poor, 22 percent disabled
Reason ungraded: Low matching rate

From its inception, Everglades has been a low-performing school. It has never received a school grade. Only 3 percent of Everglades students passed the FCAT in reading last year. Ten percent mastered math. None met state standards in science. The Palm Beach County School District recently conducted an on-site review of the charter and reported filthy facilities, poor lesson plans and a reading curriculum not based on scientifically proven techniques. Principal Antoine Russell said the state recently gave the school money to buy a new reading program. He added that the building, a refurbished department store, was old but that staff tried to keep it clean as best they could. He said parents liked the school and think they are doing a good job. We get kids that are failing in their home schools, Russell said. We hope to get better as time goes on.