Court says district had the right to close Florida City, Fla., charter school

From The Miami Herald: An appeals court has ruled that the Miami-Dade County district acted lawfully when it shut down a Florida City charter school in 2010. The ruling strikes down a decision by the Florida Board of Education that had given Rise Academy the power to open its doors again. Miami-Dade school officials closed Rise Academy after finding numerous problems at the school: unsanitary bathrooms and food storage, a shortage of textbooks, and questionable spending by administrators. The charter school’s lawyers appealed to the state board, which reversed the Miami-Dade district’s decision. Despite being given authority to re-open, Rise Academy never did.

AUGUST 2010....from The Miami Herald: A closed Miami-Dade County charter school cited for spending public money in questionable ways, not providing textbooks to students and having unsanitary conditions is asking for another chance. Representatives from Rise Academy will meet with the state's charter school commission to make an appeal to reopen, citing the school's improvement from an F grade to an A in one year. Two months ago, the Miami-Dade School Board voted to close Rise Academy, citing poor academic performance and serious financial problems. But this month, when school grades were released, Rise was given an A.