American Indian Public Charter School

AIPCS was chartered by the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in 1996 with the mission of improving the performance of Native American students in the city. As a charter public school, AIPCS was free to students and had considerable autonomy. Once located in a converted church in Oakland's Laurel District, the school moved to 171 12th Street. The high school is located at 746 Grand Avenue. Since 2007, the charter school district is known as AIMS, American Indian Model Schools. The first school had a predominantly Native American student population at its founding and it focused on Native American culture. Classes included cultural elements such as traditional bead-making and drumming. Martin Waukazoo, one of the founders of the AIPCS, said that he withdrew from the school board because it did not sufficiently emphasize basic educational skills. He said "They were doing too many fuzzy, warm things like bead-making classes and drum classes. Those are good hobbies, but our kids need to learn to read and write. I felt it was doing more harm than good." and test scores were abysmal. and gave away all the school's technology equipment. Chavis focused instruction on the California Content Standards and instituted a number of unorthodox disciplinary policies. In 2005 American Indian Public Charter School had seven teachers. The student teacher ratio was 25 to one. Most of the teachers were in their twenties. During that year, Chavis said that the few teachers who were not credentialed were enrolled in credentialing programs. As of 2005 AIPCS paid each first-year teacher an annual salary of $42,000 and allowed for a $1,500 bonus at the end of the school year. The annual salary of an entry-level teacher in the Oakland Unified School District was $37,000 during that year. On July 15, 2013, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo granted the school system a preliminary injunction, allowing all three campuses to remain open. ==Educational approach==

AIPCS employs a "back-to-basics, squared" approach to schooling. Students spend their academic school day in a self-contained classroom with one teacher. In theory, this teacher stays with these students through their three years at AIPCS, but in practice, high teacher turnover makes this impossible. AIPCS adheres to the American Indian Model (AIM), the focus of which is excellent student attendance. In keeping with this, originally AIPCS gave cash awards of up to $100 to students who attend every school day for a year Discipline AIPCS disciplinary procedures are in line with the California Education Code. Students who are disruptive, submit incomplete work, or misbehave in other ways are assigned an hour of detention after school. Students committing a second infraction in the same week will get an additional hour of detention and four hours of Saturday School. Other discipline is more unorthodox. For example, Chavis, with parental permission, shaved the head of a student who was accused of stealing, in front of the entire school. In other cases, he punished a girl by making her clean the boys' bathroom, and forced some students to wear embarrassing signs.{{cite news Not all AIPCS staff adhere to the methods used by Chavis. Following his departure in 2012, the school administrators eliminated or toned down some of the more unorthodox disciplinary methods. ==Chavis' conservative philosophy==

Chavis summed up his beliefs in 2007 that liberal thinkers hurt minority students: ==Test scores==

From 2000 to 2006, the school's Academic Performance Index (API) more than doubled. (API scores range from a minimum of 200 possible points to a maximum of 1000 possible.) • In 2001, AIPCS had an API of 440, near worst among Oakland middle schools. • In 2006, AIPCS had an API of 967. This was the eighth-highest in the state, where the median API is roughly 750, and highest in the state among those schools serving mostly low-income children, which typically score around 650 on the measure. • Westlake Middle School had an API of 680, and proficiency levels of English 30%, Math 34%, Science 46%, and History/Social Science 23% • Piedmont Middle School, with few low-income students, had an API of 918 and 8th-grade proficiency levels of English 83%, Math 88%, Science 81% and History/Social Science 80% High school scores As of 2009 AIPHS students have also performed very well on standardized tests. Roughly 90% of AIPHS students score at proficient or advanced levels on most subjects, with lower scores in Chemistry and Earth Science. In 2009, AIPHS graduated its first senior class. All 18 graduating seniors were accepted to good four-year colleges for that fall. and the author of The Bell Curve, praised AIPCS in a blog of the American Enterprise Institute. According to 2009 reporting by the Los Angeles Times and Mother Jones, the teachers' union president said that AIPCS was known for "cherry-picking" - that is, recruiting students who would do well and dropping those students who did not perform well academically. AIPCS denied the allegations. The LA Times noted that half of the 6th-grade students performing poorly in 2007 had left the school before graduation at grade 8. Thirty-nine of the 51 students who started in 2006 completed their middle school years with AIPCS. All the students who entered below-grade level and stayed through the 8th grade did improve their standings. Charles Murray had noted in his blog that the failure to take into account the attrition of poorly performing students, who have dropped out of a school, is often the most decisive indicator that a school's evaluation has been inadequate. ==Demographics==

By 2007–2008, the AIPCS student body demographics had changed. The approximately 180 students represented the following ethnic groups: • 46% Asian • 23% African-American • 22% Latino • 3% American Indian/Alaskan Native • < 2% Caucasian, Pacific Islander, Filipino Approximately 97% of AIPCS students in 2007-2008 were "socioeconomically disadvantaged" In the earliest years, the school had a larger American Indian population and smaller Asian population. In 2007 the American Indian Model Schools system opened AIPCS II, located in Oakland's Chinatown neighborhood; 67% of its students were Asian. In 2005-2006 the entering students came to the middle school almost exclusively from the nearby public Lincoln Elementary School. Its students have had high test scores and are predominantly Asian. Critics have suggested that AIPCS' continued success is due largely to this demographic shift and the success of its Asian student population. But the LA Times reported in 2009 that the school's Asian, African-American, and Latino students performed similarly on standardized tests. ==Finances==

From 2001 to 2008, AIPCS spent under $8,000 per student-year, which was less than half as much per student-year as the surrounding Oakland Unified School District. But the school received more than $200,000 in 2006 from the Walton family foundation, so it was operating with more money than in the public budget. By June 2009, when public schools had a 4.5 percent funding cut, AIPCS had received additional grants of more than $100,000 from the Koret Foundation. ==Chavis controversies==

When Chavis was the principal at AIPCS and head of the AIMS system, he generated considerable controversy. Use of racially and sexually charged statements As reported by the LA Times in 2009, Chavis tended to call all non-Caucasian students, including African Americans, "darkies." "I tell the students, if you don't do your work, people are going to call you a lazy Mexican. You're black, they expect you to be an idiot," said Chavis in 2005, who is a blue-eyed Lumbee of mixed-race ancestry, including European American. "I use it to motivate the kids." Chavis said that he called the grad student a "dumbass minority," and said "he was an embarrassment to his race." Admissions controversies California charter schools are required either to accept all applicants, or, if they have more applicants than capacity, to hold a lottery to determine entrants. AIPCS has never held a lottery. The AIMS board was denied a petition to open a new school in the fall of 2008, in part because AIPCS was "unable to describe" their selection process. AIPCS staff stated they had never needed to hold a lottery because they had never had more applicants than seats. ==2011 "Extraordinary audit" by the state ==

In August 2011, California's Fiscal and Crisis Management Team announced it would conduct an extraordinary audit of AIPCS. The audit focused on management of a federal ASES grant for an after-school program, facilities lease and rent expenditures, and the Political Reform Act of 1974, regarding conflict-of-interest laws. In early June 2012, the FCMAT published the results of its audit. Key findings in the 65-page document note conclusive documentation of fraud by Chavis in rental agreements, funds siphoned from the SAIL summer program, and bidding for on-site construction projects. The report also noted the lack of fiduciary responsibility by the AIPCS governing board. Michael Stember resigned from the board of the charter school system between April and June. Jean Martinez became president of the AIPCS governing board. "The allegations against American Indian charter schools officials include $3.7 million in payments [over 4 years] to businesses owned by founder Ben Chavis and his wife, including money for rent, storage fees, construction projects and the administration of summer school programs.” He was indicted on six felony charges in March 2017 in federal district court in San Francisco, California, in relation to his management of federal grant monies, and arrested in North Carolina. ==Threat of charter revocation==

In March 2013, the OUSD Board voted to revoke the AIMS charter. The Alameda County Board of Education has an option to overturn the OUSD decision, and the California Board of Education serves as a final point of appeal. If an appeal is not successful, the revocation will come into effect on June 30, 2013. ==References==