Tell Mavericks High What You Think: Public Meeting Tomorrow

By Lisa Rab Mon., Feb. 20 2012 at 12:10 PM

Categories: Business, Education

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Frank Biden is president of Mavericks in Education Florida.

For three months, we've been telling you about Mavericks in Education Florida, a local charter school chain headed by the vice president's brother, Frank Biden. Tomorrow evening is your chance to see a Mavericks campus for yourself and voice your opinions at a public board meeting in Palm Springs.

Mavericks is a for-profit company founded in 2007 by a Palm Beach Gardens real estate developer and the former CEO of a controversial Ohio charter school chain. For a brief, bizarre moment, the partnership also included Dwyane Wade.

Today, Mavericks has eight high schools in Florida, enrolling roughly 3,700 students who were at risk of dropping out of traditional schools. But state education records show that the charter schools -- which Biden calls "a hope factory" -- are off to a rocky start. They have earned grades of "incomplete" on state report cards, and several have graduation rates below 15 percent.

Mavericks High in Palm Springs, the first Palm Beach County branch of the chain, opened last August. Its principal is not certified to teach in Florida, and its assistant principal was accused -- and cleared -- of kissing a student when she worked in Kissimmee.

Like all Mavericks schools, the Palm Springs school is a nonprofit organization that pays Mavericks in Education a management fee to oversee operations. The nonprofit board is meeting tomorrow night -- and it'll be taking public input.

The fun starts at 5 p.m. at the school, 3525 S. Congress Ave., Palm Springs.