§18-5E-5. Operational agreement between Innovation in Education school and county board.

An Innovation in Education school designated by the state board may not commence or continue operations without a signed operational agreement between the county board and the school principal which sets forth at least the following:

(1) Any conditions which must be met before the Innovation in Education school may begin full operations.  If necessary, the full implementation of an Innovation in Education school may be postponed for up to one school year following its initial designation to enable all conditions necessary for full operation to be met;

(2) Any material term of the school’s Innovation in Education Plan concerning curriculum, budget, school schedule, calendar, staffing, professional development and policies and procedures to be adhered to by both the county board and the school;

(3) An agreed-upon process for amending or refining the school’s Innovation in Education Plan to improve the school’s performance and student success, including but not limited to, the request for additional waivers of rules, policies, interpretations and statutes through the local school improvement council process;

(4) The annual performance targets set by the county board and the school to assess and evaluate the school’s progress in achieving its annual measureable goals as set forth in its Innovation in Education Plan, including any additional internal and external metrics of performance agreed to by the school and the county board to measure the school’s performance and student success.  The annual performance targets may be refined or amended by mutual agreement of the county board and the school after the school has been fully operational for one year and has collected baseline performance data;

(5) The process and criteria that the county board will use to annually monitor and evaluate the overall performance and student success of the school, including a process to conduct annual site visits;

(6) Any information needed by the county board from the school for the purposes of accountability and reporting by the school on the implementation of its mission as an Innovation in Education school;

(7) The process the county board will use to notify the school of any deficiencies and the process by which the school may submit an improvement plan; and

(8) In the event that an Innovation in Education school’s performance appears unsatisfactory, specific provisions addressing the parameters under which the county board may promptly notify the school in writing of perceived problems and provide reasonable opportunity for the school to remedy the problems, or if not remedied, may intervene or recommend to the state board that it place the school’s designation on probationary status, require a remedial action plan and potentially revoke the designation.  At a minimum, these parameters shall include the circumstances of poor fiscal management and a lack of academic progress.