Judge orders reinstatement of Davie charter school taken over by Broward School Board

An administrative law judge has ordered the reinstatement of a charter school that was taken over last year by the Broward County School Board amid allegations that it had not complied with security requirements.

Judge Cathy Sellers last week issued a 66-page order siding with Championship Academy of Distinction at Davie, finding that the School Board did not “prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that an immediate and serious danger to Championship’s students was in existence on August 20, 2019, when it immediately terminated Championship’s charter.”

The School Board decided to terminate the charter and take over operations of the school because it alleged that Championship Academy started the 2019-2020 school year without a person on campus who met the legal qualifications of being a “safe-school officer.”

Florida lawmakers approved safe-school officer requirements after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

During the first two days of the 2019-2020 school year, Championship Academy had an armed security guard on campus who did not meet the qualifications and did not have a signed contract with the Davie Police Department to provide officers, Sellers wrote. “

(The) School Board presented no evidence of any particular facts and circumstances showing that an immediate and serious danger to Championship’s students was in existence on August 20, 2019 — whether due to Championship’s failure to have a person on campus who met the statutory qualifications for serving as a safe-school officer plus a fully-executed contract securing the services of a safe-school officer for Championship, or for any other reason,” Sellers wrote. “To that point, there was no evidence presented showing that there were any threats or actions constituting a threat — such as bomb threats, trespassing by unauthorized persons, armed persons presenting a danger or threat, or any other circumstances on Championship’s campus that existed on August 20, 2019 — or on any other school day in the 2019-2020 school year, for that matter.”