West St. Paul's BlueSky Online School Awaits Ruling

in West St. Paul made their case to stay open before an administrative law judge last month.

The Minnesota Department of Education has threatened to close the school, claiming that the charter school graduated students who had not met state standards, and that the curriculum did not align with state standards.

The results of the case could impact whether absorbs BlueSky into the district to provide online education.

BlueSky officials disagree with the state’s assessment, and are critical of the review process that the department used to evaluate the school.

“They repeatedly said that ‘the documentation was not sufficient and did not prove we were in compliance.’ In other words, guilty until proven innocent,” said BlueSky Public Relations Director Dan Cook in an email after the hearing ended.

“Witnesses also admitted that they did not review our entire courses online so they did not know what was in them aside from the paper documentation we provided them,” said Cook of the testimony.

A recommendation from the administrative law judge is expected some time in the next six weeks, according to Charlene Briner, communications director for the department. Commissioner of Education Brenda Cassellius will then make a decision whether the school can continue to operate.

That decision could then be appealed, if necessary, according to Cook.

Briner declined further comment on the hearing.