ACCA parents: be frustrated at its Board
Dear Editor:
It was a bittersweet moment as the Osceola County School Board voted April 5 to approve Superintendent Debra Pace’s recommendation to terminate the charter contract for American Classical Charter Academy in St. Cloud. I served on the original staff of this small charter school, which opened its doors for the 2019-20 school year. Despite, or perhaps because of, its small size, it is a school full of passionate parents and staff that believe strongly in the classical style of education it promises to provide.
Many of those parents advocated for the school at the meeting. Describing the supportive classroom environments, the structured style of education, and a school they feel provides values that align with their own. I recognized those names and faces from my time there and can confirm that those parents are some of the most supportive and involved I have encountered.
Sadly, I also know that those same parents owe the downfall of the school they so fiercely defended to the school’s own governing board. In my time there, the school parted ways with the management group, Charter One, which was brought in early on to provide financial stability and support services for the school. When the school chose to sever the contract with Charter One, they also opened themselves up to mountains of financial liability. Charter One had, over its time with ACCA, provided many services at no cost, most significantly the salary of the campus administrator and negotiating reduced rent payments with the landlord. As part of the separation agreement, ACCA agreed to a negotiated debt repayment with Charter One.
My own transition away from campus was difficult. When I expressed concern over the financial status of the school, I was told that it was not a concern — never mind that their budget was based on inflated enrollment numbers and did not include the cost of the new agreement with Charter One or the higher rent payments. In my final conversation with ACCA’s board chair I asked specifically about these last two points and was told they did not intend to pay them and, “Let them sue us.”
Fast forward nine months, and here we are — a school beloved by its parents and students that has been failed by its own leadership. I understand the need to be frustrated by the School Board decision, but I encourage the parents of ACCA and the community to direct their frustration at the correct people. It is the responsibility of the SDOC school board to look after the students of the entire district, that means ensuring state funds are being managed effectively – they did their job. Now it is time for ACCA’s parents to demand the same values of their board that the school asserts to teach its students: integrity, honesty, and most of all responsibility.
Samantha Barkholz
St. Cloud
