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The School Board's action starts a 90-day process for American Classical Charter Academy to address its situation and remain open.
The Osceola County School Board has voted to revoke the charter of American Classical Charter Academy, starting a 90-day process for the school to address its financial and regulatory situations and remain open.
Parents who attended the April 5 Board meeting, hoping to “Save ACCA”, implored the Board to do what it can to keep the school open. Under a new bill passed in the Florida Legislature — Rep. Fred Hawkins of St. Cloud sponsored the bill — this action had to be taken prior to the summer; the spirit of the bill is to give parents plenty of notice the children’s school may not be open the following year.
But if ACCA’s financial, regulatory and staff governance issues can’t be resolved, the school will close in July. The landlord for the Hickory Tree Road school has already issued an eviction order, but has deferred it to allow ACCA to finish the school year.
A letter from the district noted ACCA was over $600,000 in the red for the 2020-21 school year, and had a balance of negative $182,762 thus far into this school year, and didn’t include rent for December through February that had not been paid.
Osceola Superintendent Dr. Debra Pace called the situation “deteriorating financial conditions reaching a point of emergency.”
The district reported ACCA, which will finish its third school year next month, has already appealed the decision. Chairman Michael Loeb of Port St. Lucie, George Jackow and Steve Allen of Crittenden, Ky., are listed as ACCA board members. The News-Gazette reached out to them for an interview, and received a memo that went to parents from ACCA Principal Chiara Ajo, who referenced “the unwarranted and unjust termination letter we received … Our school has been extremely successful this year, and these actions prove that the Osceola County School District is not our partner.”
In the memo, the school outlines that:
- It has met state guidelines and responded to all District requests;
- Is just five months into a one-year term of making District-requested changes;
- Enhancements to its academic program are reflected in student diagnostic scores;
- Have reviewed finances, taken steps to maintain ACCA’s stability, and are allocating funds first to teacher and staff salaries, then maintenance and janitorial, then to all other expenses;
- The District’s termination letter was set an hour after a March 29 ACCA board meeting.
The memo concludes: “We believe the testing results of the upcoming FSA will identify ACCA as not only a school of choice (charter school) but THE SCHOOL OF CHOICE in Osceola County. We believe that our community deserves that choice and we stand united in order to ensure that ACCA is an option for families.”
The school was represented April 5 by legal counsel, who said the school welcomes the chance to address its issues.
The board voted 4-1 to take the action. Board Member Robert Bass, whose district 5 includes ACCA, said he wasn’t upset with those representing the school at the meeting.
“I’m aggravated with those who’ve put you in this position,” he said. “It’s not fair.”
Board members said they all hoped the school could remain open, and that the vote just marked the start of a process.
“We are responsible for teachers and staff getting paid,” Board Member Clarence Thacker said. “Running such a deficit is something charter schools are not allowed to do.”
The dissenting Board vote came from Jon Arguello, who referenced ACCA’s great teachers, high test scores and students who are reading and doing math, as an example, at a higher grade level. He said the vote gave ACCA a death knell of closing.
“It’s incredible to bring up closing a school that performs this high, and frankly is outperforming our traditional schools,” he said. “Let’s face it, we’re voting to close the school. I want to see how we can have more schools like it.”
But the district re-iterated that four major issues exist — financial stability, governance of staff, failure to meet regulatory conditions and the health, welfare and safety of the students. School Board Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher said that, because of the presence of the last issue, the district would be within rights to close the school immediately.
The school has roughly 330 students, and about 30 were represented at the April 5 meeting. Kathryn Leslie is the mother of five of them, and she said the family chose the school when moving to the area two years ago for its classical education approach.
She addressed the board … “Please don’t shut us down, help give us a hand,” and said afterwards she trusts that the School Board is making the best effort to keep the school open.
“Our students matter, and the school is worth saving,” she said. “As parents we are willing to keep advocating for all the students.”
