Clay was closing. How did it become a charter school candidate?

SOUTH BEND — Career Academy charter network officials say they took a long, hard look at Clay High School before deciding to pursue the site for a charter school.

On Wednesday, the local charter school network announced it had asked the South Bend Community School Corp. to enter into a lease-purchase agreement for the school the district planned to close at the end of this academic year. According to state law, public schools deemed to be unused by school districts can be available to charter schools for sale or lease for $1.

"When the South Bend schools decided to close Clay, we started thinking about it," said Larry Garatoni, president of the Career Academy board. "I think it took us a while to work up the nerve to do it because it's such a big school."

Clay High School is 283,000 square feet and has space for 1,700 students, Garatoni said. It is situated on Darden and Juniper roads.

"But it's a well-built school and it's in a wonderful location, and it's an underserved location," he said. "And after giving it some consideration and a little more investigation, we decided to go for it."

He cited statistics that showed out of the 22,000 student-aged children in the South Bend school district, some 8,300 children are going to school in places other than the South Bend schools.

"Students from South Bend are escaping to other school districts," Garatoni said. "We hope to bring those people back."

But Garatoni said it may take six months or a year to have the issue of the charter school settled.

"There's a process that's been outlined in state statutes," he said. He estimated that, if successful, it may be 2025 before Career Academy could take over the facility.

Garatoni said the school district will have 30 to 60 days to consider the charter school proposal.

More: Career Academy charter network announces new high school to open in downtown South Bend

'We knew this was coming'

South Bend School Superintendent Todd Cummings said the distreict knew the Clay High School charter school proposal was coming, but he said the district is focusing on the transition of Clay students to their schools of choice next year.

He did not want to speculate what the district would do after today's Clay charter school proposal from Career Academy, but he said the district would follow state guidelines.

"In Indiana, any time you have a building that's recorded as vacant, we have to follow our state statute guidelines " Cummings said. There's always the posibility that a charter school will ask to buy the building for $1."

"We're going to focus on honoring the last year of Clay," he said. "We're going to honor the legacy and the traditions and, especially, the final graduation of the class.

"But we're also going to work really hard at honoring our teachers and our principals and our students and families as they transition to other schools."

Cummings was asked about his impressions of the Save Clay Group in their efforts to try to take care of students in their own community.

"I think my impression is that we're focused on taking care of our students," Cummings said. "And even when we started the facilities project, we know it's difficult. We know it's painful, but it's also about paying our teachers more. It's about investing in our programs. And it's about making sure that we're fiscally responsible with our tax dollars."

Some political leaders in support

County Council member Amy Drake said she was pleased the Career Academy officials decided to step in to save Clay.

"The Clay families came to me very upset when they heard there was going to be a hole in their community," Drake said. "It's just a geat day for Clay Township."

State Sen. Linda Rogers applauded the Save Clay group for working with the Career Academy Network to bring the Clay charter school concept to fruition. "It's important to be an advocate for your community and for public education in helping to make sure that our students are prepared and ready for the next stage of their life."

What is Career Academy?

The Career Academy charter network has four schools in the area serving 1,600 students.

It operates two schools on the city’s northwest side; Career Academy, a secondary school serving sixth- through 12th-graders, and Success Academy, an elementary school.

This fall, it opened the Portage School of Leaders high school in the former Temple Beth-El building. Also, a new Success Academy elementary school in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County opened this fall.

Jeremy Lugbill, suprintendent at Career Academy Network of Public Schools, said the intent of the charter proposal at Clay is to offer dual credit of college preparatory classes in addition to career and technical educational programming.

"Operating a tuition-free public, high-quality choice for students and families in the Clay Township is important to us," Lugbill said. "Having strong accountability measures for both performance and growth is something that's important to us."

Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Clay High School charter plan has lengthy debate