NC board rejects a proposed Wake charter school and orders a Chatham school to close
The N.C. Charter Schools Review Board has ordered a Chatham County school to close and has rejected another school that wanted to open in Wake County.
Heritage Collegiate Leadership Academy-Wake County had been rejected by the State Board of Education but was given a second chance under a new state law that empowers the Review Board to approve charter schools. But the Review Board unanimously voted Wednesday to not reconsider the state board’s decision.
A day earlier, the Review Board revoked the charter for the new School of the Arts for Boys Academy (SABA) in Pittsboro due to lack of enrollment. The board gave SABA until Dec. 31 to close.
Until recently, the state board had been in charge of approving, renewing and closing charter schools. But a new state law transfers the state board’s approval powers to the Review Board, which previously had only been an advisory board.
Another school rejected by the state board, American Leadership Academy-Monroe, used the new law to win Review Board approval on Tuesday.
Wake County charter school rejected
The new Wake County school was the second chance for the leaders of the failed Heritage Collegiate Leadership Academy in Bertie County. Kashi Bazemore, who is the board chair for the Wake charter, was the director of the Bertie County school.
The State Board of Education had cited academic and non-compliance issues when it attempted to close the Bertie County charter school before transferring the charter in 2018 to another organization. The state board later revoked the charter from the new group.
The state board had cited the ties to the Bertie County school before unanimously rejecting the Wake County application twice earlier this year..
“Do I wish things were done differently in Bertie County? Looking back, of course I do,” Bazemore told the Review Board. “But I want you to know that we had many bright spots from that school.”
Bazemore told the Review Board she wouldn’t have applied for the new school unless she thought she could make a difference in the lives of children. She cited the Wake County schools with D and F state performance grades to argue that Heritage Collegiate was needed.
Heritage sought to open in northeastern Raleigh in 2025.
“This school is desperately needed right now,” Bazemore said. “So when we talk about choice, who needs choice anymore than a group of students who has been historically and in a pattern-wise way failed by the district?”
Review Board rejection called ‘unfair’
Bazemore said the state board didn’t have accurate information when it rejected the Wake application.
“A lot of what you’re seeing in the documents from the State Board of Education are not facts,” Bazemore said. “They are assumptions, accusations, disparaging, disrespectful comments.”
Back when it was an advisory board, the Review Board had unanimously recommended approval of the Wake County charter. Review Board members praised Bazemore’s passion but said Wednesday they felt they had more information now than before.
“I certainly believe there’s there’s a need, and I was very persuaded there’s a need,” Bartley Danielsen, a Review Board member who previously supported the school, said Wednesday. “I’m not confident that this board can run a school effectively.”
After Wednesday’s vote, Bazemore called the decision “so unfair” and said she’d contact the U.S. Department of Education.
Chatham County school ordered to close
SABA opened in August in Chatham County as a single-gender charter school for boys. It was projected to have 116 students in grades three through six.
But SABA only has 50 students, below the minimum of 85 students required under state law for charter schools. The school needs 88 students to break even financially.
Due to the under-enrollment, the state Department of Public Instruction sent a letter last week to SABA placing it on financial noncompliance status. State funding is based on enrollment so the school would have to come up with a massive fundraising campaign to avoid running out of money.
Review Board members said they didn’t want to close the school but felt their hands were tied by state law.
The school can appeal the charter revocation to the state board.
“As you can imagine, we are processing this information and evaluating our options,” Valencia Toomer, SABA’s director, said in an email Wednesday.
