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Enrollment has shrunk at Ida B. Wells Academy
By John Higgins Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Nov 06, 2007
The Ida B. Wells Academy, a financially troubled Akron charter school, will be shut down Wednesday afternoon.
The academy's board voted unanimously Monday to close the school and planned to call parents Monday night.
''Based on some of the administrative problems — a lot of things that have taken place over the last few years — it's been pretty apparent to me that it's time for us to go back to the drawing board in terms of looking at another way of delivering services,'' said board Chairman John Fuller Jr.
The school for kindergartners through fifth-graders has anAfrican-American theme and is one of the oldest charter schools in the state. It is funded primarily through public money that is transferred from the traditional public school that a child otherwise would attend.
The school's state-authorized sponsor, the Richland Academy of the Arts, has the authority to grant and revoke community schools' charters. The Richland Academy also sponsors Lighthouse Academy in Akron.
Richland's executive director,
Marianne Cooper, attended the meeting and said she was prepared to suspend Ida B. Wells' charter if the board did not close the school.
She was tearful as she praised the board and staff.
''This shouldn't have happened. It should have succeeded, well before we were on the scene,'' Cooper said. ''We have always believed in your vision and your mission.''
She said it was important that the board decided to close the school on its own. ''You have chosen to be responsible board members, safeguarding the public dollars, and that's what this comes down to, because we're talking about public money and public assets,'' Cooper said. ''And we are prepared to work with you as the part that the sponsor must do in terms of closing the school, disposing of the assets and accounting for absolutely every single dollar.''
The school has received more than $3.6 million in state aid in the past five years, according to state records. A recent state audit determined that the school was in debt, owing about $120,000 as of this fall.
Enrollment has fallen from a peak of about 136 in 2006, as reported by the Ohio Department of Education, to about 40, according to academy directorKofi Khemet.
The school's co-founder, Edward W. Crosby, wrote a letter dated Saturday to the board recommending the school be closed. Monday night, he told board members they were doing the right thing by shutting it down, and he blamed declining enrollment on the Akron Beacon Journal's coverage of the school.
''It doesn't reflect on any of the staff, I'd like for you to understand,'' Crosby said. ''It's a matter of dollars and cents. It's a matter of, we came to a time where we had fewer students — too few students, as a matter of fact.''
On Saturday — the day of Crosby's letter to the board — the school was in the headlines after teachers complained about conditions at the school, which moved into a former church at 815 Copley Road in September.
Teachers complained that children had been eating pizza most of the week because the school hadn't paid the usual caterer. They also said they had been smelling the milk each day to make sure it wasn't spoiled because a refrigerator was not keeping it cold enough.
Teachers also raised concerns about a centipede infestation and problems with the alarm system that connects the school to a security company that notifies emergency dispatchers when an alarm is activated.
John Higgins can be reached at 330-996-3792, 800-777-7232 or jhiggins@thebeaconjournal.com.
The Ida B. Wells Academy, a financially troubled Akron charter school, will be shut down Wednesday afternoon.
Get the full article here.
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