The Hoosier Academy school board voted Tuesday night to not renew the charter of its full-time online school after months of scrutiny from the state, dropping enrollment, and poor academic performance.
Hoosier Academy Virtual Charter School will close after June 30. The board will continue to operate its two other schools, the hybrid Hoosier Academy-Indianapolis, where students learn online and in-person at a brick-and-mortar school, and Insight School of Indiana, which is geared toward students with more intensive needs.
John Marske, board chairman, told Chalkbeat in an email that the board did not think the school could meet the requirements to get its charter renewed. The school is authorized by Ball State University and operated by the for-profit K12 Inc.
“If we were to seek renewal, we would have had to submit a renewal application by October 1, 2017,” Marske said. He noted that “the Board has seen evidence of significant improvement at Hoosier Virtual,” but didn’t feel that academics were strong enough “to pass the rigors of a new charter application process.”
The school’s leader, Byron Ernest, also an Indiana State Board of Education member, did not immediately return requests for comment. Bob Marra, who directs charter school efforts at Ball State, said he was not immediately available to speak.
Marske said the board is now focused on alerting and addressing questions from the families of the 2,065 students enrolled in grades K-12 and its almost 100 teachers.
“Our intention is to give our families and teachers as many options as possible,” Marske said. “Meanwhile we are also focused on improving results of the Hoosier Hybrid school in Indianapolis, as well as the Hoosier Insight school.”
According to minutes from Hoosier Academy’s July board meeting (the most recent posted by the school), Hoosier Virtual saw a drop of about 800 students from its enrollment of 2,867 a year ago. The Insight School enrolled 593 as of July, and the hybrid school enrolled 199.
Hoosier Academy Virtual escaped closure in May when the Indiana State Board of Education voted to allow the school to remain open despite years of poor test scores and F grades. The board also decided not to allow them to enroll new students and reduced fees paid to Ball State to authorize the school.
This is the full text of the resolution the board passed last night at its monthly meeting:
HOOSIER ACADEMY, INC.
Resolution Regarding Charter Renewal – Virtual Charter School
Resolution No. 2017 – [ ]
WHEREAS, in 2016 Ball State University Office of Charter Schools (the “Sponsor”) reauthorized Hoosier Academy, Inc. (the “Corporation”) to operate the Hoosier Academy Virtual Charter School (“Virtual School”) for an additional two year charter term, and the Corporation and Sponsor entered into a Charter agreement (“Charter Agreement”) for a Charter term ending June 30, 2018; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the Charter Agreement and the Sponsor policies, if the Charter has not been renewed and the Corporation wishes to renew the Charter, the Corporation must initiate the renewal process by filing a written request for renewal with the Executive Director of the Sponsor no later than October 1 in the last academic year before expiration of the then current term of the Charter; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Directors, with input from its educational management company, K12 Classroom, LLC, and the Head of Schools for the Hoosier Academy Virtual Charter School, has continued to implement various initiatives, programs and offerings for the Virtual School to enhance the opportunity for student success and increase overall success rate of students as measured by State assessment protocols, but after careful consideration and assessment of school operations, educational results, and the interests of its students and the community served by the Virtual School, the Board deems it to not be in the interest of the Virtual School or its students or community served by the Virtual School to seek renewal of the Charter; and
WHEREAS, the Board believes it is very important at this time to focus continued improvement efforts on the Hoosier Academy Indianapolis School hybrid/blended program and the Insight School of Indiana both of which are operated by the Corporation, and the Board, in concert with its Sponsor, Ball State University Office of Charter School and its educational management company, K12, Classroom, LLC, will be working to further identify best practices and lessons learned from the success and challenges of the Virtual School over the past several years of its existence to develop new and improved opportunities for students in our network of schools.
IT IS THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Board of Directors hereby authorizes, confirms and approves the decision to not pursue renewal of the Charter for the Virtual School beyond the term ending June 30, 2018, and to not submit a request for renewal of the Charter to its Sponsor; and
IT IS RESOLVED FURTHER that the Board President and the Head of Schools, be and hereby are, authorized to coordinate and work with the Sponsor to ensure timely notification to parents and a smooth and orderly closure and transition for students and parents, in accordance with all applicable laws and as guided by and consistent with the School Closure Plan Implementation protocol adopted by the Sponsor, Ball State University Office of Charter Schools.