Representatives from the Office of Education Innovation (OEI) will meet with parents and families of students from Indiana College Preparatory School at 6:30 p.m. today to answer questions about the school’s impending closing.
The closing comes after OEI revoked the school’s seven-year charter after the school continually failed to meet academic, financial and governance standards.
Within Indiana College Preparatory School’s first year, OEI officials noticed several problems including turnover of leadership, discipline and academics and took steps to meet with the board to rectify the issues. However, an official audit revealed serious financial struggles.
“We had some sustainability concerns,” said Brian Dickey, the director of Charter Schools Office of Education and Innovation. “We raised those concerns to the school and the board of directors in the spring of 2017 and put the school on probation.”
As part of the probation requirements, OEI required the governing board to provide a sustainability plan as well as add more board members with financial expertise.
ICAN Schools, a charter management organization based out of Cleveland, Ohio, operates Indiana College Preparatory School and reports to a local school board.
“The board doesn’t fire, the board doesn’t hire,” former board president Jamyce Curtis Banks said. “It’s oversight, but not control.”
Curtis Banks became board president in January 2018, after the previous board president resigned. She, too, resigned on Feb. 19 after fellow board members resigned, leaving her standing alone.
“I was the single person on the board,” Curtis Banks said. “You can’t have a board with only one person.”
Curtis Banks’ tenure with the board began in January 2016. She didn’t know OEI found red flags with the school’s operations until the probation notification. To her understanding, the board complied with OEI’s requirements. She can’t speak for ICAN Schools.
“Many of the answers that you seek have to come from ICAN Schools Indiana,” she said.
Officials from ICAN Schools and Indiana College Preparatory School didn’t return emails or phone calls.
“When a school closes, any school, that limits options and choices for parents,” Curtis Banks said. “I would be frustrated as a parent that I chose a school for my child that I thought would help my child and now I have to choose another school for my child.”
The OEI is sensitive to parents concerns and wants to make the transition as easy as possible for students. Officials also don’t want to disrupt ISTEP+ testing, which begins next week.
“We almost feel a moral obligation to get the school to June 8 — its last day of instruction,” Dickey said.
In addition to tonight’s meeting, three school enrollment fairs will be held within the next week: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, 3:30-7 p.m. Tuesday and 3:30-7 p.m. March 1. All three fairs will be held at Indiana College Preparatory School, 4050 E. 38th St.
“Our hearts pour out to the parents and the children,” Deputy Mayor David Hampton said. “We want to make it as smooth a transition as possible.”
