ST. LOUIS • Missouri's state school board is considering a move that would in effect close four more Imagine charter schools in the city and leave about 3,800 students looking for alternatives by fall.
The Board of Education plans to hold a hearing next month to decide whether to yank sponsorship authority from Missouri Baptist University, which regulates six Imagine schools in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. The board has never held such a hearing.
The university announced in December that two of the schools — Imagine Academy of Academic Success and Imagine Academy of Cultural Arts — would close by summer due to failing academics, struggling finances and leadership problems. The other four are on probation.
Missouri Baptist has faced increasing pressure to take action against the Imagine schools, which have posted some of the worst test scores in the city. They are run by the Virginia-based Imagine Schools Inc., whose high administrative costs take away from resources for classrooms. In the fall, Mayor Francis Slay called for the schools to close, as did Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro.
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By law, the state Board of Education cannot pull the plug on a charter school — a public school that operates independent of school districts — at least not directly. But it can take action against a sponsor it believes has not fulfilled its obligations. Without a sponsor, a charter school cannot receive public money.
"There is a concern at the board level that charter schools, like all public schools, need to be held accountable," said board member Michael Jones of ºüÀêÊÓƵ. "If you look at Imagine schools' record over the last five years, the best you could say is it's abysmal."
The board will meet April 16 about the university's sponsorship and vote the next day.
Even without state board action, the four Imagine schools on probation could be closed by Missouri Baptist if regulators don't see enough progress this spring. A team of university officials and others have been monitoring the schools since December. The schools on probation are Imagine Academy of Environmental Science and Math; Imagine Academy of Careers Elementary; Imagine Academy of Careers Middle; and Imagine College Prep Academy.
"We've seen improvement in some schools and not enough in others," said Doug Copeland, an attorney for the university.
Regardless, he added, Missouri Baptist officials believe they are getting a loud and clear message from the state: anything short of closing all six schools by summer isn't enough. The university is in a tough spot, Copeland said.
"We're getting hit on one side by charter (school) boards feeling we're being too hard and hit on the other side by the state board for being too lenient," he said.
The university, based in Creve Coeur, began sponsoring ºüÀêÊÓƵ charter schools in 2006, when it agreed to replace Harris-Stowe State University as the sponsor of Ethel Hedgeman Lyle Academy, managed at the time by Imagine Schools Inc.
In 2009, the founders of Ethel Hedgeman cut ties with Imagine. The following year, the school was in such disarray that university President Alton Lacey revoked its charter. And then in 2011, problems escalated at the six Imagine schools.
When asked if the state board would be doing the university a favor by removing its sponsorship role, Copeland paused.
"On the one hand, it would eliminate a lot of headaches and attention and resources we've been putting toward this," he said. "But on the other hand, the university stands behind the energies we've deployed at these schools."
University officials don't think the board that oversees the two closing schools has been cooperative. The board, for example, is responsible for notifying parents and staff about the impending closures. But parents haven't been notified, said Stacey Woodson, who has a son and daughter at Academic Success, on North Linton Avenue.
"None of them know," she said.
In February, the Missouri Charter Public School Association held a student enrollment fair at South City Preparatory Academy, a charter school on South Grand Boulevard, with the intention of helping parents of nearly 900 children at the two closing Imagine schools find alternatives.
Organizers asked Imagine school officials to distribute information about the fair, but "it was not done," said Doug Thaman, executive director of the association. Only one parent came.
When contacted about the issue of parental notification, Joan Hubbard, president of the board that oversees the two schools, referred questions to Wayne Harvey, the board attorney. Harvey did not respond to a message.
Nevertheless, some Imagine students already have been leaving.
Since the closures were announced, 183 students from Imagine schools have been accepted to the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Public School's magnet program, with 22 transferring this semester. The district expects the rest to transfer in the fall.