Ailing charter school gets help, avoids closing down

A charter school on the brink of failure may be turned around with the help of another more successful charter school in Utah County.

This fall Liberty Academy, a K-12 charter school in Salem, found itself in the red.

"Here we have an issue where literally we were going to lose a school with 300 students and displace them all," said Scott Smith, State Charter Board member and former chairman.

But last week American Leadership Academy, a similar charter school located in Spanish Fork, agreed to take over management of the troubled school to help avoid closure. They reported the plan at the State Charter Board meeting Thursday.

"There are so many positives out of the story, and the nice thing is the (State Charter Board) didn't have to come in and fix it," said Smith. "It's a great heartwarming Christmas-type story where you are around the Christmas tree telling stories where charter schools help other charter schools."

That's not to say some board members weren't concerned. Since this is the first time in the state anything like this has been done, charter leaders say they will be keeping an eye on the agreement and the process, specifically to ensure there is no conflict of interest since three ALA board members will also sit on the Liberty governing board.

Tom Pitcher, president of Highmark Schools, a charter development company that built the facility leased by Liberty and has been working with the school to find solutions, said this fall enrollment for the school came in way below expectation, leaving it with a severe budget deficit.

"Scholastically they're great," he said, but the school had operational problems.

So Liberty commissioned a management company to do a study to look at what needed to be done to save the school.

Highmark's suggestions aligned with the study's recommendations that another entity take over the management.

State leaders said ALA fits the bill not only because is it a nearby school with a good track record, but the philosophies of the two K-12 schools are similar — they both use the Core Knowledge program.

ALA will operate the school but Liberty Academy will still keep its name and charter and, with the help of ALA, build enrollment.

Charter leaders say the intended outcome is for the new management to fix Liberty's operational issues and stabilize the school so eventually it can bond for its own facility.

Also, ALA has a waiting list of more than 100 students. So with ALA's stamp of approval, school leaders said they hope students who are unable to get into ALA will enroll in Liberty and receive the same kind of education.

Though the plan does not require State Charter Board approval, Marlies Burns, state charter director, said her office plans to keep a close eye on the schools and offer help when needed.

---

E-mail: terickson@desnews.com