East side charter school set to close but another one will take its place next fall
The Indiana Charter School Board voted unanimously to close an east side charter school at the end of this school year and allow a nearby charter high school to expand to K-6 in the old charter school's building.
The Indiana Charter School Board shut down the Indy STEAM Academy, a K-7 charter school located near the Avondale Meadows neighborhood which opened to students in the 2021-22 school year. The last day of school is June 6.
Indiana Charter School Board Executive Director James Betley told the six board members that the school repeatedly missed deadlines for filing required financial documents. He also noted that in February three of the school’s four board members resigned.
At some points in the absence of the financial reports, he said, he was unsure if the school could make it financially through the year.
Indy STEAM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, had enrolled around 170 students this school year, a majority of whom are students of color. Just under 80% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch, according to Indiana Department of Education data.
As he advocated for the school's closure, Betley reminded the board about the sudden closure of the HIM by HER charter school last January as a result of financial issues. Vanguard Collegiate of Indianapolis, an ICSB-authorized charter school, decided to close last Sept. after its board said they could not sustain the school due to low enrollment. Betley said he did not want to see another school close mid-year, stranding students.
“We keep getting told as authorizers, why aren’t we catching these things? Why aren’t we stopping these things from happening?” Betley said. “The reason is that sometimes it’s just because it’s difficult, the other times it’s because you don’t have the information.”
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Indy STEAM founder and head of school Yvonne Bullock said during Tuesday’s meeting that the school had missed reporting deadlines, but that now all financial audits had been submitted. She said the school has hired consultants, accountants and bookkeeping companies to help prepare the needed financial reports, but that took longer than expected.
“My ability to attend to the paperwork requirements became second place to the day-to-day operations of the school because the children come first,” Bullock said. “It was never the inability to complete the paperwork, but the time constraints to keep up the rest.”
Bullock added that one of the three board members who resigned did so because of a conflict of interest with the board member’s daughter being hired at the school. The two other board members resigned after the charter school board rejected their submitted improvement plan.
The Indiana Charter School Board is one of eight charter school authorizing entities in the state and can approve schools to open anywhere in Indiana. None of the board members commented after voting to revoke the school's charter.
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While Betley focused on the financial health of the school in arguing for its closure, board chair Beth Bray noted the school’s academic scores were “alarming.”
In 2023, 6.8% of students passed the English Language arts portion of ILEARN and 7.8% the math portion. Last year 57% of third graders, or 15 out of 26 third graders, passed IREAD.
The school's lack of financial stability, however, was the deciding factor in his recommendation to close it, Betley said.
“We've been dealing with this for three years since the school started,” Betley said. “At some point, accountability becomes meaningless if we just let it keep going on.”
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This is the fifth school that the ICSB has closed due to its own actions since 2017. Four other school closures that the board authorized decided on their own to shut down. The ICSB currently authorizes 35 charter schools.
New K-6 school to move into same building
Indy STEAM was leasing its school building at 4020 N Sherman Drive from GEO Academies, another charter school organizer, which operates GEO Next Generation High School located next door.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the board approved in a 4-1 vote allowing GEO Academies to open a K-6 school in the building currently occupied by Indy STEAM.
GEO Academies plans to open the K-6 school for next school year.
Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.
Caroline’s reporting is made possible by Report for America and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: East side Indy charter school set to close at end of school year
