Carrboro’s PACE Academy charter in question

After years of noncompliance and financial concerns, a Carrboro school is at risk of losing its charter.

Established in 2004, PACE Academy’s charter expires this June. The academy submitted an application for its renewal to the North Carolina State Board of Education

Not renewing the school’s charter would be devastating for the school’s students with disabilities, said Principal Rhonda Franklin. Those students make up about 60 percent of the school’s enrollment. There are also students with past behavior issues.

“I feel very confident in what we have been doing,” she said.

But at a meeting last month, the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools made a presentation to the Charter School Advisory Board. The presentation highlighted issues of noncompliance with their charter, financial concerns and the school’s low academic performance.

Compared to other Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, PACE Academy has consistently underperformed on standardized tests.

The school’s legal compliance issues include failing to meet the threshold for testing 95 percent of its students, not meeting license requirements for its teachers and keeping inaccurate records.

There is also concern that the school’s enrollment has dropped and its expenditures exceed its revenues.

The Charter School Advisory Board submitted a recommendation to the State Board of Education that PACE Academy’s charter not be renewed earlier this month.

Despite these issues, Franklin is concerned but confident.

Franklin insisted noncompliance issues have been resolved and the school’s student-focused instruction and inclusive environment allow students to grow in areas outside the subjects measured by standardized tests.

She said she does have some concern for students who struggled with academics before they came to PACE, but thrived at the school.

Franklin said attending a traditional high school would not be a possibility for these students, who would otherwise turn to homeschooling, enroll in a GED program or drop out of school entirely.

She said they would lose PACE Academy’s benefits, which include a student-to-teacher ratio of about 16 to one and inclusion in extracurricular activities they would not have a chance to participate in otherwise, like playing on the school’s basketball team.

The school set up a website, www.pace2014renewal.com, which serves as a reply to the Office of Charter Schools’ presentation. The site shows examples of community support, including testimonies from current students expressing support for PACE Academy.

The State Board will discuss the school Feb. 5 and vote on the charter’s renewal the next day, said Vanessa Jeter a spokeswoman for the board.

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