Monroe Charter Academy came before the North Carolina Charter School Review Board on Tuesday seeking a seven-year renewal of its charter. Instead, the board ordered the school to close immediately, saying it had been “operating illegally.”
The school had planned to relocate from Union County to a campus in Mecklenburg County, a move the board approved last month. But Monroe Charter never secured the educational certificate of occupancy required to open the new site.
The school began remote instruction on Nov. 17 without state approval, and exceeded the five-day limit that charter schools are permitted to operate virtually without authorization.
Board members said they could not allow the school to continue under those conditions.
“The issue we face as a board is that the school is in operation illegally,” Bruce Friend, the board’s chair, said. “You don’t have a school building. You’re past the five days you’re allowed to go virtual. You don’t have funding.”
School leaders pleaded for more time, saying they had run into unexpected delays in Mecklenburg County’s inspection process. “I wish you would give us a week, two weeks — let us rise to the challenge,” board chair Eric Hall told state officials.
Another board member, Jim Stegall, acknowledged the school had exhausted its options. “As hard as this is going to be for parents, kids and staff, I know what you have to do,” he said.
The board also cited other problems in its vote to close the school, including failure to meet student performance standards.
The school, which opened in 2019 and enrolls 101 students, received an F grade from the state for three consecutive years, with only 12 percent of students reaching grade-level proficiency last year. Last month, the state placed Monroe Charter on “financial noncompliance status” after its expenses exceeded revenues by $180,000.
The closure is the second mid-year revocation by the Charter School Review Board this year. In October, the board ordered Triad International Studies Academy in Guilford County to close after it enrolled only 45 students, far below the state minimum of 80. Although that closure was scheduled for Dec. 31, financial troubles forced the school to shut down two weeks early.
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