Board Gives Preliminary Approval to Shut Charter

The D.C. Public Charter School Board gave preliminary approval yesterday to revoke the charter of Hope Academy, a middle school that has struggled to fill student seats since it opened two months ago.

The 7 to 0 vote is the first step toward closing the school, which has 15 days to request a public hearing. The board said Hope Academy, which has 15 students in fifth grade, faces an uphill battle to prove that it will have enough money to operate this year with so few students.

"We have seen schools miss enrollment targets, but I've never seen anything this low," said Thomas A. Nida, the board chairman. "The question is: Is there any reason to believe that with time, things can get better? With more time, things could get worse."

The school received a charter in June 2006 that called for it to open with 100 students and go up to eighth grade with a curriculum that emphasized math and science and training students to be leaders. But the school scaled back from 100 students to 50 after it tried for more than a year to find a location. When recruiting, Hope Academy officials found that parents were reluctant to enroll their children in a school that lacked a permanent address.

Executive Director Lisa Thompson said the school's 10-member board of directors would meet soon to decide what to do next. The school could request a hearing or voluntarily give up its charter. The charter school board must wait 15 days before it takes a final vote.

Meanwhile, parents and three of the school's six teachers who attended the special afternoon board meeting said they had been left out of the process. Board spokeswoman Nona Richardson said several teachers first learned of the school's predicament yesterday. The board has information on open teaching positions and student spaces at other charter schools, she said.

Teacher Kamili Miller said she came to Hope Academy from a private school in Prince George's County because she believed in the mission. "We left other jobs thinking we would get to train future leaders. It's just really sad," she said.

The city's 57 charter schools, which operate independently but receive city funds, have about 22,000 students. In its 10-year history, the charter board has closed three charter schools, and one voluntarily gave up its charter.