News 14: Academy of Moore County (A Shanahan Law Group client) wins temporary reprieve to stay open

RALEIGH – A Moore County charter school will be able to stay open for the time being.
That’s the ruling from an administrative law judge about the Academy of Moore County.

A temporary stay was the last resort for the academy to keep its doors open. The school’s charter was set to expire at the end of this month, and the State Board of Education voted not to renew it, even though the Office of Charter Schools had recommended a three-year extension.

“And all of the information in the record, when it supports renewal, then the board had a duty to articulate why it was denying the charter. And it didn’t do that,” Kieran Shanahan, attorney for the charter school, said.

State charter school officials say board members had concerns about the school’s academic performance.

“The basic discussions I always heard was a trend for low performance and no growth,” Jack Moyer, director of the Office of Charter Schools, said.

The school serves 170 students, and the majority of them are considered at risk. Its principal says test scores have been low, but the school has an improvement plan in place and scores are starting to improve.

“We were put on a corrective action plan. And it’s a travesty because they wouldn’t consider our new testing data, and when I look at that, I say to myself, ‘Why did they even bother to put us on a plan and walk us through this process?’” Principal Allyson Schoen said.

In the end, senior administrative law Judge Fred Morrison decided to let the school stay open until it gets to plead its case to keep its charter at another hearing.