The Fayetteville Observer – Moore Charter School represented by Shanahan Law Group wins temporary reprieve to stay open

By Michael Futch
Staff writer

The Academy of Moore County earned a preliminary victory Tuesday in its legal battle to keep the charter school open.

Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. granted the school’s motion to stay a decision by the state Board of Education to not renew the academy’s charter until a final ruling is made in the case.

“It means the charter remains alive and well during the pendency of the litigation,” said Kieran Shanahan, the Raleigh lawyer who represented the school.

The hearing on the academy’s motion for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order was held at the Office of Administrative Hearings in Raleigh. A full hearing on the merits of the case, which would determine if the state board acted arbitrarily in making its decision, will not be heard before July, Shanahan said.

“It will be well into fall before (there’s) a final resolution on this,” he said.

Without the stay, the Board of Education’s decision not to renew the charter would have closed the school effective June 30.

The state board cited “low performance” in determining the academy failed to meet its growth components in recent years. Growth shows what a child has learned over the past year.

Laura Crumpler, an assistant attorney general with the state, represented the state board. She did not immediately return telephone messages.

The Academy of Moore County, with 170 students, is finishing its first year in a new $2.2 million building. Many of the students are underprivileged, and they attend the school from Moore, Hoke, Scotland and Richmond counties.

Students are scheduled to begin the 2010-11 school term on Aug. 17.

“It boils down to one thing – common sense,” said Allyson Schoen, the academy’s director of education. “These children have worked so very, very hard this year. The teachers worked so very hard this year. We’re very proud of what they have accomplished.”

She has maintained that the state based its decision on old testing data, from 2005 through 2007. At the same time, she said the state failed to take into account the academic improvements that have been made since implementing a corrective action plan in 2008.

A year ago, the academy met the state’s adequate yearly progress goals. Preliminary results from this year’s testing are “very, very good,” Schoen said Wednesday.

“We’ve really grown tremendously by our calculations,” she said. “We’re on track. We’re doing what we set out to do.”

State educators have not said why they ignored a recommendation from the Office of Charter Schools to renew the academy’s charter for three years.