ACCEL Schools has withdrawn its request to the State Charter Board to establish a charter school in Fort Wayne. After a public hearing April 18 in Fort Wayne, the question was scheduled to go to the state board in Indianapolis on April 28. ACCEL withdrew the application April 22.

According to the original 268-page charter school application, the potential school, which was named Fort Wayne Preparatory Academy, would “provide a public K-8 educational opportunity that aligns with the needs of the unique students of Fort Wayne.

Educators — especially Fort Wayne Community Schools representatives — parents and community members gathered for the hearing at the Allen County Public Library in downtown Fort Wayne. Then, and after, FWCS outlined its objections.

Spokesperson for ACCEL Schools and Fort Wayne Preparatory Academy Courtney Harritt, who responded by email to provided questions after the April 18 hearing in Fort Wayne, also confirmed that the application was withdrawn.

Although the process will not be completed this week, ACCEL Schools still plans to reapply.

“We are very interested in working in the Fort Wayne community and plan to reapply,” Harritt said. “At this time we have decided to withdraw our application to give us time to work with interested stakeholders in further defining and addressing the needs of the community. Community members who are interested in partnership can reach out (by email) to info@accelschools.com.”

The proposed property on Hanna Street is only one of the buildings they are interested in buying, but they have not made any purchases yet.

Harritt explained what the school was and what would have been offered.

“Fort Wayne Preparatory Academy will offer families an additional tuition-free public school option,” Harritt said. “Parents and caretakers are motivated by a number of factors, and it has been our experience that families are in favor of more options. Typical motivators are school size, convenience of location, customer service and sense of community.”

As far as why they chose Fort Wayne and what this school would provide that is new to the area, Harritt said because “urban areas serve the most students, and the larger the area, the more challenging it is to meet the needs of all students. As a network, we are currently serving a number of Midwestern urban communities, and our offering has been well-received.”

The original plan was for Fort Wayne Preparatory Academy to begin as a kindergarten through fifth grade school during the first year. Each year after that, another grade level will be added until students reach eighth grade.

They anticipated serving 150 students from Fort Wayne Community Schools in year one with the expectations to grow to approximately 400 students.

FWCS Public Information Officer Krista Stockman explained why the district was against the opening of this charter school.

“FWCS is opposed to the charter because we do not see a need for it,” Stockman said in an email. “It is not something the community is asking for, and it is an unnecessary expense in state funding.”

She explained that the organizers are from southwest Allen County, and in their application, they say they want to locate the school in the southwest portion of Fort Wayne Community Schools.

“The location they are considering is on Hanna Street, which is in the heart of the city,” Stockman said. “This is an area already well-served by Fort Wayne Community Schools. Within one mile are some of our most sought-after schools, including Bunche Montessori, Weisser Park Elementary and Whitney Young Early Childhood Center.”

According to Stockman, “the application for this charter school appears to be a boilerplate application that the charter company has used in other places. There does not appear to be anything innovative or unique to Fort Wayne in the plans.”

She spoke about ACCEL Schools reputation from her research.

“In addition, ACCEL Schools does not have a great track record in other states, including Ohio, where they operate nearly 50 schools,” Stockman said. “The majority have been rated a D or F.”

At the April 18 hearing in the library’s Globe Room, Stockman said those are some of the issues brought up by FWCS board members, teachers and community members. Stockman noted that several people who live in the area where the school plans to locate said that neighbors were not asked if they wanted a charter school to open, so there has been no community input on it.

FWCS Board of School Trustee member Noah Smith was in attendance at the hearing. He had one major takeaway.

“There is no support for it in the community,” Smith said. “There was no one who spoke in favor of it.”

“In my opinion, this whole situation is rushed, making it difficult to really make a good, informed decision,” Smith said. “The application wasn’t published until April 4. The application was not complete when it was initially posted. It wasn’t until after I reached out on April 12 that we got a copy of the complete application.”

Smith said that the completed application included the location of the school. He has two points that he wants to get across.

“They have not demonstrated, in my opinion, any kind of demand or desire for this program,” Smith said. “In my opinion, there doesn’t seem to be a need. There are 39 schools within a 3-mile area.”

According to Smith, those schools are a mix of FWCS buildings, private voucher schools, and at least two other charter schools.

He commented on the performance of those schools.

“All of them are performing admirably, although there are three Fort Wayne Community Schools that have an F rating, I acknowledge that,” Smith said. “But those schools specifically have shown improvements. It’s an area that the board is focused on turning around.”

One of the points the proposed school representatives added to the application was that this school would help give students a chance to choose a school.

“Within every mile, there are 10-plus offerings for schools,” Smith said. “I don’t see that adding one more school creates any more choice.”

He said that although three FWCS schools have F ratings, that percentage is vastly superior to Accel’s ratings.

“In the state of Ohio, our research indicated that at least a third, and maybe even more of their schools, are F-rated schools,” Smith said. “It’s not like you can bring in some magic wand to make everything better.”

Harritt addressed this sentiment.

“ACCEL Schools has developed a reputation for supporting school boards and authorizers with academic turnarounds,” Harritt said. “Dramatic academic turnaround typically takes about two non-pandemic school years, sometimes more depending on the specific circumstances. For this reason, absolute measurement such as A-F ratings can be misleading. If you look at data such as the amount of learning a student achieves in a school year, often called Value-Added, you will find that schools managed by ACCEL are outperforming their local school districts.”

The impact on FWCS would be largely negative, in Smith’s eyes.

“It will take away dollars,” Smith said. “Everything in my mind goes to dollars, and when we say we need resources, let’s say for gym equipment or textbooks or computers, money gets us those resources.”

Not only does money buy resources, but it also pays staff. Smith said in the application that there was no mention of people such as nurses, counselors and social-emotional coaches.

“This looks like a bare-bones-operated school,” Smith said.

If Fort Wayne Preparatory Academy’s projections are correct and they enroll the 150-400 students they project, this could cause approximately $1-2 million to disappear from the district’s budget over the next few years, according to Smith.

“I strongly oppose it,” Smith said.

For those who oppose the new school, Harritt said she recognized that there can be a negative connotation associated with charter schools.

“We recognize there can be opposition to charter schools, but it has been our experience that parents and caretakers tend to appreciate having choice in schools,” Harritt said. “We are in favor of each family making the best decision for each of their children. Our concern will be for the families who make the decision to enroll with Fort Wayne Preparatory Academy, and on meeting their needs and keeping them happy as our customers.”

According to the ACCEL Schools website, the kindergarten through 12th-grade public charter school management organization was founded in 2014. It serves students in person, virtually and in hybrid school settings.

She said that some ACCEL schools have an emphasis on STEM, others on the arts and others on sports.

“We are very interested in hearing what families think would be the best extracurricular emphasis for the school,” Harritt said.

“

It is not something the community is asking for, and it is an unnecessary expense in state funding.”

–FWCS spokeswoman Krista Stockman

“

We recognize there can be opposition to charter schools, but it has been our experience that parents and caretakers tend to appreciate having choice in schools.”

–Spokesperson for ACCEL Schools and Fort Wayne Preparatory Academy Courtney Harritt