Johnson Academy Seeks Reprieve: It’s Petitioning Ball State to Keep Middle School Open for Two More Years.

By Ese Isiorho, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Apr. 16–At the end of this month, Ball State University officials will decide the future of Timothy L. Johnson Academy.

The charter school on South Anthony Boulevard has until April 30 to submit an application to the Ball State Office of Charter Schools explaining why it should be allowed to stay open two more years.

“We have the draft completed,” said school leader Steve Bollier. “We expect it’ll be satisfactory to Ball State.”

A charter school receives state funds but is allowed more flexibility in curriculum and administration than public schools. Any student can attend the tuition-free schools.

Ball State reviews schools yearly and is the only university in the state issuing charters. It ruled in December that Johnson Academy’s middle school must shut down at the end of this school year.

Larry Gabbert, director of Ball State’s Office of Charter Schools, cited the low Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus (ISTEP+) test scores as one of the reasons for the closure. About 18 percent of the academy’s seventh-graders passed both the English and math sections of the test, compared with 70 percent of seventh-graders statewide in 2005-06.

The school, which opened in 2002, serves about 224 students in grades K-8. About 98 percent of the students are minorities, and 92 percent qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch

Ball State granted Johnson Academy a one-year charter extension this year, but Bollier and the school board are seeking a two-year extension.

“They had to give us a development plan that said how they were going to address all their issues,” which include inconsistent test scores, lack of a permanent leader and its staff development plan, Gabbert said.

“We want a professional development plan that shows how they’re going to work to improve the skills of their teachers and how they’re going to improve student achievement because that has been an issue.”

Even though the school showed some gains in test scores and was one of 56 schools to receive the Indiana Student Achievement Institute’s “InSAI Top Gainer” award for showing improvement on ISTEP+, Gabbert said, “We’re looking for consistency across the board in student achievement.”

A new writing program will be started in the elementary classes, Bollier said. “We think we need a unified approach to writing.”

School administrators will also work to “strengthen what we have in place,” Bollier said. “We’re pleased with what we’ve done. We’ve seen strong success with the programs we have in place. We see results immediately from kid to kid.”

Bollier, who works with Leona Group, an East Lansing, Mich., nonprofit management company hired by the Johnson Academy school board, was named interim leader of the school in 2005 after the last leader was fired. The school has gone through at least four school leaders since it opened.

Once the board president signs off on the application, it will be sent to Ball State, said Bollier, who hopes to get a response by the end of May.

There are 37 charter schools in Indiana, and in February, Ball State approved five new charter schools, including Fort Wayne’s Imagine MASTer Academy.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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