Imagine Schools in St. Louis, Missouri (six-school shutdown)

“Shuttering of Imagine charter schools in St. Louis is daunting.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), 4/20/2012     

 As they move to close down a network of St. Louis charter schools over the next several weeks, state education officials face a task as monumental and complicated as dismantling an entire school district...

In fact, the decision this week by Missouri's Board of Education to shutter six Imagine charter schools in St. Louis will likely result in the largest charter school closure of its kind nationwide, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools...

A state transition office at Harris-Stowe State University has a transition coordinator and an assistant employed by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The team they are working with includes representatives from the Missouri Public Charter School Association and St. Louis Public Schools...

...The governing board of Confluence Academy, with four charter schools and nearly 3,200 students, is working to cut ties with its for-profit operator, EdisonLearning Inc., to improve academic achievement. Test scores at three of the schools are also below those of St. Louis Public Schools...

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“Missouri calls it quits on Imagine charter schools in St. Louis.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), 4/18/2012  

The Missouri Board of Education put underperforming charter schools statewide on notice Tuesday by voting to close all Imagine charter schools in St. Louis...

The move follows months of increasing scrutiny of the schools' financial, leadership and academic problems. The schools are operated by Virginia-based Imagine Schools Inc., a for-profit charter school management company. Students enrolled at the schools make up about one-third of the city's charter school population.

State test results from 2011 showed that nearly all students at the city's Imagine schools were performing below grade level in reading and math, prompting St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Nicastro to call for the closure of the schools.

In December, their sponsor, Missouri Baptist University, announced it would close two of them — Imagine Academy of Academic Success and Imagine Academy of Cultural Arts — this spring, and place the other four on probation.

On Monday, Missouri Baptist University relinquished its sponsorship of the six charter schools, handing all regulatory authority over to the state. And one day later, the Board of Education voted to close them.

But even as the state moves toward shuttering all schools by June 30, some have discussed a long-shot option of keeping some version of the schools open...

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MORE TO READ AT “Missouri closing six Imagine charter school campuses.” Washington Post, 4/18/2012