NC denies Raleigh charter school’s appeal. Torchlight Academy told to close in June.
A Raleigh charter school will have to close at the end of June after state leaders refused its request to allow it to stay open next school year.
On Thursday, the State Board of Education unanimously rejected Torchlight Academy’s appeal of the board’s prior decision to terminate its charter. State board members cited ongoing concerns about Torchlight’s financial health and its ability to meet the educational needs of special-education students.
“It was their hope that we would allow them to stay open for this next calendar year,” state board member Amy White said Thursday. “After hearing all of the information presented and asking questions, great dialogue back and forth, the members of the committee voted unanimously to recommend to the state board that it uphold its prior termination decision.”
Torchlight could go to court to try to stay open. But state board members instead urged Torchlight to work with the state Department of Public Instruction to help students finish the school year and transition to other schools for this fall.
Charter schools under scrutiny
Torchlight is among a trio of charter schools who’ve fallen under intense state scrutiny recently over their financial practices.
Last month, the state board voted to immediately close Three Rivers Academy in Bertie County, citing an “immediate threat” to students, school employees and the public. Three Rivers had been managed by the same person who used to manage Torchlight.
Last week, the State Auditor’s Office released a report accusing Bridges Academy in Wilkes County of falsifying enrollment numbers to get more than $400,000 in state funding it wasn’t entitled to receive, the Associated Press reported. The audit also accused Bridges, which has since closed, of misusing almost $79,000 in taxpayer funds to support a preschool.
On Thursday, the state board voted to file a claim seeking $483,547 from Bridges.
Charter schools are taxpayer funded schools that are exempt from some of the rules that traditional public schools must follow. There are 203 charter schools open this school year.
Breaking ties
Torchlight opened in 1999 and is one of the state’s oldest charter schools. It serves 600 mostly Black and Hispanic elementary and middle school students.
Many of Torchlight’s difficulties with the state stemmed from the school’s relationship with the McQueen family that had run the school.
Torchlight had been run by Torchlight Academy Schools, a for-profit company owned by Don McQueen. He also served as executive director of the school.
His wife, Cynthia McQueen, was Torchlight’s principal. Their daughter, Shawntrice Andrews, was accused of altering records of some special-education students when she served as head of the exceptional children’s program.
Amid the conflict of interest and fiscal concerns, the state board voted in March to revoke Torchlight’s charter. In response, Torchlight’s board of directors fired the management company, the McQueens, their daughter and their son-in-law. whose company had been cleaning the school.
Torchlight brought in former Orange County Superintendent Randy Bridges to run the school.
Torchlight hasn’t completely severed its ties because it leases its middle school building from Don McQueen.
Financial concerns
Torchlight’s board asked the state for a second chance, citing efforts to address the state’s concerns.
But at a state board committee meeting last week, DPI staff cited ongoing concerns about Torchlight’s financial stability, including how it will have to return some federal money because it can’t document how it was spent.
DPI also said that the education plans for dozens of special-education students will need to be revised because they’re no longer in compliance.
Stephon Bowens, the attorney representing Torchlight, said they may have to go to court to force the McQueens to turn over records requested by the state.
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that the taxpayers dollars are returned,” Bowens told the state board committee last week.
Avoiding immediate closure
The state board cited three reasons on Thursday for standing by its decision to close Torchlight:
▪ Ongoing concerns with the current and future financial health of the school.
▪ Continued concerns with the school board’s ability to provide the oversight and leadership necessary to correct the school’s contractual, educational and fiscal mismanagement.
▪ Ongoing significant concerns with the school’s ability to meet and serve the needs of exceptional children for both compensatory education and daily instructional delivery.
The board could have ordered Torchlight to close immediately, like it had done with Three Rivers. But White, who chaired the committee that heard Torchlight’s appeal, praised the efforts of Bridges to stabilize the school.
“The school’s presentation gave the committee confidence that because Dr. Randy Bridges had assumed temporary leadership of the school, DPI would be able to work with the school In the coming months to minimize the disruption to the students that would be caused by immediately closing the school before the end of the school year,” White said.
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 11:42 AM with the headline "NC denies Raleigh charter school’s appeal. Torchlight Academy told to close in June.."
