Will Durham charter school avoid closure? It’s getting a second chance to make its case.
A longtime Durham charter school has won a brief reprieve from having to close at the end of the school year.
In January, the N.C. Charter Schools Review board voted not to renew the charter of the Community School of Digital and Visual Arts in Durham due to governance issues. The school appealed to the State Board of Education, which voted Thursday to ask the Review Board to take a second look at its decision.
State board members said they were impressed with how the school is helping its students academically despite its governance issues. The school serves 204 elementary and middle school students, many of whom are economically disadvantaged.
“They really are serving the communities we are asking them to serve,” said state board member John Blackburn, who chaired the committee that heard the school’s appeal. “It’s a really compelling argument.”
The state board asked the Review Board to review the renewal decision at its April meeting. The Review Board could still decide not to renew the charter.
Not renewed because of governance issues
Charter schools are taxpayer-funded schools that are exempt from some of the rules that traditional public schools must follow. There are more than 200 charter schools open across North Carolina.
The Community School of Digital and Visual Arts is one of the state’s oldest charter schools. It opened in 1998 and was previously called Carter Community School.
The Community School is locally run, unlike some charter schools that have the resources of large for-profit companies to rely on.
Charter schools can be closed or can be renewed for between three and 10 years due to their academic, financial and governance performance. The Review Board voted not to renew the school’s charter when it expires June 30, citing:
▪ Failure to meet generally acceptable standards of fiscal management;
▪ Violation of conditions, standards, or procedures set forth in the charter;
▪ The school’s governing board demonstrating a lack of appropriate governing oversight.
Examples cited of lack of governing oversight included not having financial audits for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years and not posting full and accurate board minutes.
School ‘didn’t come with excuses’
A state board panel heard the Community School’s appeal on Tuesday.
School leaders cited problems such as losing their auditor and bookkeeper and difficulty finding a new auditor. But since then, they said, the 2023-24 fiscal year audit has been completed and the 2024-25 audit is supposed to be done by this week.
“They didn’t come with excuses,” said state board member J. Wendell Hall. “They fully accepted the reasons for the audits not coming on time.”
Hall said he was impressed with how the school said it hasn’t had to suspend any of their students because it said it had found a way to reach them all.
“They were sincere about wanting to continue,” Hall said. “You could tell it.”
School on the ‘right trajectory’
The Community School is labeled a low-performing school by the state and has a “D” performance grade. Last school year, 41.6% of students passed state exams, which is below the 47% passing rate for Durham Public Schools.
But state board members were impressed by how the school exceeded academic growth expectations on state exams last school year and met growth targets the prior two years.
“They seem to be on the right trajectory,” said state board member Catty Moore. “But they haven’t had the right governance to move forward.”
Moore said the school serves students who have not been successful in a traditional public school. Based on their academic performance, she said it’s worth asking the Review Board to take another look.
The state board asked the Review Board to consider:
▪ The results of the school’s 2023-24 and anticipated 2024-25 fiscal audits;
▪ An expected detailed plan from the school for addressing all of the current and documented deficiencies noted by the Office of Charter Schools and the Charter Review Board;
▪ Whether the school has met the requirements for a minimum three-year charter renewal;
▪ Whether there has been evidence of immediate, serious attention to improving the school operations;
▪ Whether the school has demonstrated it will be successful going forward.
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Will Durham charter school avoid closure? It’s getting a second chance to make its case.."
