“FORT WAYNE – About 18 months after its school board faced censure for lax governance, local charter school Imagine MASTer Academy is officially off probation.
Ball State University, which authorized the school’s charter, sent a letter Monday commending the board for taking steps to improve its oversight of the Wells Street school.
‘I was very pleased,’ school board President Pat Sheean said. ‘It was a lot of work. We were very happy and felt moving forward that we have a very good relationship with Ball State.’
Ball State placed the school, which currently serves about 800 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, on probation in February 2010 after a nearly three-month investigation into the school board’s operations.
The investigation detailed a lack of local control over the MASTer Academy and Imagine Schools on Broadway and concluded the board was not adhering to Indiana’s Open Door Law.
As a result, the university created a correction-action plan that the board had to complete before it could be removed from probation.
The steps included completing mandatory board training; revising bylaws to comply with the state’s Open Door Law; ensuring the board members of ImagineMASTer Academy, Imagine Schools on Broadway and the now-defunct Imagine Bridge Academy met on different days; and structuring the three boards so that no member served on more than one.
Robert Marra, Ball State’s interim charter school office director, sent the letter. He said he was confident the board had completed steps in the action plan and was currently on the right track. Since the school was placed on probation, he said, his office had observed the board’s meetings and had met with board members.
‘I really feel like (Sheean) has a good handle on what we’re asking and what they need to do,’ he said.
Aside from Sheean, current board members include Stan Robinson, Phil McKenzie, Norm Roelke, Sandra Hadley and Linda Passmore. All board members but Robinson are new to the board.
Former board member Vince Robinson resigned in April after accepting a communications consulting role with Imagine. The board is now looking for another board member.
‘The parents who choose to send their kids to Imagine do it for a reason,’ Sheean said. ‘It is our job to make sure the school lives up to what it’s meant to do.’
Only the mayor of Indianapolis, school boards and six public universities are able to sponsor charter schools in Indiana. When a new law takes effect July 1, however, a statewide charter school board and 30 private, non-profit four-year colleges will also be able to authorize charters.”
Article published on June 9, 2011 by the Journal Gazette