ST. LOUIS • Receiving a second chance to improve its performance, the Preclarus Mastery Academy charter school will close at the end of the school year because of poor academic outcomes, enrollment decline and strained finances, officials announced Friday.
The school’s sponsor, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, had tried to close the school at the beginning of this year. The school was given a second chance after school leaders appealed.
But this year’s state test scores, which were released last month, revealed that the school did not meet the adjusted performance goals that the university had set. Only 18.1 percent of students scored proficient or advanced on state English tests this year and 5.6 percent did so in math.
Those scores dropped from last year, when 32.4 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in English and 12.9 percent did so in math.
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The school only this year reached an annual performance report score from the state that barely met the level of provisional accreditation. It earned 50.6 percent of points possible on its annual review.
On top of that, enrollment dropped this year, and therefore, so did the school’s funding. Fewer than 150 students in fourth through eighth grade enrolled this year, down from about 200 last year, said Bill Mendelsohn, director of charter schools for the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
This time, the university’s charter school office came to a mutual agreement with school leaders to close.
“They accepted the fact that their performance was not strong enough,†Mendelsohn said. “They felt it would be in the best interest of all, especially the students, that this would be the last year.â€
The school at 620 North Grand Boulevard opened in 2011.
Charter schools are independently-run public schools that in Missouri are allowed only in St. Louis and Kansas City.
One main reason the school struggled is it lacked strong and stable leadership from the beginning, Mendelsohn said. The school’s founder left after two years and an interim replacement had no leadership experience. The founding school board also had little governance experience.
The school eventually installed a new leader, Tonya Harris, who tried to rescue the school from closure. But, Mendelsohn said “it was too little, too late.â€
Preclarus will become the 12th charter school to close in St. Louis. The school’s official last day is June 30.