![]() In May, a study by the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH) at Tulane University found that charter schools close at much higher rates than public schools, even when controlling for factors such as enrollment and test scores. In fact, both Torchlight Academy and The Learning Center were awarded $500,000 and $700,000 expansion subgrants, respectively, from the federal Charter Schools Program. The three North Carolina schools were not on the state’s radar before they folded. The three recent closings in North Carolina were not based on popularity, or even low test scores-they were the result of greed and fraud. ![]() The McQueens deny any wrongdoing and say the issues were “ mistakes.” Now, with Torchlight’s closing, an additional 500 students are forced to search for a new school to attend this fall. Together, the family appears to have run the school like a personal piggy bank, NC Policy Watch reported. The director of the school’s special education program, Shawntrice Andrews, who is McQueens’s daughter, was accused of falsifying students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP) documents. The closure of Three Rivers was quickly followed by the shuttering of Torchlight Academy, another charter school run by McQueen. ![]() Three Rivers, according to the North Carolina State Board of Education, posed an “immediate threat” to students and to public funds.ĭonnie McQueen, the owner of the for-profit entity that ran the school, allegedly had been cooking the books on attendance numbers to secure additional public funding, according to the North Carolina Justice Center’s NC Policy Watch. Three Rivers Academy, also in North Carolina, closed on April 8, forcing its eighty-five students to find a new school. The school’s director allegedly had used school funds for what a board member delicately referred to as his own “private enterprise.” So far, little information has been released to parents or the public as a police investigation proceeds. Last May, The Learning Center’s board voted to close the school on June 30, due to fraud. It grew to almost 200 students, and the parents and guardians believed the well-established school was a sure bet. In 1997, The Learning Center, a charter school with the slogan “Naturally Grown Kids,” opened in Murphy, North Carolina.
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