Judge Extends Hearing on PACE Academy

A hearing that will decide whether PACE Academy will keep its charter will go longer than expected.

Attorneys for PACE Academy Charter School and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) were scheduled to wrap up their arguments Thursday in a hearing that will determine whether PACE will remain open. But PACE’s attorney Phillip Adkins says there’s more questioning and argumentation to be had.

“It has gone longer than we expected,” Adkins said. “And given our schedules and the judge’s schedule, we’ve decided to return on Tuesday morning at 8:30.”

PACE Academy is appealing the DPI’s decision not to renew the school’s charter. This is the second time the school has faced closure. In 2013 the Charter School Advisory Board and the State Board of Education (SBE) expressed concerns about low attendance, poor academic performance, compliance issues and fiscal difficulties.

PACE was allowed to keep its charter as part of a settlement agreement last summer.

But this year, the DPI said it found evidence of continuing poor attendance, bad record-keeping and compliance issues. In May, the SBE recommended the charter not be renewed.

Adkins says PACE wasn’t given a fair shot to present its case to the SBE.

“If the Department of Public Instruction would let the charter school—before the meetings—see the material that’s going to be presented, exactly what they’re going to present, so that they can prepare to reply to that—because it’s supposed to be a conversation—then I think it would be much fairer, and we wouldn’t be here,” Adkins said.

Adkins says the judge’s decision will hinge on whether the school received ample opportunity to make its case and whether its methods for tracking attendance were legal. The school counts some students as present when they take their classes off-site, but the DPI has taken issue with the practice.

“We now in the courtroom understand each side’s position,” Adkins said, “but unfortunately I think it’s going to have to go to a decision the judge has to make.”

The judge in the case is Phil Berger Jr., the son of Senate President Phil Berger. The hearing continues next week. Adkins says PACE is hoping Berger will rule on the case by the end of July.