Parents scramble as Monroe charter school shuts down

MONROE, N.C. — Parents of more than 150 students are facing a dilemma after a charter school in Monroe suddenly announced its closure this weekend.

The Apprentice Academy in Monroe had an emergency board meeting on Saturday, and the board voted to surrender the charter and close the school.

The school says the closure stems from two issues: confusion over an expired certificate of occupancy, and dwindling enrollment making the school unable to afford operations.

According to a timeline shared by the Apprentice Academy, the Monroe Fire Marshal told the school that its certificate of occupancy was expired Thursday afternoon. The school administrators said they “had believed in good faith” that their certificate of occupancy was valid because the school had previously occupied the same building with a valid CO.

The fire marshal told administrators that when Apprentice Academy first left the building on Old Charlotte Highway in 2019, that made the CO expire.

The next day, the school building was closed to students and staff.

School administrators said getting a new certificate of occupancy would have taken weeks to get approved, and the school wouldn’t be able to have students in the building for that time.

According to the Apprentice Academy, their charter was only approved for a hybrid school and couldn’t be virtual only. If the school wanted to change its charter, that process would’ve taken a minimum of two months.

Adding to the CO problem, school administrators said that enrollment for this year dropped to 161 total students as of Friday.

Saturday, the board met and voted to close the school. According to administrators, “the budget resulting from 161 students would not cover the expenses of the school year.”

Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz spoke with several parents who are still figuring out what they’ll do to keep their children learning.

“It was like what, our whole world was upside down,” said Tyler Lee.

Lee’s son, Austin, started his second year at the academy and said he has loved his teachers. His mom said he needs one-on-one instruction, and the school was a great fit.

“What do you do when you have a child who needs that one-on-one and both parents work outside of the home full-time hours?” Lee said.

Lee said if parents had known about the drop in enrollment, they may have been able to help.

“Why not come to the community of the school and allow us to pitch in to make things better?” Lee said.

Melissa Ross, whose son came to the academy to escape bullying in public school, is now worried about his future.

“I’ve looked into homeschooling, I’ve looked into virtual academies, I’m going to go check out some Christian schools around,” Ross told Sáenz.

Channel 9 learned that 17 teachers are now without a job too. They were told around the same time as parents.

The school will open Wednesday and Thursday for parents to pick up any transcripts and return Chromebooks.

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