New Voyage Academy

STORMY END FOR CHARTER SCHOOL: NEW VOYAGE ACADEMY HAD FINANCIAL, STAFFING PROBLEMS; March 18, 2006: Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN) 

A St. Paul charter school plagued by management and financial problems was dissolved Friday, leaving about 50 children without a school.

A week in which classes were cancelled for three days so school leaders could resolve their differences culminated Friday in a series of stormy meetings between parents, the school's recently fired director and the board of New Voyage Academy. All but one board member wound up resigning, and the 10-year-old school was shut down…

Representatives from the state Department of Education, St. Paul Public Schools, the Center for School Change and the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools were on hand Friday along with school officials at New Voyage's University Avenue site for a series of meetings, which included consultations with the commissioner of education and the attorney general's office. In the end, the decision was made that the school needed to dissolve immediately.

"(The Minnesota Department of Education) says it is bankrupt," said Mary Chorewycz, executive director of research and development for St. Paul Public Schools, which sponsored New Voyage…

Chorewycz said that recommendation was based on the school's financial problems, unlicensed and inadequate staff, inadequate discipline, poor student performance and unstable leadership.

The school has had seven directors in five years, Chorewycz said. "How can you offer a consistent program for children with that much change?"

The most recent strife among school leaders centered on the frequency of elections for board seats and concerns about potential conflict of interest involving a board member who also was employed by a firm that consults with charter schools…