Tampa Bay Academy

SCHOOL BOARD STEPS IN TO OVERSEE HILLSBOROUGH CHARTER SCHOOL; April 6, 2011; St. Petersburg Times (FL) 

TAMPA — The Hillsborough County School Board terminated a Riverview charter school's contract Tuesday after a majority of the school's directors resigned.

District officials said they would step in to oversee Tampa Bay Academy for the rest of the year before deciding what to do with its 63 special-needs students…

The move followed weeks of efforts to stabilize the school, which was founded more than 15 years ago to serve students with emotional and behavioral problems.

In December, a residential treatment center and group homes for youths next to the school were closed, and in January officials say the school's management company abandoned it.

Officials said the Tampa Bay Academy charter school was not directly connected with the neighboring residential treatment facility, which shared its name and supplied many of its students.

But it was a state inquiry into reports of violence and runaways at the treatment facility — as well as the loss of Medicaid funding — that prompted the management company to close it, throwing the charter school into jeopardy.

The charter's four board members stepped in to run the school but quickly became overwhelmed…