Parents To Stage Walkout Of South Carolina Charter School

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by DYLAN NOLAN

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Ascent Classical Academy of Rock Hill, South Carolina has drawn the ire of local parents who – in ever-increasing numbers – are concerned over the school’s high staff turnover rate and questionable management practices.

This week, they plan to highlight those concerns via a school walkout…

Ascent Classical Academies – under the direction of its leader, Derec Shuler – has plans to operate four charter schools in South Carolina after receiving unanimous approval to do so from the governing board of the Charter Institute at Erskine in April 2023. But those plans are now encountering serious headwinds.

Ascent’s first Palmetto State school opened its doors to kindergarten through ninth grade students in Rock Hill, S.C. last August. The school has used a temporary facility while searching for an amenable property in nearby Fort Mill.

Within its first year of operations, the school saw significant staff turnover. One parent who spoke with FITSNews confidentially expressed optimism that these issues would be resolved during the school’s second year of operations.

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“I think a lot of the parents had assumed that by this year, the dust would have settled (and) we’d be in a good place,” they said.

Unfortunately, that notion was dispelled before the school year even began.

“Our teacher resigned before the first day of school, like the night before the first day of school,” the frustrated parent told us, noting this was far from the only staffing issue at Ascent.

“This past week, I got an email from the school that three of the upper school teachers were leaving,” the parent added.

That’s on top of multiple staff members leaving of their own volition – and multiple staffers who were allegedly fired.

“Thursday, I believe, they fired the headmaster and the kindergarten teacher – and all these people are very well loved, and so the parents are extremely frustrated and concerned,” the parent told us.

The school’s outgoing headmaster, Ryan Mullins, is a 23-year classical education veteran who was beloved by parents and students alike.

Ascent management tapped Jennifer Mognett for the role of interim headmaster, a choice that has upset a number of parents.

One parent who spoke to FITSNews noted Mognett’s presence made multiple staff members feel as though their jobs were at risk prior to Mullins’ firing.

“She was going around asking the people who are already employed at the school questions about the environment, the culture, other teachers, the headmaster, the dean, just very inquisitive, and it made people a little nervous,” the parent told us. “They started to feel like there was some job insecurity at that point.”

Multiple parents expressed concern Mognett was hired despite have been previously accused of mismanaging the North Carolina-based Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy (BCLA) – as referenced in a federal lawsuit (.pdf) filed last December. BCLA was operated by the Arizona-based “Charter One” firm at time of the lawsuit’s filing.

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In the suit, Mognett was allegedly given her job “more out of loyalty to defendants than (her) qualifications,” and was accused of having negligently responded to the alleged assault of a student.

The suit also claimed BCLA “has been understaffed since it opened.”

This purported fact pattern is all-too-familiar for many Ascent parents.

“They they took the music teacher and put him in as the third grade teacher, and he’s wonderful, but they have not had a music teacher this entire first quarter,” one parent told FITSNews.

“There’s a lot of frustration at the administrative level,” the parent clarified. “Not with the headmaster at the school, but with the charter management office or organization, and the CEO of the schools, Derec Shuler.”

Ascent Classical Academies had an acrimonious stint of operating classical charter schools in Colorado, which ended with the school’s governing board prematurely terminating its contract with the management group.

According to The Colorado Sun’s reporting on the debacle, the schools featured “high turnover among school leaders and teachers.”

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RELATED | PICKING UP S.C. SCHOOL CHOICE SLACK

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“We knew there were going to be a lot of bumps, and so we gave a lot of grace for the first three or four years,” parent Annie Kaess told The Sun.

The report noted Kaess became increasing concerned by “the constant churn of staff, including headmasters and teachers, as well as the decision of other families to leave, including families who had advocated alongside her for the charter school to launch.”

“As a management organization of a school that claims to put kids first, I always wanted them to focus more on the success of their school, not just on academic scores but the health of the school as a whole for the longevity of the school,” Kaess said. “It seemed like they were more focused on the growth of their network than the health of their school.”

Ascent’s chief marketing officer, Amy Willis, confirmed to FITSNews that “ACA is the plaintiff in ongoing litigation surrounding the breach of contract and trademark issues resulting from that separation.”

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Multiple South Carolina parents have indicated they intend to remove their children from the classroom to protest Ascent Classical Academy’s mismanagement of the school.

“I am pulling my daughter out on Tuesday for the walkout, and she will not be going back as long as Ascent Classical Academy is in control,” parent Renee Trubiano told FITSNews.

Trubiano’s children attended Ascent’s Colorado schools – and loved their teachers and curriculum. After moving to South Carolina, she advocated for Ascent when she heard the group was seeking to open schools in the Palmetto State. However, what Trubiano saw when substitute teaching at the school changed her opinion of Ascent Classical Academies.

“I noticed that there was a lack of teachers’ aides,” she said.

When she raised the issue with headmaster Mullins, she was told he’d “had several interviews with teachers’ aides” and “wanted to hire several of them,” but was told by management such hires were not “in the school’s budget.”

“We can’t even buy science lab equipment,” Trubiano recalled school dean Christina Holzer telling her.

“I was like, ‘This is ridiculous! Where’s this money going? What is going on here?'” Trubiano recalled asking Holzer.

Shortly thereafter, Trubiano learned of the North Carolina lawsuit naming Mognett – and of Ascent Classical Academy’s contract revocation in Colorado for issues paralleling what she was observing in South Carolina.

“The Schulers are crooks,” she concluded.

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According to Trubiano, that realization was extremely painful given her children’s love for their teachers and peers at Ascent’s schools.

“My daughter was at school and she was thriving,” Trubiano said. “She’s crying now that she’s never going to see her friends again.”

Nonetheless, Trubiano feels she cannot sit idly by given Ascent’s plans to open multiple other schools in South Carolina.

“I am going to fight because they purchased a location in Columbia, and I do not want them to be around any children,” she said. “No children.”

Elizabeth Knight told FITSNews her family also intends to participate in tomorrow’s walk-out.

“In the charter application for the school, it states clearly that they are going to use teachers and teacher aides so that they have a ratio of one to sixteen at most,” Knight said. “Instead, we have one teacher aide at the school that’s shared across kindergarten and first grade, so that ratio has not been maintained.”

“These teachers are doing the best they can with way too many students in the classroom,” Knight added. “Still, (the staff shortage) affects the education.”

Ascent Classical Academies shared a message sent to parents regarding staff turnover in response to FITSNews’ media inquiry. Meanwhile, the Charter Institute at Erskine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is an ongoing story, stay tuned for future charter school coverage.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

(Via: Travis Bell)

Dylan Nolan is the director of special projects at FITSNews. He graduated from the Darla Moore school of business in 2021 with an accounting degree. Got a tip or story idea for Dylan? Email him here. You can also engage him socially @DNolan2000.

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