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WEST VALLEY CITY — Kairos Academy, a charter school in West Valley City that served teen mothers and pregnant teens, has withdrawn its appeal of the Utah State Charter School Board's decision to terminate its charters.
An appeals hearing scheduled for Sept. 5 has been canceled, and staff of the charter school, the Utah State Charter School Board and the Utah State Board of Education are working with area school districts and charter schools to help displaced students find new schools to attend, according to state education officials.
Kairos representatives, in a statement, said it dropped the appeal because it lacked the resources to fight the charter termination.
"Accordingly, we have decided to look for other options to meet the unique needs of our young women and to provide a safe place for them and their families to learn. We are actively working with another charter school to take over this program and hope to be able to move forward with that school in the very near future. Given the charter school board’s decision, we believe this will be in the best interest of our students and their families," the statement said.
On July 19, the Utah State Charter School Board voted 4-2 to terminate the school's charter. Board members expressed concerns over the charter school's enrollment numbers, test scores, daily attendance, graduation rates, financial sustainability and overall school performance.
Earlier in the summer, more than 1,800 people signed an online petition urging a reprieve for the school, which opened three years ago. The school had been on probation since 2015.
"We took over this cause to help these young women and their families and to give them a voice and an opportunity to succeed," the school's statement said.
"We knew that their unique circumstances would make running this charter school challenging and require patience. Unfortunately, the charter school board overlooked the unique circumstances of Kairos and terminated our charter. Since then, we have tried to resolve the charter school board’s concerns, attempting to negotiate with them as recently as last week. The charter school board rejected our proposal."
