By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma City charter school is a step away from forced closure after state officials reported “serious concerns” of poor instruction, financial struggles and organizational disarray.
Proud To Partner Leadership Academy, a charter high school known as PTPLA, has reduced its staff to only one teacher, a superintendent and a counselor to serve its 115 students, state officials said.
The Statewide Charter School Board voted unanimously on Monday to put PTPLA on probation and to require the school’s leaders to produce a turnaround plan by Nov. 26. Probation is one tier away from the board canceling a charter contract and shutting a school down.
PTPLA, which opened last year, has missed multiple deadlines to file financial reports and required documents with the state, staff for the statewide board said. After hiring a new treasurer, the school made a final Nov. 3 deadline to submit accounting reports with the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
Members of the board agreed their most urgent concern, though, is the quality of student instruction. They compared the situation multiple times to a dire medical emergency.
“It’s like medical triage,” board member William Pearson said during the meeting. “If the patient’s not breathing, you’ve got to get them air, and if they’re bleeding, you’ve got to stop the bleeding. Along those same lines, you’ve got to get teachers into those classrooms.”
The school’s founder, Dawn Bowles, said after the meeting she looks forward to speaking with the statewide board and “wasn’t given that opportunity today.” She declined to share specifics of what she’d like to say to the board, who did not invite her to give remarks during its discussion Monday.
Several of the school’s parents and community supporters attended the board meeting at the Oklahoma History Center. Bowles described PTPLA as a “school for the community and by the community” that’s making a difference in its students’ lives.
“We’re going to keep moving and pushing,” she said. “We’ve had hurdle after hurdle, but we’ve jumped each one successfully. That’s what we do. We don’t stop. So, I look forward to the opportunity to speak.”
The chairperson of PTPLA’s school board, Sharri Coleman, spoke in a public comment portion of the meeting to highlight the school’s achievements, awards and college acceptances in its first year of operation. Enrollment, though, “was our steepest hill” to climb, she said.
Public schools, including charters, receive state funding based on the number of students they enroll. Failing to meet expected enrollment could cause a budget shortfall.
The Oklahoma State Board of Education approved the school’s concept in April 2024 and permitted it to open four months later — an unusually short amount of preparation time compared to most newly approved charter schools. Even at the time of approval, state Education Department staff openly expressed concerns about the school’s financial plan.
The Statewide Charter School Board, which requires an 18-month runway before opening a new charter school, inherited oversight of PTPLA from the state Board of Education last year because of changes to Oklahoma law.
“The school opened four months after their approval, and they could have waited another year,” statewide board chairperson Brian Shellem said after the meeting. “We might be having a totally different discussion if that were the case.”
PTPLA budget records show the school finished the previous fiscal year on June 30 with a $274,222 deficit.
Financial constraints led to a reduction in school staff a few months ago, said Skyler Lusnia, the statewide board’s financial compliance officer.
School leaders have said they plan to rehire teachers when more state funding comes through in January, and those who were laid off are volunteering at PTPLA in the meantime, Lusnia said in a presentation to the board.
Board staff have been looking into issues at the school since the spring, Lusnia said, but concerns grew after three recent visits to PTPLA indicated a “clear lack of student engagement and lack of rigor.”
The statewide board’s executive director, Rebecca Wilkinson, said she observed students with their computers open but not logged into their schoolwork. She said other students had their heads down, were on their cellphones or were laying down during her visits.
“We did see the one remaining teacher that is on staff on all three visits working directly with students,” Wilkinson told the board. “Instruction was concerning, but with 115 students and one teacher, that’s problematic.”
