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Pontiac Street site chosen for third Imagine school
Don't miss the three-part series by Dan Stockman and Kelly Soderlund on the Imagine antics in Fort Wayne. These reporters prove that investigative journalism is alive and well.
As Ken Libby points out on Twitter, this article reveals Imagine Schools to be "100% corrupt, but crafty!"
by Kelly Soderlund
Imagine Schools board members Thursday selected a vacant building on Pontiac Street as the location for its third local charter school.
Upon approval of a building lease, Imagine Bridge Academy will open at 2001 E. Pontiac St., next to an OmniSource plant. The building was formerly Fruehauf Park Inc., a warehouse and storage facility.
Imagine will buy the building for $80,000 and spend about $4 million to renovate it, said Don Willis, president of the Imagine Bridge Academy board. Willis said the building will be acquired the same way the two other Fort Wayne Imagine campuses have been.
Imagine MASTer Academy and Imagine Schools on Broadway both were initially bought by a for-profit, limited-liability company created by the non-profit Imagine Schools Inc. Ownership was then transferred to Imagine Schools' for-profit real-estate arm, Schoolhouse Finance LLC, which then sold the buildings to a for-profit real estate investment trust. The two existing Imagine charter schools now rent the buildings.
Last year, Imagine MASTer Academy earmarked 18 percent of its budget – $740,000 – to rent the buildings on Wells Street. Imagine Schools on Broadway budgeted 19 percent this year for rent.
The 40,000-square-foot Pontiac Street building sits directly in front of the OmniSource plant and is next to a parking lot that feeds into the plant. OmniSource is a processor and distributor of scrap metal.
Willis said Imagine officials are meeting with architects but plan to build a gymnasium next to the building that could also be used as a cafeteria. He said the site is zoned for school use.
Imagine Bridge Academy has a target enrollment of 600 to 650 students and will draw from the surrounding neighborhoods. After the building agreement is finalized with the owners, the school board will be presented with the lease for approval.
Imagine originally wanted to open the Bridge Academy at the former Village Woods Middle School. But the current owner could not get East Allen County Schools, which has control over how the building is used, to agree to allow him to sell the building to Imagine to open a charter school.
"This is a great alternate site," Imagine board member Bill Brown said.
Texas approval
The Imagine MASTer Academy board approved a series of resolutions related to opening two charter schools in Texas. The board initially voted on the measures at its Nov. 18 meeting, but a non-board member participated in the vote, thus making the vote's veracity questionable.
For clarity, Willis said he wanted the board to re-approve the resolutions.
The board voted to lend its non-profit status to schools in Georgetown and McKinney, Texas, appoint board members to the Texas boards, accept resignations from Texas board members and remove the MASTer Academy board's right to remove or control Texas board members.
Imagine board members individually signed resolutions outside public view related to the measures more than 18 months ago but chose to vote in a public meeting after The Journal Gazette raised questions about the legality of the approval. Indiana's public access counselor ruled this week that the Imagine board violated state law by signing resolutions outside a public meeting.
— Kelly Soderlund
The Journal Gazette
2009-12-18
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20091218/LOCAL04/312189956/1002/LOCAL
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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