A recently shut down charter school for young mothers and pregnant teens has a date with the Utah Board of Education to plead its case for continued operation.
The appeal hearing for Kairos Academy will be held at 9 a.m. on Aug. 29, according to Utah Board of Education spokeswoman Emilie Wheeler, who declined to comment further.
A panel of five school board members will participate in the hearing. Their recommendation to either reopen the charter school or maintain its forced closure will then be considered by the full 15-member state board, most likely during its Sept. 8 meeting.
Julie Adamic, chairwoman of Kairos Academy’s governing board, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But Adamic said last week that Kairos administrators were drafting plans to postpone the school year — which was scheduled to begin Aug. 21 — if their appeal is successful.
“The process is taking some time,” Adamic said. ”It does look like we are probably going to have a late start date.”
Kairos Academy launched in 2014 and was placed on probation by the State Charter School Board in 2015. The charter board voted to terminate the school in June, citing budgetary and academic concerns, followed by a confirming closure vote in July.
The all-girl school, which offers free on-site day care, enrolled roughly 90 students last year. A vote by the Utah Board of Education is the final level of administrative action regarding school closures.