Controversial proposed “classical” charter school moves forward

Updated 12/12 to reflect new reporting about the status of the charter application

The application of a controversial proposed charter school with ties to a conservative Christian college has been approved, the school announced last week. 

The Southeast Ohio Classical Academy received the approval of its sponsoring organization, board chair Kimberly Vandlen wrote in an email to supporters, allowing the school to move forward with its plans to open a publicly-funded charter school offering a “classical” education, defined as being based on “accumulated wisdom of Western civilization.” 

The school proposal has ties to Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Michigan that publishes educational material such as its 1776 Curriculum, which has been criticized as a revisionist attempt to whitewash American history. Hillsdale’s Barney Charter School Initiative provides support to schools that utilize its curriculum — of which there are over 60, including five already open in Ohio. Among those is the Veritas Classical Academy in Marietta, which opened in 2014.

The initiative’s original mission statement referred to “recover[ing] our public schools from the tide of a hundred years of progressivism” in public education, as the Independent previously reported.

Vandlen rejected the Independent’s request for a copy of the charter application and approval, claiming that “SOCA is a nonprofit entity and holds no public records under the Ohio Public Records Act.” In fact, state law requires that the contracts that every charter school and sponsoring organization sign contain a recognition that the school will comply with the state’s open records laws. 

She did not respond to further inquiries asking to confirm the name of the sponsoring organization. In Ohio, charter schools that are not opened by public Educational Service Centers must be sponsored by a nonprofit approved by the state to provide administrative support and oversight to schools that it sponsors.

However, two of other similarly-named Hillsdale-linked schools that have opened in Ohio were sponsored by St. Aloysius Orphanage in Cincinnati, which acted as the sponsoring organization for the Cincinnati and Northeast Ohio Classical Academies, according to records from the Ohio Department of Education. St. Aloysius, one of six nonprofits that have been approved by the state to act as sponsors,  is the sponsoring organization for over 20% of Ohio charter schools.

After this story was published, along with other stories in local media, Charter School Specialists, a for-profit company that works with St. Aloysius to open charter schools, clarified to the Athens Messenger that no charter agreement has been signed, the approval that was granted is tentative and that the school is “an idea.” Vandlen previously told the Messenger that “The sponsor has reviewed our proposal, interviewed our team and has approved sponsorship.”

The relationship between St. Aloysius and Charter School Specialists, which describes itself as “the St. Aloysius charter authorizing contracted partner,” was subject to scrutiny by the Cleveland Transformation Alliance in 2017, with that advisory body ultimately recommending that the state revoke St. Aloysius’ ability to open schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Members of the alliance described the relationship between St. Aloysius and Charter School Specialists as a conflict of interest, and said its schools were not up to academic standards.

As the Independent previously reported, if the school opens in Fall 2024 as it currently plans to, it could divert millions of dollars from local public schools. Vandlen previously told the Independent that it plans to open within 15 miles of the city of Athens, and would accept students from any school district.

Vandlen and most of the other co-founders and board members of SOCA have ties to the evangelical Brookfield Church, on Court Street, which is part of a network of churches that “plant” themselves in college towns to proselytize. In recent years, it was revealed that the founder of that network was arrested in 1987 for sexual assault on a minor. Former members have also alleged “manipulative and abusive leadership practices.” Vandlen previously denied a link between Brookfield and SOCA.