Finding a Location

Part I – Rocky Mount Charter School (RMCS) -Renovation of Facilities

Finding a location in which to start up or successfully operate a charter school poses what will very likely be your biggest and most problematic issue to contend with. Do you build a school facility from the ground up, do you renovate a building already sitting empty, or do you imagine setting up a modular campus for either short of long-term use? I will attempt to address each of these possibilities, with the goal of helping you determine which best suits your charter school's individual needs.

Rocky Mount Charter School (later renamed Rocky Mount Preparatory School) obtained its charter in 1998 through the support of three influential community members, each of whom personally co-signed on a loan of about $800,000 to renovate an empty J.C. Penney store located in what was then known as the Tarrytown Mall in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

The loan was initially secured through a credit union in Durham, North Carolina and Centura Bank, one of the largest in the state. It was a tremendous advantage to have the former CEO of this bank on the Board of Directors. Before the school opened and seeing a need for assistance in running the school, the board contracted with an educational management company (EMO), with the goal of helping the school with financial support and assistance in implementing curricular/educational programs at the school.

The school opened in August 1998, with three classes for each grade, kindergarten through fifth, adding a new grade (with a need for three new classrooms) each school year after that. The former J.C Penny facility consisted of a total of about 60,000 square feet. There was square footage allocated in the operational plans for the eventual build-out of the school to grade eight, to include a gym in what was once used as a warehouse by the department store.

The school opened with 600 students in kindergarten through fifth. The school had THREE Principals in the period August 1998 through March 1999, when I arrived. From what I was told my first day on the job in March 1999, the first Principal contracted with quit within two weeks, noting the job was too much for them; the second was let out of their contract when it was determined their spouse thought the job too time consuming; while the third was identified as an "Interim Principal," supplied by the management company, with the intent to only serve in the position until Rocky Mount Charter's Board of Directors could find the next school leader, who happened to be yours truly. The issue of "Hiring Administrative Leaders" is covered in Chapter 6.

In August of 1999, the school began its second school year and was prepared to serve three new classes of sixth graders (our fifth graders had moved up a grade). A new playground was complete (constructed by parents and staff members) and the former warehouse was now operational as a gym. As part of the original charter, we used twelve school-owned busses to transport our mostly urban student population to and from school each day. I will provide more information on bus cost in a later chapter.

Only a month later, in early September, Hurricane Dennis rumbled through eastern North Carolina with torrential rains, the water not seeming to want to be absorbed into the ground, but just lying there on the surface. After a one week respite from the bad weather, Hurricane Floyd made its way into Eastern North Carolina, wreaking havoc in its path. Rocky Mount Charter was located in a one hundred year flood plain, so no could realistically expect what would happen next.

As Hurricane Floyd passed through Rocky Mount and rain continued to fall, the city became composed of three "islands," those above water on high ground, those with moderate flooding and those underwater. It was a sad sight indeed when I was able to travel to the school and measured the water line, which was 5'2" above ground level, totally destroying what was an $800,000 investment in this charter school.

While the school was much more than a "business" to the school's Board of Directors, their intent was to go on, no matter what. I was personally advised by our board chair (R. Mauldin, personal communication, October 1999) that the EMO did not believe the school would ever be financially solvent after the flood; therefore they would willingly negate their contract with the school. It was determined that the school had flood insurance and these funds were split equally between the two parties. The policy was around $500,000, so although some money was recovered it was not enough to make up for the loss of the school facility, only enough to keep the school operating, somewhere.

Part II –RMCS Moves in Churches

We were out of school for only two weeks, after which time, with assistance from our influential Board of Directors, we moved into three church sites in Rocky Mount; three hundred students located at two different churches in the downtown area and one hundred students at a third church, located some five miles away from the downtown area. This was initially perceived as a logistical "nightmare," but a staff composed of highly intelligent, motivated and dedicated staff kept the school operating under some very trying conditions. As Principal, I was located at one downtown church, while my Curriculum Director supervised student activity at the second downtown location. A Senior/Lead Teacher was in charge of the K-1 students at the school site five miles away. I paid twice-weekly visits to the "remote site" and was in daily contact with the Senior/Lead Teacher.

The "little kids" (grades K-1) were situated at the church located five miles away due to the fact the facility was all on ground level and there are usually local fire codes that prohibit children kindergarten to second grade students from being above the first floor in an educational setting.

The best part of this relocation was that we kept the school operational, with 97% of our original student body intact at the three churches. Due to the graciousness of the church leaders we imposed on, we paid a very small fee for monthly rent. Our school's plight received national attention and donations were received from school children and other benefactors from all over the United States. I still keep a box of school supplies sent to me as Principal after this disaster, as a reminder of how generous "strangers" can be. Many people, from both other charter and traditional public schools, saw us for what we really were, a public school that had suffered an immeasurable blow to its ability to successfully educate students.

Do you have questions about locating a charter school in a church setting? I hope so, and now I will attempt to point out some important questions you need to ask yourself:

What will your monthly rent be?

Is the monthly rent reasonable for the square footage you will be using?

Do you have an agreement to take down religious items (e.g. crosses, pictures of Jesus, etc.) in classrooms before you start school on Mondays and a similar agreement to return them to their original position for use by the church on the weekend?

Do all of your proposed classroom settings meet local fire code requirements?

Will the school be allowed to operate totally under your control during the school week?

Will you have appropriate office space for administrators at the location?

Will this location be separate from the location of the regular church operation (e.g. upstairs and downstairs, or separate parts of the church facility?)

Part III – RMCS Moves into Modular Classrooms

After six months in churches, we moved into about thirty double-wide modular classrooms on the far west side of town. The modulars were rented from the Williams-Scotsman offices in Durham, North Carolina. The mobile home park we moved into was new and had only about fifteen out of a total of about two hundred spaces in use. We were located at the far end of the park, in our own little parcel on the property. In addition to regular classroom space for three classes of each grade, kindergarten through sixth, we also had modular buildings for administrators (co-located in the same modular as the school's office) and storage space (for textbooks, furniture, storage, etc.). We no longer had any school furniture (all of it was "totaled" in the flood due to contamination from toxic flood water damage) so we made inquiries to the local public school district, Nash County Schools. Their local Superintendent advised us that they had closed an elementary school in the county and that we could have that furniture, for free. That "gift" was instrumental in our survival and is an example of how, in time of need, traditional public schools can be a friend and supporter of their charter school neighbors. Recommendation: Do not hesitate to establish a good relationship with the traditional public school leaders in your community. You are not "competitors" but "partners" when it comes to educating the children in your community. I would highly recommend that you take the first step in establishing a good working relationship with your local educational counterparts.

Part IV – RMCS -Building a School from the Ground Up

With a $4.6 million dollar grant (described in Chapter 18 under Grant Writing) from FEMA, architectural plans were drawn up by Smithson Construction, located in Rocky Mount, North Carolina (See Appendix A) for a 70,000 square foot school. Both school administrators and teaching staff were involved in providing a list of "needs" for the new school building and they were incorporated into the final design. After several sites were considered, our Board of Directors decided to build the new school on a thirty-two acre site on the north side of town, about five miles from the school's original location in downtown Rocky Mount. The new school was to be situated right across the street from a private four year college, North Carolina Wesleyan College.

In what seemed to be an almost improbable project, Smithson Construction, under the direction of Mr. Jim Carson, completed the entire school project in time to open our doors in August of 2001. Photographs of the completed school can be found at Appendix B. Documentation noting the period of extreme turmoil from 1999-2000 can be found at Appendix C, verifying we moved the entire school from one location to another TWO TIMES in one school year. The THIRD move of the entire school, from the mobile home park to the permanent school facility, took place in 2001. If you can find one, permanent place for your school to be located, more power to you. Unfortunately, it is not entirely unusual for a charter schools to initially locate in one place and then move to another, that is why "Finding a Location" is a critical issue for charter school founders.

Our monthly mortgage payments were initially about $18,000 per month on the $3.5 million dollar loan. At that time, our yearly revenue exceeded $3 million dollars, with 700 students and increased as our enrollment went up each year as we progressed toward our goal of having a K-12 school. We were in a much better financial position at this time, so much so that we were able to purchase all new classroom furniture for the school.

After this first year of our existence at our new school site, a 20,000 square foot high school wing was added and construction of an 18,000 square foot gym, with offices, a weight room and showers for both boys and girls followed shortly thereafter. This new construction added about $2 million to our financed debt and raised our monthly mortgage payments to about $30,000 per month (D. Leonard, personal communication, October 24, 2014). By 2003, the school's board of directors decided to better define their educational mission by changing the school's name to "Rocky Mount Preparatory School." According to Jim Carson (personal communication, February 10, 2014) the 2014 cost for building a school similar to Rocky Mount Prep in today's construction dollars would be between $12.5-15 million.

Part V – Another Example of Renovation & Rental

After leaving Rocky Mount in June of 2004, in August of that same year I assumed Principal duties at another start up charter school in central North Carolina, one which was initially located in what used to be a church. The student body numbered around three hundred. This school had also contracted with an EMO for financial assistance and curricular guidance. The church had been purchased by the EMO and had been renovated for school use, at a cost less than $100,000.00. The classrooms in this school setting were smaller than educator-desirable (a minimum of 750 square feet versus the 450 square feet in this facility), but the school ran well for the first year, after which time and EMO and Board of Directors parted ways. The church/school property consisted of about 26,000 square feet and the EMO charged us $26,000 per month in rent.

Since the EMO owned the property and the school's Board of Directors did not want to purchase it, the school had no choice but to look for another school-appropriate campus setting.

I have absolutely no doubt, as a result of my personal experience, that locating a school-appropriate site for your charter school will be the most confounding issue/obstacle presented to you when starting up, or relocating. While in the previously stated instance with the EMO a decision was made to disengage with the management company before the end of the school year, we were not able to secure a new location until well into the summer due to one thing or another, in several instances due to fire codes.

After months of looking, a parent at the school found a very large local church that had a second, separate building on its grounds. A modular classroom, newly in place, was located in the parking across from the main church building. It served as the setting for the school office, Business Manager, Principal and one kindergarten classroom. The second kindergarten class and all students in grades one to three students attended classes on the first floor (approximately 6,000 square feet), main building, in classrooms of about 500 square feet each, while the upstairs (approximately 14,000 square feet) was open space that were divided up by partitions into separate classrooms for students in grades four through eight. There was no option for putting up permanent walls; this was not allowed by the rental agreement. We were going back to the "old school days," when open classrooms were in vogue in the early 1980's. Teachers taught and students learned; it was the quality of the teachers that made up for any logistical problems we had. The message I am attempting to impart here should be clear; that all people associated with charter schools need to be flexible, flexible, flexible.

After moving school furniture and literally everything else associated with the school from one location to the other (all moving accomplished by the school staff to keep expenses down), we opened the school's second year in this new location. One unavoidable drawback was the monthly rent payment, which was expensive at about $13,000 per month for about 20,000 square feet of school space. The monthly payment put the school in a poor financial position from then on. The students were high achievers, the staff was great, but we always knew our survival depended heavily upon our ability to pay that big monthly rent payment.

Part VI – Renovation of Former School Facility

From 1939-1971 Southside Elementary School was located at 385 S. Spring Street in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina. In 1971, the local school district built a new school facility and the school site sat abandoned until 1974, when the property was purchased by the Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg. From 1974 to 2007, the school served as a local arts center, eventually relocating to the newly constructed Chapman Cultural Center about a mile away. Most notably, before sale to the Spring Street Group in 2008, the Arts Partnership sold 1.45 acres of the property, located at the rear of the school, to the South Carolina Employment Commission. The Spring Street Group sold the reduced in size former Southside Elementary School to the founders of Spartanburg Charter School in 2008. The school legally changed its name to "Spartanburg Preparatory School (SPS)" on July 1, 2013.

With money from an implementation grant from the State of South Carolina, the initial founders of the school began an ambitious renovation process under the direction of a retired engineer, who provided me with information on early construction costs (T. Petoskey, personal communication, March 3, 2014). According to Petoskey, the initial expenditure for bringing the lower of two floors up to code for the 2009-2010 school year was about $70,000.00 (Phase I).