South Side Academy to purchase school land
Revenue from sale will pay former Eagle Heights staff
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
The sale of the former Eagle Heights Academy property will provide enough money to pay the teachers their remaining salary and benefits but won’t leave much for the 50-some creditors of the former school.
Atty. Barry Savage of Toledo, the Eagle Heights receiver appointed as part of the Ohio Council of Community Schools lawsuit against the former school, filed an application this week in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court asking to sell the property at 1833 Market St.
The Ohio Department of Education ordered Eagle Heights closed at the end of the 2009-10 school year because of poor academic performance. South Side Academy opened in August in the same building and plans to continue operating there.
The new school has contracted with White Hat Management of Akron to provide its educational programming. White Hat is the largest for-profit charter school operator in Ohio and the third largest in the nation.
Savage has entered contracts to sell the property to a realty company and BHA Southside, which operates Southside Academy, to buy the property for $285,000, according to the application.
The property is also subject to federal tax liens, state sales tax liens and an Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation lien.
After those are paid, the sale would “realize $85,000 less the payment of normal and customary expenses of sale,” the court documents say.
From the money left in Savage’s possession, “the funds would be used to pay the remainder of the monies owing the faculty and staff for unpaid compensation and benefits and would result in the teachers and staff being fully paid...” it says.
Savage said that by law, teachers’ pay and retirement must be paid first.
“Then you have some administrative costs that have to be paid,” he said. “I don’t know how much, if any money there is going to be left for creditors. If there is any money, it’s going to be a small amount.”
The school had no income after June 1, 2010, he said. In April, about 45 teachers and staff were laid off to save costs. The school continued to operate through the end of the school year.
“The staff that remained supported this effort,” he said, adding that they were concerned about students. “That’s a gratifying thing to see. We had their support.”
Teachers who remained after the layoff were owed about $500,000, and about 80 percent of that has been paid, Savage said.