Youngstown charter school decides to close, reopen as private school

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mollie Kessler School is closing as a charter school and will reopen next school year as a private school.

The new school will be in the same Wood Street location and serve the same population, students in first through eighth grade who have learning challenges.

“All who are age appropriate have re-enrolled,” said Erica Brown Fire, a counselor who the board appointed as a spokeswoman.

The school also will retain a maximum enrollment of 60 to 65 students.

Brown Fire said the school’s board of directors believes the school will better be able to serve the needs of students as a private school.

“We decided that this wasn’t working anymore,” she said. “We feel like had to change our goals so many times. We had to a find better way.”

Charter schools receive money from the state for each student that attends. As a private school, tuition will be charged although all of the school’s returning students have been awarded the John Peterson Scholarship for students with disabilities, Brown Fire said.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.