Alabama Public Charter School Commission approves merger, renewal applications

The Alabama Public Charter School Commission Monday approved its first merger application and renewals for two charter schools.

The commission approved the newly-created merger policy in July to allow two or more schools to combine. Invictus Academy, which was set to open in 2027, and Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School became the first schools to submit an application to merge. The application was approved with minimal discussion. No details about the merger were given during the meeting.

Ruben Morris, founder of Alabama Aerospace and Aviation High School, said during the meeting the merger will ensure the Bessemer area has “viable options” for schooling.

“Bessemer is a small community where I get to share this work with Dr. (Meredith Davis, superintendent of Empower Community School) and she’s doing a great job at Empower, and we want to make sure that students in this community have viable options, and that there’s no unnecessary competition for enrollment, and that when we’ve got great options available around career and technical education, and career connected learning, that we present this in a way that best suits kids,” he said.

The commission renewed a charter school contract for ACCELL Evening and Day Academy, located in Mobile, for another five years with no discussion. Empower Community School’s renewal was also approved, but Commissioner Cynthia McCarty raised concerns about the school’s math scores.

“Their math scores are a little bit disappointing,” McCarty said. “And there are so many supports out there in the Numeracy Act, and with math coaches, with professional development for teachers, and I would just ask that you provide them with a solid plan so that they have the resources that they need the professional development, the curriculum, whatever it might be, that would help them to be able to raise those math achievement scores.”

Empower Superintendent Meredith Davis, agreed that math scores need improvement but said the school is using resources to help push the scores in the right direction.

“We have made some progress over the last couple of years, but we are working with the Office of Math Instruction, the Numeracy Act,” Davis said. “We do have a math coach in place, and we utilize the state curriculum and purchase outside coaching for our teachers in the area of math and professional development to try to close those gaps.”