COLUMBIA, S.C. — Parents say they feel heartbroken and surprised by the decision to close the Midlands Arts Conservatory, which enrolled hundreds of students.
The announcement has brought a weekend of frustration for Scarlet Lovely. She's the mother of a student who attended the school, referred to as 'MAC' for the past two years.
According to their website, MAC is a free public charter school where "students spend approximately half of the school day studying core academic courses and half their day in their chosen core fine arts course of study." The school's board held an emergency meeting on Thursday and announced on Friday plans to close. Lovely said she was shocked to hear the news about the school closing through Facebook.
"There was no discussion, at least with the parents," she said. "There was no idea that this was coming."
In a statement posted by MAC, an emergency board meeting was held Thursday to discuss future plans for the school. The statement gave financial concerns as the primary reason for the closure, saying:
"Over the years, one-time grants, COVID monies, and occasional sponsors helped subsidize the cost of operating a school model that needs to be adequately funded by the per-pupil funding formula. Now that most of this one-time funding has disappeared, we, as the Board of Directors, only have the funds to keep a balanced budget if we eliminate administrative and teaching staff essential to operating the arts-infused model of the Midlands Arts Conservatory."
The statement goes on to say that the school, with over 400 students enrolled at full capacity, planned to open a new facility to host classes, but that became too costly and the current building, had a "deteriorating condition and limited size."
The school further said:
"We will begin working with the South Carolina Public Charter School District, our attorney, and our accountant to roll out a phase-down plan that will be sent to all stakeholders within the next two weeks."
The announcement comes at a difficult time for Lovely and without much warning, she said. Having just moved into a new house, and into an unfamiliar school district, she's worried about the future of her daughter's education.
"We were under the impression that the school was doing fine, and she would be here until she graduate, so we kinda got stuck," she said. "She can go to public middle school, to a huge school, or she can be home-schooled, and home school is not an option for us."
The frustration is also felt by Daryl McCulley, a father with a student at MAC who wishes more could be done to keep the school open. He expressed disappointment in the decision by school leadership and what he called a lack of transparency
"There's no financial information presented for months and so that's why it's a bit surprising because we just didn't know what the financial situation was," he said. "We were disappointed, but I can't say we were shocked."
In a response shared on Sunday evening, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Public Charter School District said that the organization is "providing full support to the MAC board, faculty and families impacted by the closure."
News19 reached out to the school, its board, and the principal but has not received a response.