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Charter school closures affect more than 3,500 students, may be unprecedented nationally

(via Flickr/Lauren Manning)

More than 3,500 students will be displaced when a network of St. Louis charter schools run by Virginia-based Imagine Schools Inc. is shuttered in a closure so massive it may be unprecedented nationally.

Todd Ziebarth of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the closure was "definitely" the largest he knew of.

Officials are trying to find spots for the students in St. Louis Public Schools and other charter schools in the city after the Missouri Board of Education decided Tuesday to close the six campuses. State education officials said the schools had academic and fiscal management problems.

Imagine educates about 40,000 students nationwide. The company has said it is considering its options. Enrollment fairs are scheduled for April 28 and May 12.

 

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