Otwell Miller Academy receives a conditional charter
An endeavor to keep an elementary school in Otwell has had new life breathed in it.
The announcement of a conditional charter being approved by Grace College and Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Ind. was welcome after Ball State’s initial decline to approve the charter application.
The long road to this point has been a struggle but not enough to deter the Otwell community. Friends of Otwell president Mike Houtsch told WITZ News in an interview Tuesday that it’s gratifying to see the school move ahead but there is still a lot of work ahead.
The proposed K-through-6 elementary school has a list of items that must be completed before the charter is actually granted.
“We have, I guess you could say, a conditional approval, but we’re going to need to meet some of their requirements before we’re actually approved. We haven’t been denied, but we haven’t been approved either,” said Houtsch.
A timeline for completion of those items wasn’t forthcoming, but according to Houtsch, work will commence soon.
“We feel like if we can have something to go forward toward, we can reach those goals,” He said.
Once they have completed the necessary items, the charter will be delivered to the school in a “ribbon cutting” style presentation at the new school right before it opens.
In the meantime, Houtsch and Friends are working on finding a building to house the school in time to open Fall of 2017. Houtsch reported conversations with the Pike County School Corporation about working with Friends of Otwell to potentially repurpose the existing Otwell Elementary School building have resulted in a “not interested” response.
Houtsch added that representatives from Grace College have met with the school corporation to attempt a working agreement. He was hopeful it could be accomplished. That would take care of the largest task for the group to complete.
Houtsch said that the community remains positive about the school. While he had seen a drop off in attendance at the community meetings over the months, Monday’s meeting was packed with residents.
The award-winning Otwell Elementary School closed after a referendum failed to pass in 2015.
