Fort Wayne – After less than six months on the job, Thurgood Marshall Leadership Academy’s principal has resigned to take a job in Fort Wayne Community Schools.
The FWCS board officially approved Marshall Academy’s former Principal Nicole Chisley as an assistant principal at Wayne High School on Monday as part of its personnel report. According to the report, Chisley started in her new position Nov. 5.
Chisley left Thurgood Marshall on Nov. 2. Her assistant, Tameka Wilson, has served as interim principal since her resignation while American Quality Schools Corp., Marshall Academy’s management company, searches for a new school leader.
Marshall Academy is the charter school founded by the Fort Wayne Urban League. It is authorized by the Indiana Charter Schools Board and managed by AQS.
Marshall Academy board chair Alan Grinsfelder said Chisley gave one week’s notice before leaving the school, which opened in August. He said the board will likely have some say in who will become the school’s new leader, as it had with Chisley.
Chisley was one of two candidates presented to the board by AQS. The other candidate withdrew his application from consideration, and Chisley was offered the position. She had previously served as principal of Pacers Academy High School in MSD Pike Township for two years.
Before leading Pacers, Chisley served as assistant principal at Pike High School within MSD Pike Township and as assistant principal at George Washington Community High School in Indianapolis Public Schools. She also taught at Meridian Middle School and at New Augusta Public Academy.
In FWCS, assistant principals are typically not presented to the board in person during meetings, but board President Mark GiaQuinta said he would comment publicly on Chisley’s appointment because he’d received a call about it.
“It’s gratifying to know that Fort Wayne Community Schools continues to attract quality educators from around the state,” he said.
The position for principal of Marshall Academy has been posted on the state Department of Education’s website, Wilson said.
The board meeting Monday was the first for Marshall Academy’s new governing board. It has officially taken over governance duties from the founding board, which was established to get the school up and running.
Many of the members from the founding board remained, however, including Will Clark, Bettye Poignard, Jim Burgoon, Alfred Brothers and Sheila Moore. New board members are Grinsfelder, the board’s chair, and Leroy Jackson.
The board heard a report from Wilson on the events at the school including an enrollment report that showed the school has lost about 30 students since the state’s count day, dropping from 129 students to around 100. Count day is a day usually in September which is designated by the state for enrollment counts. The final numbers will be the basis for how much per-student tuition dollars schools and districts receive.
The board requested a more detailed report from Wilson on the reasons students had left. She cited discipline problems and families moving out of the area as reasons for the drop.