The ugly legal fight that has dogged Impact Charter School in Baker since a damning investigative audit led state officials to replace its management escalated Wednesday when the school was informed it has just a few days to pay $260,000 in back rent or be evicted — along with its 400-plus students.
“If payment is not received and premises are not vacated by April 15, 2025, Lessor will proceed with immediate eviction and legal action to recover possession and damages in accordance with the lease and applicable Louisiana law,†according to the eviction notice.
The one-page letter was posted Wednesday morning on the front of the 4815 Lavey Lane school. The letter is from Friends of Impact Charter Schools, a nonprofit foundation that supports the school and owns the property, and its attorney, Kathleen Wilson. The rent is for the months of March and April.
A recent accused founder Chakesha Scott of using the school to personally enrich herself and her family. The audit also raised questions about the Friends group and the terms of the 2022 lease it has with the school, which the auditors described as “excessive.†The audit describes Scott as the president of the Friends group; she has said she is only its registered agent.
Wilson is a new attorney for the Friends group. It was previously represented by Baton Rouge attorney J. Lane Ewing Jr.
To have somewhere to hold classes, the new management of Impact Charter is asking the City of Baker School Board to lease a vacant property at 3750 Harding Blvd., the former home of Baker Heights Elementary, for the rest of the school year, . The Baker school board has scheduled a to consider the idea.
Baker Superintendent J.T. Stroder said he first heard a week ago from Impact’s interim Superintendent Michelle Clayton, who expressed concern to him then that Impact's lease might get canceled and wanted a backup plan. Stroder said he and Baker Board President Monique Butler had a conference call with Clayton on Wednesday morning after the eviction notice was issued and agreed to call the special meeting on Thursday.
“There’s 400 kids out there that need to finish the year,†Stroder said.
In a statement, Clayton thanked Stroder for his willingness to help and the dedication of Impact teachers in continuing to educate children amid the turmoil.
"The board of Impact and I focused on ensuring that our teachers are compensated and that student learning continues," Clayton said. "It is unfortunate that one person is making that very difficult for us to do."
In the same statement, Torrence Williams, president of the Impact board, described the eviction notice as "yet another disappointing retaliatory action" by Scott that is doubly upsetting coming as it does while Impact students are taking their LEAP tests. He also questioned the bill the school is being told to pay.
"While a document that has been presented to us states what is owed related to the mortgage, we question its validity," Williams said. "The board has offered to pay the mortgage, but we stand firm and are questioning the additional amount of money Dr. Scott is seeking, which is nothing less than predatory and is taking money from Impact's students and teachers.â€
Citing the findings in the audit, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, or BESE, on Feb. 21 removed Impact's previous board of directors and replaced them.
That new board met three days later and immediately froze out Chakesha Scott and her husband, Eric, the school’s principal, placing both on paid leave. On March 7, the new leadership of the school went a step further and fired Scott saying she committed "repeated and substantial violations" of the terms of her leave. For instance, Scott not only failed to return school property in her possession, the same day she was placed on leave a school-owned silver 2021 Range Rover that Scott had been using previously "was taken from school grounds and hasn’t been returned," according to court papers.
Getting terminated hasn’t deterred Scott, who has claimed the takeover of the school was illegal, and that she remains in control.
A flurry of litigation has emerged from this mess.
Wilson, the attorney named in Wednesday’s eviction notice, is also representing a group of Impact parents who sought unsuccessfully to reverse BESE’s replacement of the school’s board; Wilson is lodging an appeal.
The old board of Impact Charter School is also suing BESE in federal court, claiming the Feb. 21 decision was unconstitutional and that Scott and school leaders were denied due process.
The plaintiff’s attorney in that case, Ron Haley, had his law license suspended April 2 by the Louisiana Supreme Court for unspecified reasons emanating from a referral by the state’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel.
Meanwhile, the new board has filed its own suit, claiming Scott has “knowingly and intentionally†refused access to current payroll records, preventing employees from getting paid on time and accurately accounting for their tax withholdings. Moreover, the suit claims Scott has continued to “delete data and information from related school financial accounts as she still has access to these accounts.†The board is seeking to remove Scott as an authorized user from all school accounts.
The suit also said the new board has been unable to access "substantial" funds in accounts managed by Friends of Impact Charter Schools and a separate organization, Charter Schools Athletic Association Inc, for which Scott is the sole officer. Both organizations are defendants, along with Scott and her husband, Eric.
That suit has stalled because the plaintiffs were unable on three occasions to serve Scott court papers at her home in Zachary as well as serving others named in the suit. Priya Kumar, whose New Orleans firm is representing the new Impact board, filed a motion Tuesday requesting that State District Judge Ronald Johnson get the case moving again by appointing a “curator ad hoc†to represent Scott and others, describing them as “absentee defendants.â€
