A judge on Friday approved the Hillsborough County school district’s request for an injunction to stop operations at Walton Academy for the Performing Arts due to safety concerns— at least until an appeal hearing.
The request for an injunction was filed after Walton Academy remained open despitethe Hillsborough County School Board voting to immediately pull the school’s charter on Tuesday. The district told Walton they intended to close the school after receiving a letter from the state highlighting the concerns, which included an open gate, cluttered shelter spaces and faulty emergency alert systems.
The school, however, remained open Wednesday and Thursday while waiting for the district to file a legal complaint, a step the district argued was not required.
In a virtual hearing, U.S. District Judge Helene Daniel heard testimony from Walton Academy principal Tanika Walton, a district major for security and emergency management Zamir Ode and the district’s chief of school security John Newman.
A lawyer for Walton Academy argued that the safety issues were already corrected and no immediate danger to students exited. A lawyer for the district argued the fixes were irrelevant, that a long pattern of safety concerns existed and the school was defying the board’s vote to immediately pull their charter.
“The seriousness of this occasion is not lost on this court,” Daniel said. “It’s a difficult thing to ask a court whether to close a school.”
She said the evidence presented to her Friday suggested that “the students are actually not currently safe; that there’s an ongoing threat to these children as they continue to attend Walton Academy.”
During the hearing, John Leombruno, an attorney representing Walton Academy, said the state gave the district a spectrum of options to address the concerns and did not require the district to shut down the school.
He pushed back on the assertions that the school was unsafe.
“(The concerns) are things that are almost instantaneously remedied,“ he said.
All of the concerns, he said, had already been addressed and some were done in the presence of the inspector, but none were documented.
The judge also asked if the public and parents of students had an opportunity to weigh in on the safety concerns and if they’d been addressed.
Margolin, an attorney for the district, said the public had ample opportunity to weigh in, and the board made its decision after taking it all into account. Anything Walton fixed after the board’s decision was “too little, too late.”
“Really, the first legal question before the court is whether the statute means ‘immediate’ when it says immediate,” Margolin said.
The judge asked Tanika Walton how she would ensure backpacks or clutter wouldn’t fill shelter spaces again.
Walton said that had been communicated to all staff as a high priority. Each month, the staff focuses on on different topics. Last month was bullying, she said, but safety will be a priority moving forward.
Margolin asked Ode if he had continued concern for safety. Ode said he did. So did Newman.
“Everybody has a bad day, a bad audit, but it seems like every single audit has deficiencies,” Ode said.
Daniel said she understands the school’s right to appeal, adding that her ruling was not intended to impact that process. But the pressing issue, she said, was the immediate safety of students and staff.
“Every second does count,“ she said. ”The court is unwilling to take a chance that something may happen for which you are completely unprepared.”
An appeal hearing is scheduled for early November.
Walton said more than 110 students remained enrolled at the school. Eight have transferred since the beginning of the year.
The district’s charter school office has contacted each Walton Academy family to inform them of options to relocate. A spokesperson for the district said they will be tracking the placement of every student.