The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Bank forecloses on charter school building

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By Tom Beyerlein , Staff Writer Updated 2:01 PM Wednesday, February 15, 2012

DAYTON — Dayton’s award-winning ISUS charter school will continue to operate despite a $1.1 million judgment against it by PNC Bank, a school official said Tuesday.

The bank is seeking to foreclose on the ISUS building at 140 N. Keowee St. and have a receiver appointed to oversee the school’s business. The equipment used by the trade school for troubled youth was included as collateral for the loan, according to the Feb. 7 filing in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

The bank’s action may ultimately help ISUS improve its financial picture by allowing it to get out from under a mortgage it can no longer afford, said U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice, vice chairman of the ISUS trustees.

Rice called the foreclosure “a phase of our attempts to actively negotiate with our creditors to realign our debt structure. We remain committed to the young people we’ve been serving. This is not the end of ISUS.”

ISUS defaulted on its business loan with the bank, executed in 2004 for the original principal amount of $1.4 million.

The non-profit ISUS — short for Improved Solutions for Urban Systems — specializes in training in the construction, health care and manufacturing trades. All three areas were rated excellent in state report cards in September.

Seventy percent of its students have had brushes with juvenile court. It was founded nearly 20 years ago by Ann Higdon, who remains its president.

Originally focused only on construction, ISUS built homes and sold them, plowing the proceeds back into the school’s operations. It also received grants, state assistance and federal earmarks. All of those funding sources have been hard hit by the housing crisis and the Great Recession.

“It’s simply a business model that was wonderful while it lasted,” but is no longer viable, Rice said.

He said ISUS officials are hopeful that they can lease the Keowee building from a new owner if it is sold. If that’s not possible, he said, they’ll lease another space. Rice said ISUS is not opposing the bank’s actions.

If it no longer has mortgage obligations, ISUS can better compete for grant money, he said.

ISUS officials plan to meet with local industry leaders in the health care, construction and manufacturing fields in an effort to match the school’s training programs to the skills industry is looking for in filling jobs.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com.

@@facebook=http://www.facebook.com/daytondailynews/posts/307476965967540@@

Share this article