When it opened in August 2022, Essence Prep was created to close education gaps<\/a> for Black and brown students in historically underserved communities. <\/p>\n The school currently serves around 400 students in pre-K through eighth grade.<\/p>\n Essence Prep received an F rating in 2022-23, a D in 2023-24 and an F in 2024-25. Following state education code, the TEA can revoke a charter\u2019s license if a campus has gotten three failing ratings within five years.<\/p>\n This August marked the school\u2019s fourth year in operation. Now, families will have to enroll elsewhere for the 2026-27 school year. <\/p>\n Essence Prep will not appeal TEA\u2019s decision, school founder and superintendent Akeem Brown said on Monday. Instead, its leaders plan to finish out the school year by focusing on the students they still have.<\/p>\n \u201cThe process is very costly. It\u2019s resources that we would rather use this year to focus on kids and strengthen their academics,\u201d Brown said, adding that appeals by schools in their situation almost never work. <\/p>\n Parents of Essence Prep students described the TEA\u2019s decision as \u201csad\u201d and \u201cdisappointing.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a humongous loss for our community,\u201d one father said in a string of comments from a school messaging board that Essence Prep shared with the Report.<\/p>\n Had Essence Prep appealed, Brown said he would have asked TEA to consider the school\u2019s growing enrollment and the academic growth the campus saw from its first to second year of operation, when it went from a 59 to a 67, going from an F to a D rating. Both ratings are considered failing, but it\u2019s rare for schools to move a full letter grade in one year. <\/p>\n Later, the school added more students and grades, which caused it to slide back to a 59 for 2024-25.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat that meant for us was that we had to start over, because these kids that joined us were two to three grades behind, and we had to test them right away,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause of that increase of students, their academic gains were not there like the group that we have been working with the previous year.\u201d<\/p>\n But early benchmark testing showed fast progress this year, Brown added. While only four of 360 students mastered math state tests last year, 27 students were projected to master the subject this year.<\/p>\n Brown also estimated Essence Prep would have had nearly 1,000 students by 2028.<\/p>\n Serving the underserved<\/p>\n At Essence Prep, 99% of students are considered economically disadvantaged and more than 70% are Black. The school, which grew in enrollment each year by adding grade levels and moving into a brand-new 70,000-square-foot building in 2023, needed more than three years to repair some of the education gaps on the East Side, Essence Prep\u2019s leaders argued in response to the TEA\u2019s decision to shutter the school.<\/p>\n For Brian Dillard, a third-generation East Sider who\u2019s chaired Essence Prep\u2019s school board since the charter school\u2019s inception, the TEA\u2019s notification was disappointing but not surprising.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a campus that\u2019s already struggling to service a community that\u2019s historically been struggling, and you put these burdens on them, instead of having levels of support there,\u201d he said Monday.<\/p>\n Dillard, currently an executive at VIA Metropolitan Transit, was also instrumental in opening Essence Prep. During an interview with TEA staff years ago, he said the school would take a \u201cholistic and student-centered approach\u201d focused on a student\u2019s journey of self-discovery.<\/p>\n Despite that, \u201cwe\u2019ve struggled since the day we started,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n In fact, the decision to close the school is not the first time Essence Prep has gotten bad news from the agency. In 2022, after the state board of education approved the charter 11-3, TEA ordered the Essence Prep to remove \u201canti-racist<\/a>\u201d quotes and languages from its website before opening its doors.<\/p>\n Outside regular schooling, Essence Prep offered free uniforms, free meals and after-school programming. Trying to attract more students, the school also launched new career technical education programming and a gifted and talented program.<\/p>\n In hindsight, Brown and Dillard admitted they would have done some things differently in the school\u2019s three \u2014 now four \u2014 years of operation, but they don\u2019t believe it would\u2019ve changed the TEA\u2019s decision to close the school.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re stuck in this situation of we\u2019re trying to correct a disservice that has been done to a community for decades,\u201d Dillard said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t happen in three years.\u201d<\/p>\n What happens now?<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Essence Prep, like any other school district with failing schools, was required to submit a turnaround plan to the state. <\/p>\n Brown worked on the plan for months, gathering staff and community input and submitting the plan in September, but said he never received a response from the TEA until the closure notice landed.<\/p>\n TEA will appoint a conservator to oversee Essence Prep\u2019s closure after the holiday break, a cost the charter is on the hook for paying at $250 an hour.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Bria-Woods-Akeem-Brown-Ella-Austin-Community-Center-Essense-Prep-Charter-School-summer-camp-kids-eas.jpeg\")
Founder of Essence Prep, Akeem Brown, asks Nikko Miramontes, 7, about his drawing in the arts and crafts room at Ella Austin Community Center in July 2021. Credit: Bria Woods \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n