At September’s monthly board meeting ARISE Academy officials said they had begun to implement student recruitment strategies in order to meet this year’s enrollment target.

ARISE is currently 25 students short of its target, after 14 students withdrew during the school’s two week closure to  repair damages from Hurricane Isaac.

“We’ve started walking the neighborhood, looking at places we have to target so we can get these kids in our school,” school leader Andrew Shahan said. “If we don’t meet our enrollment target by October 1st, we’ll have to revise our budget and make some cuts, which might mean one or two staff… but hopefully we do not reach that point.”

Louisiana’s charter schools must submit final enrollment figures to the state’s department of education by October 1. The figure determines the amount of state funds doled out to each school on a per-pupil basis, or commonly referred to as Minimum Foundation Program.

Shahan said the school spent $15,000 to repair flood damage from Hurricane Isaac. He added that school instructors partook in professional development at an off-site for three days during the school closure.

In other agenda items, the board will travel to Baton Rouge on September 25 for a charter interview, as part of ARISE’s application to become a charter management organization and run an additional school.

Lastly, the board announced that it’s October monthly meeting would be cancelled to accommodate time for a board retreat. The next regular board meeting is November 21.

The meeting lasted 45-minutes.