But the Project School has taken its fight to the courts.

A temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction has been filed against the city of Indianapolis and Mayor Greg Ballard to stop them from pulling the plug on the 4-year-old charter school.

A hearing is scheduled for Monday before Judge John Hanley, but the hearing could be too late to save the school.

The Project School ranks near the bottom of the state for ISTEP scores. In fact, only 29 percent of the 354 students can pass a basic skills test for math or English.

But School Leader Tarrey Banks said that is just part of the story.

"Many of these kids are coming in standard deviations below the cut score. They've never been close to passing a test. We don't believe that means they can't," said Banks. "We believe that means it's going to take a long time. We need time to do that."

The school thought it had time. It was in the fourth year of a seven-year charter. Parents also thought the school had time.

"This school fought for my child and got him up to par," parent China Etchison told RTV6's Derrik Thomas. "It helped him blossom into a wonderful young man. I still have two children who intend on these doors being open. If it closes I don't know where we are going to go."

Sherice Ezell co-signs that comment. She thought she had found the perfect place for her 10-year-old son, Emmanuel.

"When you have a fourth-grade autistic son sitting in the back seat of your car hearing on the news that his school is closing and he's crying, that makes a parent's heart hurt, because I can't do nothing about it," Ezell said. "But yes I can. We teach the kids here that you have a voice. We want to get their voice heard."

The school is not just about kids catching up. Nicole Bozell's daughter was promoted to first grade when kindergarten was too easy for her. She doesn't believe the school was properly evaluated.

"It's just wrong. The facts are wrong. The message the mayor's office put out about the school is wrong," Bozell said.

The mayor's spokesman Marc Lotter told RTV6 that attorneys had instructed the mayor not to discuss this case anymore because of the pending litigation.