In a long evening ending in some grandstanding and concerns about delays, the Greene County Board of Education (BOE) reviewed a document citing requests for changes, modifications and clarifications to the Lake Oconee Academy (LOA) charter renewal proposal.
Beating the deadline to respond to LOA’s renewal petition by a few days, Superintendent Dr. Chris Houston detailed a page-by-page accounting of amendments the BOE is requesting at a called meeting on July 12.
Those changes now go back to LOA for review with the BOE asking for an extension of the arduous process. The original petition was received in mid-April, placing the beginning of the review process at the end of the school year.
The term of LOA’s existing charter continues for another 11-and-a-half months, through June 2024. The term for the new charter will be 202429.
The most pressing concern for the many who attended from LOA was a perceived delay in getting back with any amendments at the 11th hour. Some parents had been concerned that, if the charter renewal process dragged on too long, LOA would be rolled into a county school. However, the BOE has stated intentions to renew a five-year charter renewal for LOA before the terms of the current charter expire.
According to Houston, it was imperative that time was taken for necessary review.
“It is incumbent upon us as the governing authority for education in Greene County to do our due diligence in thoroughly reviewing the 470 pages of application materials and exhibits that comprised LOA’s charter renewal petition,” Houston said. “The requests for clarification we have submitted to LOA will allow us to work together to create a clear charter document that leaves as little room for confusion as we move forward.”
Among many amendments, perhaps the most important were three items that addressed student caps, a need for a full continuum of Special Education services to be offered on LOA’s campus, and admissions specified for only full-time administrators and full-time teachers having children to attend.
The student caps include having children from only full-time administrators and full-time teachers able to attend LOA. Additional concerns include allowing Pre-K matriculation ahead of siblings attending, which the BOE claims is an apparent violation of enrollment priorities; a plan that will address the need to increase the number of non-white students in the Pre-K program over the next five years; and finding a balanced approach that allows LOA’s student population to increase.
The BOE asserts that the student demographics of LOA and the GCSS are very different, and LOA continues to make academic comparisons between the schools. The increasing number of students at LOA has resulted in more top students attending LOA.
Many requested changes resulted from a specification to have a full continuum of special education services to be offered on LOA’s campus. Currently, a limited amount of special education services are offered at LOA, but it does not serve high-need special-education students. The high cost associated with these services amounts to over $27,000 more than the cost of the average student.
Other specifications include the development and usage of a detailed special-education handbook that is consistent with the one used by the GCSS, usage of discipline-reporting software, an important collaboration between both the special-education directors of GCSS and LOA, agreement to funding by LOA for all related expenses and agreement that LOA will provide all-need services to those students, including gifted students.
Despite meeting the deadline, many in attendance felt there was a delay to the process. LOA parent Matt Waterfield gave a public comment during the meeting, expressing his frustration with the amount of time it took the BOE to review the charter petition and urging the board to work together more efficiently with LOA in the future.
“We are committed to working through the details to approve a charter that is fair to all parties involved,” BOE Chairman Dr. Perry Lee said. “LOA parents can rest assured that a comprehensive charter renewal will be approved in the coming months, which has been developed through diligent cooperation and collaboration between the two boards.”