Roger Fields was disappointed. Also, he was angry.
“We feel very slighted by them,” he told the Lake Oconee News on Tuesday.
Fields was in the audience at the Monday night Lake Oconee Board of Governors meeting and expected some comment on, perhaps even acceptance of, the latest offer by the Greene County Board of Education to end the lawsuit between the two boards.
In September 2020, LOA sued, claiming it was not being paid the amount of money by the BOE that is required by the charter and the state. The BOE says the charter school is being funded with enough money to educate the 1,051 students it has enrolled, the limit set by the charter.
In December 2021, the Lake County Conservatives (LCC) and local Republicans jumped into the fray. They expressed their frustration at meetings of both boards, demanded that the issue be quickly resolved and offered to help so both boards could return to focusing on students.
For the last six months, while lawyers on both sides have been preparing briefs and holding day-long depositions with board members and administrators, Fields, head of the LCC and another member, Todd Ciavola, have been talking to members of both boards trying to facilitate a compromise.
A first offer by the BOE resulted in a counteroffer from LOA. The two boards were far apart. The latest offer came, according to BOE board member Perry Lee, following the April 21 BOE meeting. The details of the offers have not been made public.
Fields was hopeful because he had been in constant contact with Lee BOE Chair Mike Lynch, BOE Vice Chair Steve Kilgore and LOA Board chair Marc Lipscomb.
“Marc Lipscomb has done a yeoman’s job with me, trying to help figure this out,” Fields told the Lake Oconee News Tuesday. “Mike Lynch and Perry Lee have also done an outstanding job.”
“I think the Board of Education did a whale of a good job coming back with an offer and continuing this process,” he said. “I thought that pretty much summed up what LOA wanted and it gave both groups a way to get out of the lawsuit.”
But Monday night, Lipscomb could not attend the LOA Board meeting for medical reasons. Fields, Lynch, Kilgore and Lee were in the audience. There was a short 11-minute public meeting followed by a one hour closed executive session on legal and human resources issues, according to the meeting agenda.
When the LOA Board returned, only one personnel issue was approved before Vice Chair Michael Tompkins adjourned the meeting without any mention of the BOE’s latest offer or the lawsuit.
“They didn’t have the decency to say anything about it at all,” Fields said.
“I’m disappointed,” Lynch told the Lake Oconee News. “We were hoping to get this thing over with.”
As for LOA, Board attorney Dick Schmidt told the paper the BOE offer was not what they expected.
“We’re disappointed,” Schmidt said. “We are dedicated to trying to work this thing out, but it has to be a substantive offer. We are not slowing down. Who knows when we’ll get to court, and we’ll continue to try to negotiate with them. We will be responding to the offer.”
In the meantime, lawyers continue to depose board members and administrators on both sides. Court records indicate that any ruling to dismiss the case would come no sooner than September; longer, if the case goes to trial. More and more public money is spent on legal fees.
“I’m sitting through these depositions,” said Lynch. “I am very confident in our court case, but that isn’t really what is at issue here. The court case is going to go on for a while and it’s disruptive for the community. It’s disruptive for teaching kids.”
Fields says he’s going to keep trying even though, in his words, both boards hate each other.
“All we’re trying to do is help. I have said all along that we are in support of LOA and we are in support of Greene County,” Fields said. “I don’t know what we’re going to do as a county until these two boards decide that they’re going to work together for the betterment of all of Greene County. Or they retire and move on and we get some fresh blood in there to do what is necessary for the kids of Greene County. We’re a small county – we got 2,600 kids – this is not rocket science, good gosh.”
There was some actual business conducted at the LOA Board meeting Monday.
Tucker announced that LOA’s graduation ceremony will be Saturday, May 21, at 9 a.m. The baccalaureate will be Sunday, May 15.
The board set up three standing committees – Buildings and Grounds, Finance and Human Resources.
Tucker said that there are 339 applicants on the LOA enrollment waiting list for the coming school year. Seventeen of the students have priority because a parent works at LOA, serves on the LOA Board or has a sibling already enrolled in LOA.