Longtime chairman of the Lake Oconee Academy Board of Governors, Mark Lipscomb, has retired from the governing body for Greene County’s charter school.
At Monday’s monthly meeting, Vice Chairman Michael Tompkins was voted in by the board as the new chairman. Board member Sarah Peacock will be the new vice chair. “We appreciate the many,
“We appreciate the many, many things that he’s done since 2005 when they formed a committee to just consider the option,” CEO Otho Tucker said about Lipscomb’s early role in helping create Lake Oconee Academy. “He was on the founding committee, the founding board, served as the vice chair and served as the chair. You can’t ask for more than he has done for this school.”
Tompkins has been vice chairman of the board since October 2020. His resume includes being a managing partner of a real estate investment firm and serving as chairman of the corporate board for Pete Nance Boys and Girls Club.
In 2017, Tompkins was the chairman of the Board of Governors of Union Point STEAM Academy, Greene County’s only other charter school. That’s when the charter was not renewed, due in part to disappointing test scores.
Tompkins takes over at a time when LOA’s lawsuit against the school district over funding continues to cause tension between the two bodies. The same two bodies must soon start negotiating a new charter. LOA’s current charter ends in 2024.
At its Monday meeting, the LOA board also approved a $13.6 million budget for the coming year. The budget assumes there will be 1,032 students funded by the county although current enrollment is higher than that. LOA also budgeted 128 employees, which includes 88 teachers.
The school’s only revenue comes from state and local taxes at a rate of $13,635 per student. About $422,000 is paid back to the Greene County School District as an administrative fee.
LOA Testing Coordinator Chrishandra Perkins showed the results of two national tests taken by students.
The NWEA tests for English and Language Arts showed students in grades K-8 at LOA scoring slightly higher than the national average. The same was true in the math tests, except for the fifth grade, which scored slightly lower than the national average.
“We already have some support in place for those students as they go to sixth grade,” Perkins said, “to make sure that we address those deficits.”
Regarding tests for Advanced Placement courses, every student who takes an AP course must take a test for that class. Students who take multiple AP classes will take multiple tests.
Of the 270 AP tests taken last year at LOA, 71 percent received a passing score. Tucker said that this is in line with results from previous years.
To put that in context, Tucker said 50 to 60 percent of students nationally pass the tests.
Also during Monday night’s meeting:
• Tucker said the new Arts building is expected to be completed by Oct. 1.
• The wait list for openings at LOA is 375 students with 12 of them given high priority as children who have siblings already enrolled at the school. Tucker made the point that there are enough children showing interest in grades K-11 to fill a new class at each grade level. LOA’s enrollment is limited by the current charter to 1,051 students.