GREENE COUNTY
Monday was day 810 in the lawsuit by Lake Oconee Academy against the Greene County Board of Education over the amount of money LOA receives per student enrolled at the charter school.
That totals two years, two months, and 18 days of arguments – public and private – acrimony, counterclaims by the BOE against LOA as well as pressure from parents, public organizations, politicians, and even the Greene County Development Authority to resolve the dispute. Everyone, including the educators involved, says they want to resolve what has become a disruptive distraction and return to a 100 percent focus on fixing the county’s uneven patchwork system of educating the county’s children.
Many times, the public has been told negotiations are close, only to break down over undisclosed issues.
Finally, on Oct. 16, the two bodies signed a “draft agreement.” That was almost two months ago. But, as simple as the one-page document was, the lawyers cannot seem to be able to come up with a legal document that satisfies both sides.
Monday, there was word on the street that the LOA board was going to vote at their meeting on the latest version of the legal settlement.
It did not happen. The LOA Board came of out a 45-minute executive session and adjourned the meeting without voting on a settlement or even discussing the legal action.
Tuesday, a frustrated BOE Chairman Mike Lynch told the Lake Oconee News that he blames LOA for the delay by trying to add new things to the “draft agreement.”
Lynch said that following the Oct. 16 “draft agreement,” LOA sent to the BOE for approval versions of the proposed legal document that included six new issues that are not included in the “draft agreement.”
Among them, he said, were a two-year extension of the charter agreement, a penalty charge if BOE is late in making monthly payments to LOA and a measure banning each side from making disparaging remarks about the other.
As of press time, the documents had not been given to the Lake Oconee News.
In response, an equally frustrated LOA Board Chairman Michael Tompkins said the Lake Oconee News was given bad information.
“You’re telling me that he’s given you a list of six items,” said Tompkins, “and at least four of them are just totally out of context or not said.”
About including a two-year extension of the charter, Tompkins said, “Unbelievable.”
A penalty for BOE making late payments? “That is not true,” he said. And prohibiting each side from saying bad things about the other?
“What? I know that we didn’t put that in but one of the iterations that came from the district over the last year or so; they had put that in there.”
Tompkins did admit to one addition that would require the loser of future lawsuits between them to pay all the attorney’s fees.
“We feel like we’re agreeing to make some huge compromises,” Tompkins said, “and if we’ve got to turn around and sue them again for them to perform on that, then we want to get reimbursed for our attorney’s fees.”
Hours after the Monday meeting, the LOA board announced a special called meeting for Wednesday, Dec. 14. Lynch confirmed that, if enough LOA board members would be at the meeting, he would attend the closed, executive session to discuss the differences.
Lynch says most of the six items he mentioned were removed during subsequent rewrites in the past few weeks.
The meeting next week will give him a chance to make a presentation regarding what he called the last remaining major issue. That is the $1,366,629 the BOE agreed to pay to LOA as part of the “draft agreement.” LOA thinks they will be required to pay back the money, which is not part of the draft agreement, according to LOA board member Jennifer Vaughn. Lynch says the confusion is just an internal accounting issue.
Theoretically, the LOA board could vote after the Dec. 14 meeting and the next night, Thursday, Dec. 15, the BOE meets in regular session and could also vote on a legal agreement.
“I’ll do anything to get this thing settled,” Lynch said. “The facts speak for themselves,” said Tompkins on Tuesday. “I think he's coming to our meeting next Wednesday night…that’s a big step moving in the right direction.”
In the meantime, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Emily Richardson, who has been fed documents, evidence, and depositions, as well as holding a Zoom hearing last month, had not made a ruling in the case as of press time on Wednesday. Either way, the verdict is likely to be appealed, unless both parties decide, instead, to sign a legal version of the Oct. 16 draft agreement.
And months from now, the BOE and LOA are expected to negotiate a new charter for LOA since the current charter expires in 2024.