School will include addendum on enrollment cap
The dispute between Lake Oconee Academy and the Greene County Board of Education concerning the renewal of LOA’s charter continued on Dec. 4 with the LOA board approving a version of the application that will be submitted to the state.
However, LOA voted to include an addendum with the application outlining an issue it has with the final draft of the agreement.
“We need to figure out a way to disagree without poisoning the relationship,” LOA governance board chairman Michael Tompkins said.
Further talks between LOA’s board and the BOE were suggested but at this point, it is unclear if more negotiations are possible before the end of the year.
“We can’t seem to get together for the benefit of the children of this county,” LOA Board of Governors Secretary Dick Schmidt said.
The sticking point for Lake Oconee Academy remains the enrollment cap the BOE wants strictly enforced for the next five years.
According to the application, LOA would face a hard cap of 1,130 students in FY2024 after the charter’s renewal and 1,144 students each year for the remaining four years.
LOA says it currently has a waiting list of 370 students. LOA says it is willing to provide the funding necessary to cover the cost of educating the extra students to relieve the BOE of any financial responsibilities for additional students.
LOA is requesting the flexibility to exceed the enrollment cap to give priority enrollment to children of full-time employees. A nationwide teacher shortage is impacting recruitment efforts for teachers and schools in rural areas sometimes have a more difficult time finding qualified educators.
“If we cap the enrollment at 1,144, we don’t have an incentive to bring teachers here,” LOA Executive Director Brad Bowling said. “We continue to maintain that the ability of teachers to enroll their children at LOA often provides the main, if not the singular reason for professionals to accept a position at LOA. We’ve been able to create a great place for kids. It’s innovative and we’re able to do really neat things, but some of that is taken away if we’re not able to recruit the best and the brightest.”
Bowling said the increase in student population would be dependent on factors such as turnover. The numbers are difficult to project but Bowling said it could be as many as 30 but could also be substantially fewer.
The capacity number of 1,144 was determined by class sizes and not the capacity of buildings on the campus, according to material in the LOA meeting packet.
Board member Jennifer Vaughn said she was disturbed by accusations from the BOE that LOA had not made sufficient efforts to diversify its staff and student body.
“They are the ones preventing us from allowing extra kids into the school,” Vaughan said. “They are preventing that from happening, yet they’re holding us accountable for it.”
Schmidt said that charter schools are generally created by school districts that are not educating children at the level parents are demanding.
“And a charter school cannot exist unless they are performing at a higher level than a normal school,” Schmidt said. “Since [LOA’s] inception we have been trying to export our success without success.”
The Charter renewal petition was first submitted on April 11 by LOA. The BOE and the LOA board have been squabbling over it since.
During the summer, the Greene County Board of Education approved its Strategic Plan for the next five years, a document containing an error that would cause quite a bit of consternation among some parents and stakeholders.
Near the end of the 55-page document under the heading of BOE goals, there was a statement concerning the desire of the GCSS to transition into a charter system.
One of the action strategies included in the document said that GCSS wanted to move from a strategic waiver school system and to “grow a system of schools leading to one common high school with both Advanced Academics and Career Academy.”
Some interpreted the entry about moving to a system with one common high school as a possible threat to Lake Oconee Academy’s High School programs.
Given the lawsuit involving enrollment and funding and other recent squabbles between the GCBOE and LOA, the confusion and speculation about the strategic plan document started almost immediately on social media.
The BOE voted to strike the sentence indicating a desire to move to a system of schools with one common high school and to replace it with the following: “To move to a school system where all the relevant boards work together for the benefit of all the students.”
According to Tompkins, the BOE seemed to draw a line in the sand on Nov. 16 when it delivered what has been characterized as a final charter renewal application with amendments LOA board members say they have not yet agreed to. The BOE also said no more discussions would take place.
However, District 4 BOE representative Maggie Kjer and Board Chairman Perry Lee attended the LOA board meeting and got involved in a lively discussion of the issues with LOA board members and some interested parents after the meeting adjourned.