Chairman Lassiter Charts Course for Charter School

Community

After 144 years of operation the Oakland Elementary School will be closing. Issac Lassiter and a group of Gilmer citizens took exception to the school’s closing; therefore, this group has decided to petition for a charter school in Gilmer County, using the building that, until the end of the current school year, houses Oakland Elementary School.“The core motivation for starting the charter school is certainly the closing of Oakland Elementary School” Lassiter said. “There is a segment of the population that has come to depend on, and is built around, having a school in that community.”

His feelings were echoed by Robin Sanford, a concerned Gilmer parent who is involved with the public relations and marketing of the charter school petition. She said, “I was very upset about the closing of Oakland.”

Gilmer citizens listen intently to Lassiter’s presentation
(Photo by LT Melton)

When asked to define a charter school, Lassiter explained thusly, “a charter school is a free public school that has open enrollment, and the point of charter schools is that the charter school, if approved, is granted waivers of state laws and state education laws in exchange for better performance.”

In layman’s terms, a charter school is a public school that has the leeway of a private school, as long as students’ performance is on par with the academic standards set by state and federal government. The performance is based on the CRTC (State) and ITBS (National) standardized tests.

Robin Sanford (L)
Rachel Reece (M)
Issac Lassiter (R) Pre-presentation discussion
(Photo by LT Melton)

The charter school, if approved, would be headed by a board of trustees, who would in turn hire a principal/headmaster who would be completely in charge of the hiring, and if need be firing, of teachers.

In a power point presentation to the citizens of Gilmer County, Lassiter laid out the basic types and specifics of charter schools. A dependent charter school features conversion schools or systems, where an existing school or school system is converted to a charter school. An independent charter school, is a “new school authorized by (the) local school district or GA Charter Schools Commission.” The proposed Oakland Academy Charter School would fall in the latter category. Oakland Elementary is closing, not being converted. 54% of the charter schools in Georgia are start ups.

The Georgia Charter Schools Commission is the approving body of charter schools in the state of Georgia. Lassiter and his cohorts will be seeking approval from the Commission, as well as the local and state boards of education. The group is asking for a waiver in order to petition for the 2012 school year, due to the deadline for petition being February 1st. However, the local Board of Education did not present the idea of closing Oakland Elementary until February 8th and the decision to close the school was not made until March.

Damon Walker, Field Rep for Congressman Tom Graves (L) poses with Lassiter (R)
(Photo by LT Melton)

Lassiter is hopeful that approval will be done on the local level, which would enable the local school board to be privy to three percent of the state funds allocated to the charter school, as well as some oversight of the school itself. If, however, the charter school advocates have to petition the Georgia Charter Schools Commission independently without local school board approval, then if approval is granted the charter school would be totally autonomous and the local school board would have no access to the three percent. The appropriated funds come via three ways: federal funding, which is based on programmatic eligibility; state funds, based on pupil population; and local funds based on the millage rate.

Some parents involved in the petition process are skeptical of local school board support. Rachel Reece a concerned Gilmer parent, who is also involved in the public relations and marketing of the charter school, complained of difficulty getting the charter school message out.

“We’re having a hard time getting our information out right now, but we just started,” she said. “We can’t give out any information in (the) public schools.” Reece also said, “they just won’t let us.”

While some may feel that the charter school competing with the status quo could be detrimental, Lassiter and those behind the charter school petition feel the opposite way. Lassiter wants students to compete on a global level.

“It’s going to raise the bar” Lassiter said. He also told us that, “the American system of education is flawed, and that is basically creating a whole generations of students that are not meeting performance standards that are comparable to kids in other countries. One of our most important things, we want to be world class.”

Reece echoed his sentiment. “Any time you have some competition it’s going to raise your standards,” she said.

The Oakland Academy Charter School has a projected start date of August 2012, for any additional information please visit oaklandcharterschool.com

Oakland Academy Charter School Presentation from Fetch on Vimeo.

Oakland Academy Charter School Presentation 2 from Fetch on Vimeo.

Oakland Academy Charter School Presentation 3 from Fetch on Vimeo.

Oakland Academy Charter School Presentation 4 from Fetch on Vimeo.

Oakland Academy Charter School Presentation 5 from Fetch on Vimeo.

Oakland Academy Charter School Presentation 6 from Fetch on Vimeo.

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