Public Hearings on Charter Application Scheduled for July

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Gilmer County School District is slated to hold two public hearings next month on its pending charter application, according to an announcement this week. During Thursday night’s July board of education meeting, Gifted Curriculum Coordinator Carl Day announced the district will hold two public hearings on July 2nd at 9:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. at the board of education offices to hear further public input on Gilmer County’s Charter System Application. Day said several meetings have already been held in the community to get feedback from the public.

Gilmer’s efforts are a response to a state mandate requiring every school system in Georgia to decide on a designation for their district by July 2015. The three designations are Charter System, IE2 (Investment in Education Excellence) and Status Quo. The Charter System and IE2 differ in their authoritative structure, yet both receive waivers to certain state regulations. In contrast, though, Status Quo does not receive any waivers. During a talk in Fannin County last summer, DOE Policy Division Director Louis Erste explained that charters and IE2 systems receive waivers from certain state regulations, saving school systems money.

The charter application, though, has a touch of irony for Gilmer County. In May 2011, Oakland Elementary School was closed by the Gilmer BOE for what the board said was financial reasons
In the summer of 2011, Oakland tried to re-open as a charter school. The school’s efforts came to a zenith in February last year when the board agreed to hold a public meeting to discuss the charter petition with members of Oakland’s Board of Trustees.

Facing a full-house in the old BOE building, the board spent the night asking questions to the trustees, questions which mainly dealt with funding. The board said it could not afford another school in the system. Initially, the board closed Oakland due to financial strains, which was essentially the theme of the board’s denial letter. In the denial letter, Superintendent Bryan Dorsey also called Oakland’s Charter petition a duplication of services, saying that schools in the system already utilize strategies, such as project-based learning and virtual tours, which were outlined in the Oakland petition. The board officially denied the petition in April 2012.

During this week’s meeting, Mr. Day said 193 people responded to an earlier survey on Gilmer Charter Application, while 124 people participated in a previous meeting and between 60 and 70 people actively participated on the sub-committee. He also explained the hearings next month.

“(At the hearings) we’ll be pulling out certain parts of it to go over,”

he said.

“(And) we’ll be discussing how we came to what you have in front of you today.”

Posted on the district’s website, the 33 page document explains that charter systems must set their goals and base them on state assessment instruments, adding that all required assessments will continue to be administered. It also notes that charter systems are held to a higher accountability than non-charter systems. These standards, it says, will be reflected in a contract between the Gilmer BOE and the Georgia BOE.

“Each charter system submits an annual report reflecting the program of charter goals. If a charter system is not meeting their benchmarks support is offered by the DOE. At any point during the five year contract either party—the DOE or Gilmer County—can ask to modify the charter. Systems also have the option at the end of the charter petition to not renew their charter. A charter can be revoked at any time causing the system to revert to a status quo status with no waivers,”

the document states.

Day said the county has been working with a representative from the state department to prepare the application, saying she gave Day approval to present it to the board.

“She did say to anticipate the state to come back with a couple things,”

he said.

The board will vote on the application at the July 11th regular meeting.

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