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Schools

UPDATE: IAS Has Charter Renewed

The Cobb County Board of Education voted to renew the charter of the International Academy of Smyrna but rejected three other charter schools.

Update

On Thursday night, the Cobb Board of Education voted 6-1 to grant International Academy of Smyrna's (IAS) request for a five-year renewal petition. Board member David Morgan voted against. The board’s decision applies to the 2012-13 school year.

IAS was the only charter school of four on Thursday’s agenda to be approved by the board on Thursday night. Read more about the votes at South Cobb Patch.

“(Thursday) night was very emotional, but it was a bittersweet moment because both the Mableton and Smyrna charter schools started at the same time and we were sister schools with us being Imagine schools to start out with,” said International Academy of Smyrna Board Chair Cheryl Wilson, one of the school’s founding members. “We’re very excited that we’ll be able to continue to offer parents a choice in education for their children.”

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Cobb County School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Hinojosa made a point to explain that the board had financial reservations about the IAS, but felt the school had made strides to create a fund balance and turn its financial situation around.

In other school board votes, board members approved three discussion items through unanimous decisions:

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  • Awarding a $4.3 million bid to purchase and install a new “Internet Protocol Based Security Camera and Surveillance System” to LMI Systems of Tucker from Oct. 1, 2011 to Sept. 30, 2012. District Public Safety Director Jim Arrowood told the board that the new cameras would be placed initially at the district’s 69 elementary schools since the high schools and middle schools already have cameras. The plan would place six external cameras and two internal cameras around each school.
  • Purchasing a HRMS/Payroll Solution from Tyler Technologies of Dallas, Texas, for $3,043,341 as the district replaces the Payroll and Human Resource Management System to “maximize the use of current technology and functionality” in multiple areas. Operational Deputy Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the district won’t use the new system until January 2013 as the old and new systems would run parallel “until we set a live date” to switch.
  • Purchasing 2.1 acres of land for construction of a second entry drive at Bryant Elementary for $169,900 from Ronald Weis and Eagle Lake Inc.

In non-voting news, board members Kathleen Angelucci of North Cobb’s Post 4 and Tim Stultz of Smyrna’s Post 2 announced that appointees they named to the citizens oversight Facilities & Technology Committee were leaving. Angelucci said Earl Stine would be replaced by Wayne Brown, and Stultz said Beth Pollard was moving to Jacksonville, Fla., to accept a job. Stultz said he planned to name Pollard’s replacement at the Oct. 12 work session.   

Scott Sweeney of East Cobb’s Post 6 closed the night by questioning the legality of the recent effort by Georgia to seek an alternative to the federal mandate of No Child Left Behind. He asked Hinojosa to find out from the Georgia Department of Education what the proposed changes would mean to the district since its Strategic Plan includes references to the accountability indicator.

Original Story

Two weeks after Superintendent Michael Hinojosa recommended the renewal of the charter of the (IAS), the Cobb Board of Education is expected to decide the fate of it and three other charter schools at Thursday's 7 p.m. meeting.

IAS did not make AYP in 2011 for the first time in the school’s four years, and Hinojosa said at the Sept. 14 meeting that he is concerned about a potential five-year operating loss of $2,566,326. But he did recommend approving the school’s renewal petition.

The charter school severed its relationship with Imagine Schools after the 2010-11 school year and became self-managed. That move is saving the school about $700,000 this year, IAS Treasurer Terald Melton said, and the school renegotiated its lease by $500,000.

IAS officials have verbally acknowledged that if the charter is renewed, the school will focus on advancing its International Baccalaureate status to that of an IB World School.

If the approximately 250 people that attended, the meeting tonight could feature a spirited discussion.

That's because Hinojosa’s recommendation to the School Board is not to renew 's charter request to extend its charter two more years instead of the usual five years.

“I think there will be quite a few people there,” said School Board member David Morgan, who held the town hall meeting Sept. 15.

“They will be making the case to have the renewal petition move forward. What I’ve tried to do the whole time is be very clear why I have the position that I have and to reinforce and back up my position with empirical data.”

Morgan’s biggest concern for the school has been its inability to live up to its original charter’s lofty goals of either meeting and exceeding target standards in the second and fifth years of its initial five-year charter. The school was to improve from the previous year at least 5 percentage points and exceed district and state averages.

Based on Morgan’s research, Imagine Mableton had 63 chances to meet the standards in its charter for reading, language arts and math, and it met only five for a total success rate of seven percent.

At the town hall meeting, a Mableton official said they had tried to change the school's charter several times with the district but the proposals were rejected by the board–a fact Morgan said he planned to verify since he wasn’t aware of any amendments coming before the board during his tenure. Morgan told Patch that he was told by district officials that none of the amendment proposals brought by the charter school were related to student achievement.

“Even if we agree to disagree, I’ve worked hard to communicate and connect to people that my position is very deliberate and thoughtful, and that I’ve been transparent and accessible,” Morgan said. “People are very emotional and passionate about Imagine Mableton, so the kind of response comes with the territory and you have to understand that when you’re in this position.”

If the pointed line of questioning that Imagine Principal Marcus Barber endured from the board when the charter school was discussed recently is any indication, Hinojosa’s recommendation to close the school after the 2011-12 academic year will likely be supported by the board.

Patch could not reach Barber for comment.

Despite Imagine Governing Board Chairwoman Joslyn Jackson telling the town hall audience that she believed Morgan had told board members how they should vote on the issue, when asked this week, Morgan said he didn’t know.

“I haven’t had a lot of conversations with my colleagues about it,” he said.

However, board member David Banks of East and Northeast Cobb’s Post 5 told Patch after the Sept. 14 meeting that he may vote in favor of keeping the school open.

“I just feel like that if it’s already in existence and the parents have made the decision to send their child to that charter school, there had to be a compelling reason,” he said. “As a member of the state, as a school board member, should I overrule the decision of a parent to send their child to a charter school?”

At the town hall meeting, Morgan told the audience that he also planned not to support Hinojosa’s recommendation to renew International Academy of Smyrna’s charter. Another Imagine charter in Marietta closed this school year.

The board also will vote on Hinojosa’s recommendation not to support the petitions of a pair of proposed charter schools, STEAM Academy of Cobb and Turning Point Charter Leadership Academy School of Excellence.

In addition to the charter school votes, the board will also vote on three other discussion items:

  • Purchasing 2.1 acres of land for construction of a second entry drive at Bryant Elementary for $169,900 from Ronald Weis and Eagle Lake Inc.
  • Awarding a $4.3 million bid to purchase and install a new “Internet Protocol Based Security Camera and Surveillance System” to LMI Systems from Oct. 1, 2011 to Sept. 30, 2012.
  • Authorizing purchasing a HRMS/Payroll Solution. The district will announce the winner of the low bid at the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, the board will also recognize:

  • Timber Ridge Elementary for being named a U.S. Dept. of Education 2011 National Blue Ribbon School. Timber Ridge is the 18th school in the district to earn the prestigious designation recognizing the nation’s most successful schools since the program began in 1982.
  • Cobb Public Safety Week from Oct. 3-9.
  • ASCA RAMP Recognition for Campbell and Hillgrove high schools, and Nickajack and Sope Creek elementary schools.

The board plans to convene at 5 p.m. to discuss legislative priorities, something Hinojosa has noted previously that he wanted to emphasize more under his leadership.

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