The is meeting in a special session at . Other than a personnel report, the only item on the agenda is a decision on whether to grant a charter to , which lost its state charter when the state Supreme Court ruled . Technology willing, we'll be tweeting from the meeting (@CantonSxesPatch) and copying the tweets here for expansion and discussion. Here's the school administration's . The school hopes to open this fall with more than 900 students.
That's a wrap from the high school. We'll have some photos and video up before the morning.
8:15 p.m. Just to clarify the numbers involved, according to Petruzielo: The charter proposal to start with 995 students would have cost $6.8 million this coming school year, and the total over five years would have been almost $40 million as the student body rose to 1,145 students. The original proposal for 710 students increasing slightly over time would have started at a cost of $5 million and risen some over the following four years. The school system administration's modified offer of 500 students with no increase would have cost $3.4 million a year. That cost would have been covered through some combination of teacher layoffs, delayed step increases for teachers and/or millage rate increases.
8:09 p.m. The board votes 4-3 against the charter proposal. Rechsteiner, Chapman, Read and Wofford vote no. Geist, Chochran and Usher vote yes.
8:06 p.m. Petruzielo: We can't support the petition for 975 students. We could work with a modified plan for something around 550.
8:04 p.m. He sees major congenital defects in the charter petition that have been there since 2008. "I don't think we can be in a trust-me mode."
8:03 p.m. Petruzielo says the impact this coming school year would be $6.8 million to the budget and more than $40 million over the five years of the charter. "There is no way that you could have that kind of impact and not make some very draconian decisions."
7:59 p.m. Chairman Robert Rechsteiner says he did a lot of homework, including talking to other charter schools and the Georgia School Boards Association.
I'm a big proponent of choice."
7:51 p.m. Robert Wofford is concerned about the dollars being taken away from the kids and about the timing with only about seven weeks before school starts. He also says he's never worked in a public school that could turn down a child in the district. He says the concept of a charter school is great. But not necessarily this proposal from a for-profit school. He has no doubts that the school will be successful if it passes. He has too many questions on this petition.
7:49 p.m. Rob Usher says he's in favor of the charter school.
7:47 p.m. Chapman says he thinks it's a violation of ethics if Geist votes because his children have been accepted to the charter. Geist says he has checked into it, and he's OK to vote and intends to do so.
7:44 p.m. Chapman: I'm for charter schools, but this doesn't offer anything different or better.
7:40 p.m. Mike Chapman gets the loudest applause of the night when he says people have a choice if they don't like the schools: They can leave.
7:35 p.m. The board members are taking turns addressing the petition. Geist is for it. Kim Cochran is for it. Janet Read is against it. Mike Chapman is against it.
7:22 p.m. Geist says he can send his children to the school and be a big supporter of the public school system.
7:20 p.m. Board member Mike Geist makes the motion to approve the revised charter petition.
7:14 p.m. Superintendent Frank Petruzielo lays out the options, then says, "I think everybody wants a decision made this evening."
7:08 p.m. Speaker 28, Dennis Conway: Charter schools are fine, but we don't need one in the next 40 days. Vote not and don't rush to judgment. That's the last speaker.
7:06 p.m. Speaker 27, another teacher: Teacher are here from passion, not fear. "Mediocrity has never been acceptable." Vote no, she says.
7:04 p.m. Speaker 25: School system supporters are not bullies. "Please vote no for this particular choice of a charter school for Cherokee County."
7:01 p.m. Speaker 24 is Jon Hage, the head of Charter Schools USA. He wants to be a partner with the school system. Hage says the charter is not for profit, and the company is for profit only to raise money to be the best school system possible.
6:55 p.m. Speaker 23: “If we cared this much about everything, our children would do nothing but succeed in this county.” She's pro-charter, but not this charter. She wants one that's something new and different from a nonprofit company.
6:54 p.m. Speaker 22 is the mother of a special-needs child: "I am advocating choice, pure and simple." She wants the charter.
6:50 p.m. Speaker 21: “We want another option for Cherokee County. … We want to ramp it up.”
6:49 p.m. Speaker 20: The charter academy is a public school. It costs nothing to parents. And the county school board remains atop the governance structure.
6:46 p.m. Speaker 19: “There are great teachers out here, but not every school is best for every child.” She's pro-charter.
6:45 p.m. Speaker 18 is from accrediting agency AdvancED. She praises Charter Schools USA and says it has earned accreditation.
6:43 p.m. Speaker 17, an ex-Army officer and dad of five who is pro-charter: “I put my live on the line for choice in America.” He wants options for every child.
6:40 p.m. Speaker 16 is a teacher: "Why give millions of dollars to one school that would take away from all other schools?"
6:36 p.m. Speaker 15 is Tony Roberts, who heads the Georgia Charter Schools Association. He calls for a partnership between the system and academy.
6:34 p.m. Speaker 14, Heather Blevins, a member of the charter academy's governing board: My funds should go to my daughter's education, and the school system isn't meeting her needs.
6:32 p.m. Speaker 13: As a businessman, I don’t believe this proposal is in the best interests of this county.
6:30 p.m. Speaker 12 is an analyst from New York City who evaluates public schools of choice on three metrics: quality education; demand; financially viability. He says the answer is yes across the board.
6:28 p.m. Speaker 11, a mother of four: “Listen to the 2,600 applicants … that support choice. ... What I'm getting isn't working."
6:26 p.m. Speaker 10, the first for the charter: Our troops fight for freedoms such as choice. "Why are you so adamant on removing htat freedom?"
6:24 p.m. Speaker 9: Comparing success at AYP and SATs, Charter Schools USA is way behind Cherokee. “Would this not be a step backwards?”
6:22 p.m. Speaker 8: This groups wants “no accountability for the rules and regulations we as a community have established,” so vote no.
6:20 p.m. Speaker 7: "We already have school choice," the choice to get involved in the public schools, PTAs, meetings, etc. So vote no.
6:18 p.m. Speaker 6: "You were elected to serve all the children of Cherokee County," so vote no.
6:16 p.m. Speaker 5: “This is not a model that we want in Cherokee County.”
6:14 p.m. Speaker 4: This request is “economic segregation. ... How many middle-class people can afford this?"
6:12 p.m. Speaker 3: I don’t understand when people say the school system hasn’t met their needs. “I think the Cherokee County schools are wonderful."
6:10 p.m. Speaker 2, Phil Dodge of Canton: In suburban districts, charter schools don’t perform as well as public schools. "This application: Is it of such high quality that you think it will be better?"
6:08 p.m. First speaker Elizabeth Kruk of Woodstock moved to Cherokee from Cobb to take a leap of faith on the public schools. "The leap of faith has paid off." She's now a teacher. She questions why people want to fix what isn't broken.
6:04 p.m. The personnel report is approved, and it's on to the charter school.
6:03 p.m. We’re underway.
5:44 p.m. The two sides are largely sticking to their color schemes: red for charter supporters, black for opponents. Kind of like Italy around 1870.
5:40 p.m. Unlike eight days ago, the room has plenty of seats available. The 1,000-seat auditorium is perhaps half-full.
If the charter approach is so important to you, gather a group of parents and jump through the hoops to create your own charter. The most successful charter schools that I have read about are ones that have been started on the grassroots level and are literally run by parents in their community. And most importantly, they do not need any corporation taking a cut of taxpayer’s money. If you want to make a change, the best way is to volunteer at your school and encourage others to do the same.
Also, you should probably know that just because a school is one of the lowest in Cherokee county doesn't mean that it is a bad school. Our worst schools would most likely be ranked in the top schools of those counties to our south. Also, the ranking is only based on how well the children score on these tests, not how well the teachers educated your child. If your school is 50% ESOL, there is a very high chance that they will not test well due to language barriers. Consider this an opportunity for your child to learn about other cultures. I may have read this wrong, but it does sound a bit like you only want your child out because there are too many minority students at the current school...
BJ, does your lobbying firm happen to be receiving funds for lobbying on behalf of charter schools? PARENTS, OPEN YOUR EYES AND DO NOT BE DECEIVED! As Georgia Moderate said, "all you have to do is follow the money..." http://www.thevangundygroup.com/aboutus.html
Your post is ridiculous. The doors opened for everyone, regardless of their ideas, at the same time. The teachers that spoke are also concerned parents and were not speaking because of a fear for their jobs or paychecks. Everyone had the same opportunity to sign up to speak as they entered the auditorium, and seating was equally available to all. The 38000 parents that support CCSD may not have all been in attendance, but neither were the 2600 supporters of the charter school. As a teacher, and more importantly as a parent, I thought the meeting was fair and just. How could the Board possibly vote yes to amendments that they had not had an opportunity to read and review? That's crazy to think they would! That would be like me signing a loan and not reading the terms...not going to happen! I agree with the last speaker of the evening. Charter schools are great options for some students, but why rush into it? Let's take a year to work out the kinks with this one so that it is truly beneficial for ALL students.
I don't believe in the false "choice" waved around by some politicians. There is a great deal of rhetoric that tends to support the position that government has no place in education, and we're seeing a movement toward privatization. This mirrors many other areas of privatization of services, such as prisons and toll roads. Most privatized services usually have no positive impact, either in financial savings or improvement in service delivery. Over the long hall - i.e. "the war on drugs" - we see that they actually cost the taxpayer much more. The same applies to toll road privatization as well. The rhetoric is always consistent in its emotional appeal. We must look behind the words used to see who, exactly, is benefiting in the end, and who is responsible at the forefront. And when we see ALEC involved, which they are, in crafting model legislation, it's always the super-wealthy and their corporate entities that will benefit.
Hope that helps.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110625/NEWS13/106250307/Palm-Bay-charter-school-waits-possible-closure School was started by Charter USA in 2006 and turned over to an associated (shell?) company Patriot Charter School LLC when the school was finacially plagued and academically underperforming. I'm a fan of Charter Schools but I believe the School Board may well be justified in their caution. Taxpays in Brevard Florida are currently stuck with $21 million debt.
Why is it that it is more important to all of these anti-charter forces in Cherokee County that the jobs of the teachers be protected rather than parents being able to do what they can to do what they believe will improve the education of their children? The problem we have is those that manage the status quo are more interested in maintaining the status quo than they are in educating our children.
Make that change and the Etowah zone parents will be singing a different tune.
I am a parent, not a teacher, just a parent. I arrived at 3:30 pm for last nights meeting. Why? I saw on the news how hundreds, HUNDREDS, were left out of the previous meeting. I didn't want to arrive too late to get inside as happened to so many the week before. At 4pm the rally for the supporters of the Charter school began in Bowling Park right below the high school where the meeting was held. The school board, the teachers, and those parents like myself who were against the charter school had no such rally. We opted to spend that time, lining up in the lobby of the gym. I'm sorry if your rally kept you from being front and center, you had the CHOICE to skip the rally and arrive like I did, early to line up. When the doors were opened at 5pm I walked to the front of the room. Row 3. Guess who sat in front of me, a Charter supporter. When I saw two board members insist on voting on that proposal they were given 5 minutes before the meeting, knowing full well they hadn't read it the writing was on the wall. Those three "for" the charter school wanted it regardless of what the offer was. How can they say they have the best interest for all at heart when they opt to vote on something they couldn't possibly have read? The ONLY vote last night should have been no, because NONE of the members had been given time to read the proposal they INSISTED on voting on. The more I hear about this particular charter the more relieved I am we opted NO!
Charter Schools USA:Bad For profit charter management companies are not the way to go. I sent my kids to a charter school. Was it good for them? Yes. They excelled. The school didn't offer anything drastically different than what was taught in the local system, but the delivery method was different and the materials went beyond GPS. The school also didn't "teach to the test" with regard to the CRCT and GPS. The school was also small compared to the sprawling campuses of my local district. I knew ALL the kids and all the parents. The school was SACS accredited as well. That being said, I am glad the school board denied the request simply based on the for profit management companies practices, the boiler-plate proposal, and the shell game they play with real estate and taxpayer money. I did find it disingenuous to speak of "cost" by the Superintendant. The money is spent regardless of where the student's butt sits. The district "loses" nothing. The overhead for those students simply is shifted elsewhere. Good move by the board denying the petition but the campaign of misinformation from the super on finances and the general lack of knowledge of how charter schools really work by most citizen opponents was disheartening.
I'm not convinced on the charter petition, specifically in Cherokee, though. Your comment to Stephanie "How about we figure out what is going on in the Second grade at William G and duplicate it? Something good is happening there." - I agree with wholeheartedly. Let's fix our public schools, and make it part of the process to include ongoing review for continual improvement. Other than very targeted charters that offer unique curriculum, or situations where the school system is failing, I don't see the need. I'm not a big fan of privatization, period.
The charter school debate should be "What REAL benefit does it bring at what REAL cost?" In the case of CSUSA, they aren't bringing much to the curriculum. However, the cost is that CSUSA is going to be siphoning $1,000,000+ each year out of our community and away from the real purpose of schools...EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN. Most charter school proponants appear to be incompetent, arrogant, or just plain stupid.