Thursday, March 1, 2012
If approved, the measure would allow Georgians to vote in November on a proposed constitutional amendment to restore the state's power to approve charter schools.
The Senate on Wednesday tabled House Resolution 1162, which would allow Georgians to vote in November on a proposed constitutional amendment to restore the state's power to approve charter schools. According to the website of the Georgia General Assembly and an Associated Press report, lawmakers debated the issue for two hours, but didn't have the required 38 votes to get a two-thirds majority. The measure can be brought up again during any regular session of the Senate this year because the state House of Representatives approved the legislation by a vote of 123-48 last Wednesday. It cleared the Senate's Education and Youth Special Sub-Committee shortly thereafter. Ever since a May 16 Supreme Court of Georgia ruling dissolved the …
Monday, June 27, 2011
Charter committee recommends the Georgia Board of Education approve the school on Tuesday.
Three days after the Cherokee County Board of Education denied the Cherokee Charter Academy for a third time, a committee of the state Board of Education has recommended it for approval. "The charter committee is recommending approval to the full state board," said Justin Pauly, a spokesman with the Georgia Department of Education. "Cherokee is in that group to be voted as a state-chartered special school." The full board will meet by conference call at 9 a.m. Tuesday to decide the fate of Cherokee Charter and 10 other state-commissioned schools still in the lurch after a May 16 Supreme Court ruling. The call will be held at the Georgia Department of Education on the 20th floor of the East Tower. The department is located at 205 Jesse Hill…
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Frank Petruzielo said a school board member's decision to put the issue on Thursday's agenda was "ill-advised."
As the Cherokee County Board of Education prepares to discuss the county's first charter school, Superintendent Frank Petruzielo had harsh words for one board member. "It is ill-advised and premature for School Board Member Kim Cochran to call for a School Board vote on the resubmitted charter school petition before receiving and carefully reviewing legal, fiscal, programmatic and operational impact analyses from the School Board Attorney and Superintendent in this regard," he wrote in a statement. "It also is ill-advised and premature for Mrs. Cochran to call for a School Board vote on this issue six weeks ahead of the most important policy decision made annually by the School Board, which is adoption of a proposed ($527 Million) CCSD …
Friday, June 10, 2011
The district had announced a special meeting on June 30. Cherokee Charter Academy is now on the June 16 agenda.
A decision on the fate of the county's first charter school could come Thursday. The Cherokee County School District was to discuss the Cherokee Charter Academy during a specially called meeting at 7:30 p.m. June 30. That gathering may not be necessary. According to the agenda for the June 16 Cherokee County Board of Education meeting, school board member Kim Cochran will bring up the item. With the beginning of Cherokee Charter's inaugural school year just months away, supporters hoped the board, which twice rejected the academy's petition, would reconsider. Board members said last month that they could not recall a vote from last year but asked school officials to resubmit a revised petition to address flaws in the last one. Cherokee …
Friday, June 3, 2011
The Education and Youth Special Sub-Committee discussed short- and long-term solutions to help charter school students affected by a recent state Supreme Court ruling.
As the Cherokee County School District and the Cherokee Charter Academy leveled threats and accusations against one another, Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) and other members of a legislative subcommittee met at the state Capitol today to discuss ways to help Cherokee Charter and 15 other state-commissioned charter schools left in the lurch after the state Supreme Court struck down the 2008 Georgia Charter Schools Commission Act. According to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's D. Aileen Dodd, more than 300 people came "to hear ideas from lawmakers and education leaders on how to keep schools open following a state Supreme Court ruling that essentially invalidated the commission." From changes to the Georgia …
"The comments in your letter regarding the Georgia Open Records Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) are not accurate," Cherokee County School District writes to Cherokee Charter Academy.
Cherokee Charter Academy's quest to open in August took a nasty turn Thursday when the Cherokee County School District threatened to report the school to Attorney General Sam Olens for an alleged violation of the Georgia Open Records Request Act. Last Monday, Superintendent Frank Petruzielo requested a list of all students enrolled at the school as well as projected enrollment for each of the remaining four years of the proposed 5-year contract. He made the request under the Georgia Open Records Act, which requires a response within three business days. Cherokee Charter responded on May 27, but said it needed "additional time to compile the information." District spokeswoman Barbara Jacoby said in a letter sent to charter officials today …
Jes RN
4:30 pm on Thursday, June 16, 2011
Choices are always a good thing in education. Parents deserve the right to have options on how to best educate their children. A charter school in Cherokee County is just one of these ways, but a necessary step in the right direction. more ›