Macon Charter Academy plans to start school Aug. 1

Macon Charter Academy plans to open for a new school year on Aug. 1, in the face of a state threat to close it down about two weeks later.

Thursday night, the school’s governing board also elected Monya Rutland, one of the school’s co-founders, as its new leader.

Rutland replaces Ed Grant, who is moving to the board’s advisory committee along with former board members Linda Smyth and Thomas Duval, according to a statement from the school. The moves came during a called meeting Thursday night.

The board named Norman Brown, Lucius Pitts and Stephanie Parker as new members for the fiscal year that begins July 1. They will join current board members Renay Bloom and Daisy Ross.

The new board's primary focus will be to finish a “charter restructure plan” that it hopes will stave off the state school board’s bid to terminate MCA’s charter, or the contract it operates under. On Friday, the state board set an Aug. 18 hearing date on matter.

Rutland said Friday that the plan is to open with improvements in place that will demonstrate the school’s commitment to local and state leaders.

“We’ve been operating a school, but we’ve been to school too,” she said. “We know there’ve been hiccups, ups and downs. We acknowledge that and take ownership of it.

“We want to show the positive impact and progress that’s been made to the state, the district and the community as well. ... There’s another story that’s yet to be told.”

A summer enrichment program that’s drawn “at least 100 students” is among the changes and promising signs, she said, and about 500 students are lined up to start classes in August.

The board aims to show “measurable growth” and come off probation during the 2016-2017 school year. If so, it will seek renewal from the state. If not, “then the board will respectfully surrender MCA's charter.”

The statement concluded, “We must put the adult issues aside, focus on the scholars first and work as a team. If we do that we will not fail."

The school’s governing board has been reconstituted several times since MCA — Bibb County’s second charter school — opened last August. Classes were held at the Macon Coliseum for three weeks before students and teachers moved to the Madison Street school. Student enrollment figures did not meet projections, and then parents and employees complained bitterly about problems at the school — from academics to discipline — during a board meeting Sept. 22.

Soon, the school was put on probation and told to devise and implement a corrective action plan. Among the restrictions of probation were that the school could not recruit students.

The new board plans to seek a shorter charter term, to end in June 2017 instead of June 2019, and to request a waiver of the recruitment restrictions, which would allow the school to enroll new students for the upcoming school year.

The board also plans to dismiss the reorganization case that the school filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court earlier this year.

"We are so confident in our ability to execute under this plan that we are willing to put everything at risk. If we can receive the support of our (state board of education) and district under this new plan, we will have the freedom and latitude to follow through to create a win-win for our scholars and our community," Rutland said in the statement.

This past fall, an earlier governing board tried to cut ties with the Rutlands and their nonprofit school-management company, Passport Educational Partners.

The school statement released early Friday quoted Latosha Clyde, a member of the school’s Parent Power Organization.

“The parents are excited that one of our founders is now on the board,” it said. “Everything worked as smooth as butter when the founders were involved. We started having problems and losing our direction when a former board tried to sever relations with them.”

This story was originally published July 1, 2016 at 9:16 AM with the headline "Macon Charter Academy plans to start school Aug. 1."