Macon Charter board discusses state termination action

Macon Charter Academy's governing board held a called meeting Monday to discuss the revelation from last week that the state Department of Education had started the process to terminate the school's charter.

Board President Ed Grant said he first learned of the potential closure last Thursday at the same time media outlets were made aware.

"Prior to that, I had no knowledge or understanding that they were going to do that," he said.

Principal Tahisha Edwards also indicated that she had not received notice from the state about the potential action prior to media reports.

Lou Erste, associate state superintendent for charter schools, originally said that the school had been notified about the process Thursday morning. On Monday, The Telegraph obtained emails from Erste that showed Grant was forwarded a response Erste had already sent to media outlets' questions on the matter at about 12:20 p.m. on Thursday.

The state department was working on a more formal notice for the school that "should be done this week," Erste said in an email.

"We are finalizing a letter to MCA explaining their current status," Erste wrote.

The state accepted MCA's plan to work with Prestige Charter School Solutions in February, with Erste saying at that time that there were no plans to close the school.

Since then, Grant said school officials were trying to improve financial, operational and academic concerns that landed the school on state probation earlier in the school year.

"We were hard at work addressing all the issues that we had been cited for back in September," he said.

The board went into executive session Monday to discuss matters with legal counsel, but not before taking questions and concerns from parents. The parents that spoke expressed confusion at the way the state was perceived to have targeted MCA in its first year of operation.

Board member Daisy Ross, who has children at the school, said that she had discussed the situation with representatives of other charter schools.

"The result that happened with Macon Charter is not the result that happened with them," she said.

Grant, who described the school as a "godsend for Pleasant Hill," also pointed out that Bibb County school district officials had worked with MCA to resolve problems. He said prior indications were that the state would go along with district actions.

"That's not been the case," Grant said.

Further, Grant said it was "shocking" when he learned about the potential termination from his grandson instead of directly from state officials. He said he didn't have an answer when his grandson asked if the school was closing and would've liked more information from the state up front.

"It wasn't the right way that should've been handled," Grant said.

After executive session, the board -- with only Grant, Vice President Joseph Brothers, Ross and Thomas Duval present -- voted to retain the services of attorney Joel Callins out of Atlanta and gave Grant a $10,000 budget for potential legal action that won't require further board approval.

HighMark School Development provided start-up funds for the school to secure the location and other resources. HighMark CEO Glenn Hileman said that, if MCA's charter is terminated, HighMark will need to find other occupants for the building.

"We would need to secure and maintain the property until another school operator can be located," Hileman said in an email. "As an educational facility, we believe it will best serve Macon students."

To contact writer Jeremy Timmerman, call 744-4331 or find him on Twitter @MTJTimm.

This story was originally published April 4, 2016 at 9:45 PM with the headline "Macon Charter board discusses state termination action ."