Cirrus Academy replaces principal in first month of school

The principal of Cirrus Academy, the newest charter school in Bibb County, has been replaced just weeks after the school opened.

The board of the state-approved charter school unanimously voted Aug. 26 to replace Michele Flowers with Gail Fowler as principal, founding member and board Chairman Sheldon Hart said Tuesday. School started Aug. 1.

“We’ve just been constantly evaluating our leadership in addition to our whole school staff,” Hart said. “We’re going to continue to evaluate staff … So we can continue to provide the best curriculum to our kids that we possibly can.”

Cirrus Academy, housed at the old Hamilton Elementary School in Macon’s Unionville neighborhood, is a state-approved charter school focused on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, or STEAM.

Hart said Flowers is no longer involved in the charter school in any way.

When asked if anything in particular led to the replacement, Hart said “We made what we felt was the best decision for the charter school at this time.”

Flowers had resigned as the Bibb County school district’s positive behavior intervention and support coordinator to become principal of Cirrus, Bibb County schools spokeswoman Stephanie Hartley said in an email to The Telegraph.

Attempts to reach Flowers were unsuccessful.

Fowler, a former Southwest High School principal, was chairwoman of the board of directors for the Macon Academy of Excellence. The academy was the first vision for a charter school by Charles and Monya Rutland, who would later found the recently shuttered Macon Charter Academy. In 2011, months after it was set to open, the Bibb County Board of Education terminated the Academy of Excellence’s charter, citing issues with the school’s organization and curriculum.

The change in principals at Cirrus comes about two months after the school announced Teresa Yarber, head of schools, was moving out of town. Yarber, who took the job in March, was replaced with Ashanti Johnson, who was assistant vice provost and professor at the University of Texas at Arlington before taking the job at Cirrus Academy in June.

This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Cirrus Academy replaces principal in first month of school."