Macon Charter Academy addresses Bibb school board at public meeting

Macon Charter Academy provided an update to the Bibb County board of education at its scheduled meeting Thursday evening.

MCA was placed on probation by the Georgia Department of Education near the end of September. Officials for MCA said the school has addressed most of the safety, board governance and operational issues highlighted by district and state reports.

"We do realize that we're getting a lot of coverage in The Telegraph, and we ask The Telegraph to please visit the other schools in Macon because they're feeling left out," said Ron Boykins, MCA's principal.

Boykins told the Bibb school board that MCA has a plan for how it's going to get better.

"Our challenge right now: We've got to stabilize," he said.

Board members questioned Boykins about the departure of the school's International Baccalaureate coordinator, who left last month. Boykins said the school has replaced the coordinator and is getting back on track to offer the IB program as a candidate school.

"Something I do believe," board member Wanda West said, is that "Macon Charter Academy has to put the IB concept at the forefront."

Board member Daryl Morton said "scrutiny is not always comfortable," but said he was glad that the issues came to light now rather than later. Morton also told MCA not to hesitate to ask for help from the district.

"I'm pulling for you guys," board member Lester Miller said. "I hope you do well."

Boykins said by the end of the year, MCA will be "the greatest success story that The Telegraph has ever written."

Also discussed at the meeting was an update of the truancy task force, presented by Jamie Cassady, assistant superintendent of student affairs, which is meant to help address the school district's truancy issues.

"We had our first meeting on Oct. 6," he said. "At that time, we heard three cases that involved seven students who were in violation of the attendance compulsory law."

Of those three cases, two of them received wrap-around services to help the families get the students back in school. An arrest warrant was issued to the parent/guardian in the last case.

Additionally, the following contracts were approved by the board:

A $134,000 contract to Howard Technology Solutions to provide iBoss Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) solution.

A $135,427 contract to Layer 3 Communications to provide the network electronics at Veterans Elementary, including all materials and labor.

A $115,368 contract to Business Interiors by Staples to provide the furniture for Riley Elementary School.

A $151,699 contract with McGee Storage & Handling for the warehouse racks, shelving and record storage solutions for the new operations center off Cavalier Drive.

To contact writer David Schick, call 744-4382 or find him on Twitter@davidcschick.

This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 8:19 PM with the headline "Macon Charter Academy addresses Bibb school board at public meeting ."