Macon Charter issues lamented by parents, leaders at Bibb BOE meeting

Parents and educational leaders discussed the issues surrounding Macon Charter Academy at Thursday's Bibb County school board meeting, with criticism levied against the school's governing board.

A group of parents organized an effort to show up at the meeting to express their concerns.

"This board, they're just no good for the charter school," said Kelvin Ross, who has three children attending the school. "They've strayed so far from the initial charter."

Lonnicia Maxwell, chairwoman of MCA's board, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The parent group was organized, in part, by Joseph Brothers Jr., who has a fifth-grader at the school. He said that he had been trying to get an audience with MCA's board and got word of a meeting Monday evening, so he assumed that meeting would be an opportunity to state his case.

"With the meeting that was held Monday, there was actually contempt for us," he said. "Our board stood up and left."

He quoted an email from Lou Erste, the Georgia Department of Education's associate superintendent for charter schools. In the message, Erste cited enrollment losses and teacher resignations as reasons the school needed an "aggressive turnaround expert," and Renaissance School Services emerged during the search for such an expert, which involved the Georgia Charter Schools Association.

Robert Giordano, Renaissance's vice president, spoke at Thursday's meeting and described MCA as a "failing school" based on his assessment of enrollment data and other factors.

"We need to stabilize enrollment, work with the teachers, work with the parents and make them feel calm," Giordano said.

That effort would include data assessment and other initiatives to find solutions to MCA's various issues, including finances. The rebuilding process would start with existing faculty and staff, although evaluations would be made of each member of those groups to ensure the right people were in place.

Renaissance's services -- which include on-site leadership assistance -- would cost the school 9 percent of its total budget, an estimated $400,000 in MCA's case. That was a concern for board member Lester Miller.

"I think it would be very difficult for them to pay," Miller said.

Giordano said approximately five more days would be needed to determine if an arrangement with the school would be financially feasible.

Either way, a solution is needed if MCA is going to keep its charter, said Georgia Charter Schools Association President and CEO Tony Roberts. He pointed out that the lone action item at the meeting held Monday by MCA's governing board regarded the selection of a management organization like Renaissance.

The MCA board voted not to accept that form of assistance.

"They think they can do it themselves, but we've seen this problem before," Roberts said.

He recognized that the school's initial vision of being an International Baccalaureate feeder school was a good one but added that a "breakdown" was preventing MCA from moving toward that vision.

"It just breaks my heart because we're trying to put charter schools as an option for children where they might do better," Roberts said.

Glenn Hileman, CEO of HighMark School Development, also spoke at Thursday's meeting. HighMark was responsible for financing the facility for MCA, and Hileman was direct in his assessment of the issues.

"There is not a structure on that board that is functioning properly," he said.

The school's principal, Ron Boykins, urged caution with directing such criticism, though. He complimented the work he's seen so far from the governing board at MCA.

"We've got to be careful how we start pointing easy fingers," he said.

One issue he saw related to expectations from parents and community members. He pointed to the overall academic struggles of Bibb County schools and said that his teachers needed more time to get students on track. He said some of the students were several years behind academically before this school year, MCA's first.

"This is a lot of judgement on a school in its first three months," he said.

Bibb County school board members offered their support for the school but recognized that action needed to be taken to avoid MCA losing its charter. Superintendent Curtis Jones said he would work to get a meeting with MCA's governing board after next week's Thanksgiving break so the Bibb County board could hear all sides of the story and decide whether to remove members from the MCA board or take other action.

"The role of the board is to continue what we started, which is to approve the charter and support the school," he said.

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

CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated from an earlier version to reflect that Renaissance School Services emerged as a potential management organization for Macon Charter Academy as part of a search that involved the Georgia Charter Schools Association.

This story was originally published November 19, 2015 at 8:40 PM.