Judie wants to bring structure, more to Macon Charter Academy

Ed Judie hasn't been out of the Bibb County school system long, but he's coming back to assist Macon Charter Academy.

The school's governing board presented Judie, the district's former assistant superintendent for student affairs, as their choice to serve as executive school administrative manager.

Judie, who has begun consulting with charter schools in hopes of diving into that field full time, said the work will be done without compensation, at least when he starts at MCA on Monday.

"To be honest with you, we have not discussed the money factor," he said. "Eventually, the people that assist us, they have to be paid. ... The sum would never exceed $50,000. Never."

Renaissance School Services was another option for MCA to help turn around its operations, but that group would charge the school an estimated $400,000.

Judie was replaced in his position with the school district at the end of the 2014-15 school year, when Superintendent Curtis Jones brought in Jamie Cassady for that job.

He said there were no hard feelings from that decision, though, because Jones had worked with Cassady in the Griffin-Spalding County school system.

"We're big boys, and at that level, we know that the superintendent is like the president," Judie said. "He has the right to bring in his own cabinet. ... He wanted someone that he felt safe with, that he felt comfortable with, and I have no problems with that."

Still, his experience in Bibb County will be an asset, even as the "last of the dinosaurs" from former Superintendent Romain Dallemand's administration. Judie knows there will be people who associate him with that oft-maligned period for the Bibb County school system, but he pointed to successful positive behavior initiatives he helped bring to Bibb County as evidence of what he did right during his tenure.

"Anyone over time can build relationships like I have," he said, noting that time was now an issue. "I'm a firm believer, when you're working under compressed problems and situations, it takes someone that already knows our children, can reach out to our resources, are familiar with our disciplinary and behavioral issues."

As part of his work with MCA, Judie said he'd bring in a team of experts from a variety of fields, ranging from discipline to the curriculum.

The discipline element has been a concern for MCA, and Principal Ron Boykins attributed some of that to an environment of violence across Macon-Bibb County that can't be corrected in just a few months by one school.

Boykins has worked at schools and school systems in Atlanta, New York and other locations, but he said the behavior of some students in MCA classrooms was more violent than he'd seen.

"Some of the things I've seen here have been a touch different," he said.

Judie conceded that violence had been an issue in Bibb County but no more than other areas of similar size and development. He said the key is structure, a concept he learned well during his 26 years in the Army.

"The social dynamics are not any different than they are in many of your urban environments," he said. "Violence comes somewhat with the territory; however, inside of our school setting, if there's high expectations, structure and everyone holding everyone accountable, I find that mitigates a lot of pieces. You have to have systems in place."

Part of that process might include revisiting Boykins' style of management at the school, and Judie also said he'd be trying to take some of the day-to-day operations away from the principal so he can focus on more important matters.

"The principal and his leadership team need to be able to focus on academic performance," he said.

Judie said the school had already taken a step in the right direction by coming to last week's called school board meeting with a plan in hand. That gave the Bibb County board an opportunity to hear from MCA's governing board, a facet of the scenario that was missing from last month's regular meeting discussion of the school.

"I think from that, it allowed our board to get a better idea of the situation," Jones said.

Even with Judie and his team in place, the future is far from certain for MCA, as termination of the school's charter remains a possibility for the Georgia Department of Education,

Judie noted that if he had been there from the beginning, he may have found that delaying the school's opening to gain a more secure footing might have been the better option.

Still, he took the opportunity to help keep the school open instead of second-guessing.

"I'd rather fall fighting than just to lie down," he said.

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

This story was originally published December 6, 2015 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Judie wants to bring structure, more to Macon Charter Academy ."