Macon Charter withdraws request for Bibb BOE approval for charter amendment

The new governing board for Macon Charter Academy has another obstacle to cross after withdrawing its request for approval of a charter amendment at Thursday's Bibb County school board meeting.

The withdrawal came after the MCA board revealed it had already signed a contract with Renaissance School Services. MCA was seeking approval from the Bibb board for an amendment that would allow such a contract, meaning the document should not have been signed already, said Bibb County school Superintendent Curtis Jones.

"It becomes concerning when you find out that agreement has already occurred," Jones said.

MCA board Chairman Ed Grant said that, under advisement of attorney Rob Fortson and Renaissance representatives, he and the board thought the Bibb board would be deciding whether to close the school during this week's meeting.

"So we had one week to come up with a new board, dig into this information and make a decision," Grant said.

That feeling was confirmed by MCA board member Linda Smith, formerly an administrator at Fort Valley State University.

"The choice this board had this week was hire this firm or close the doors," she said.

Grant went on to say that he and Renaissance representatives had signed the contract about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, just before the Bibb board's 4 p.m. committee meetings.

"I thought I needed to have it signed when I came in here," Grant said.

Board member Jason Downey told the new MCA board members -- which also included pharmacist Wade Scott, attorney John Carey, and parents Daisy Ross and Joseph Brothers Jr. -- that he thought they "tried to do what was best for the students." Still, he and other Bibb board members took issue with the order in which the steps were taken.

"At this point, what you have done is outside of the charter agreement," Downey said.

As a result, Jones recommended that the Bibb board take no action on the charter amendment. He said it would be up to the MCA board and state representatives to determine the next course of action, since MCA was now "out of compliance" with the terms of its charter.

"The truth is, they've already done what they've come here to ask us to do," Jones said.

Grant concurred with Jones' assessment of the situation and withdrew the school's request for approval.

At the Bibb board's request, Grant read an email that Associate State Superintendent Lou Erste sent to the MCA board members and members of the media Thursday afternoon, which lauded the "level of commitment" the MCA board showed in meeting three straight days earlier this week to handle the school's situation.

While she described the MCA board's efforts as "genuine," Bibb board member Wanda West said the email was part of a larger confusion that had become part of the situation.

"It feels like the process for dealing with this charter school problem is not in order from the state down," she said.

The Bibb County school board is next set to meet Jan. 21.

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

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 8:35 PM with the headline "Macon Charter withdraws request for Bibb BOE approval for charter amendment ."