Nascent Bibb County charter schools shifting gears after recent snags

Charter schools have been a hot topic of discussion in Bibb County for a while, and three more are looking to join the mix.

The Academy for Classical Education and Macon Charter Academy are already operating. Cirrus Academy, Bloomfield Preparatory Academy and Dream Academy are trying to join them, with Dream most recently hitting a snag in the approval process.

The school submitted its petition to the Bibb County school board, but it included a proposal to use the Hutchings College and Career Academy facility on Riverside Drive. Last week, district officials told members of the school's governing board that building would not be available, so the school's organizers withdrew the petition.

"Once that was disclosed and we had no other plan, the only other option for us was to seek state approval," said Karla Redding-Andrews, a member of the school's governing board.

The school, expected to focus on the arts with the support of the Otis Redding Foundation, will apply for state approval in May, with hopes of opening for the 2017-18 school year. Redding-Andrews said the petition would need tweaking for state approval, which would allow for a statewide attendance zone, but she's not concerned.

"Things need to be changed, but I've got a real strong, determined board of directors that are ready to move forward."

The issue with the proposed school centered on the Hutchings location, which will still house school district technology offices as well as the central kitchen and an employee wellness center once career programs move to the Promise Center location on Anthony Road. The eventual plan is for downtown administrative offices to also move there, but that will come after current school projects.

In the Dream Academy petition, most of those district offices would remain on the site, with the wellness center needing to move when the school expanded its enrollment. There was no proposed alternative location for the school, so that led to an impasse, district Chief of Staff Keith Simmons said.

"That's the essence of the breakdown," he said.

Further, the petition referred to the academy's proposed acquisition of the property as a transfer of ownership, which was "certainly not the normal language in a petition," Simmons said. Because of the lack of availability for the site, the two sides never discussed a price for the facility.

"We just never got there," he said.

Redding-Andrews said the school's organizers would have had the assets to buy the building if the situation arose. She also noted that while state approval would make moving outside the county an option, that wasn't her preference.

"We would certainly love to stay in Bibb County," she said.

Bloomfield Prep has also faced obstacles in the approval process. The school was denied approval by the State Charter Schools Commission in August, then turned to the Bibb County school board, which also denied its petition last month.

That denial stemmed, in part, from misunderstandings related to the petition process.

"We were kind of confused about the process that was given to us," Jason McClendon, one of the school's organizers, said at that board meeting.

The district will now send a letter to the school officially explaining its decision and outlining potential steps the school's governing board could take in any future petition. Simmons said it was his understanding the school still planned to seek local approval, but the governing board could also turn to the state again.

"That's really up to them, as it is with any petitioner," Simmons said of potential changes to the petition.

The petitions come at the same time that school, district and state officials are dealing with documented financial and operational issues at Macon Charter Academy, which opened its doors in 2015. While Simmons said the experience had opened the eyes of district staff and board members to specific challenges that charter schools face, he said each petition is handled independently.

"It would not be fair to say that because Macon Charter has faced trouble, it will be more difficult for another petitioner," Simmons said.

Cirrus Academy, which has already gained state approval, is expected to open in August on the old Hamilton Elementary School site near the intersection of Pio Nono Avenue and Mercer University Drive. That could make three state-approved charter schools in Bibb County, if the other two complete the process successfully.

While that would mean the state would be accountable for those schools' success instead of the Bibb County school district, it would pull students and associated funding from Bibb County schools.

Simmons said that would require the district to more closely "monitor the pulse of the community" in making future decisions.

"It does create some difficulty, but that's just a call to be more strategic, more responsive," he said.

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

This story was originally published February 14, 2016 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Nascent Bibb County charter schools shifting gears after recent snags ."