Byron-Peach Charter School faces another delay in opening

For the second year in a row, the opening of Byron-Peach Charter School has been delayed.

Roy Lewis, chairman of the school’s governing board, said that the school would not be able to open for the 2016-17 school year after being denied a grant through the Federal Charter School Program.

“We’re going to have to postpone opening this year and try again next year, it looks like,” Lewis said.

In March, Lewis said the grant would be necessary for opening this year but that he was optimistic about the school’s chances. According to a letter from the federal Department of Education, 13 schools were chosen from 51 applicants.

“It was just very competitive,” Lewis said.

He said that the grant was seemingly awarded to schools with different demographics and poverty levels than the proposed school in Byron, located in the northern portion of Peach County. Byron-Peach Charter was given state approval in 2014.

“Ours didn’t match up as well as some of them,” Lewis said.

The racial makeup of the school has long been a concern, especially since a federal desegregation order was partially lifted for Peach County last October. Prior to that, U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell issued an order allowing Byron-Peach Charter to open but requiring several steps to make sure the demographics of the school were not exclusive based on race or city of residence within the county.

That included providing transportation to students from various parts of the county and making a plan to ensure the black enrollment of Byron-Peach Charter was within 15 percent of the ratio of black students in the county’s regular public schools.

“The plan will identify possible causes of the enrollment disparities and any barriers to enrollment,” the order stated. “The plan will outline measures BPCS will undertake to increase black student enrollment.”

That order was issued in May of 2015, which prevented the school from opening for 2015-16 as initially planned.

Lewis said plans for opening in 2017-18, including any potential locations, would depend on funding sources.

“We’ve still got some other people we’re talking to about resources,” he said.

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This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Byron-Peach Charter School faces another delay in opening."