EDITORIAL: The most important MCA question needs to be answered

"It's deja vu all over again."

— Yogi Berra

On Dec. 1, 2015, at a called Bibb school board meeting, members of the Macon Charter Academy board and PTO made a presentation asking the school board for permission to seek their own solutions to the issues facing their fledgling school.

Members of that governing board — whose members have all since resigned, along with the principal — felt the state was pushing them to accept terms from an outside education service provider of its choosing at a cost of $400,000. The board took no action at that meeting.

In order for MCA to hire an outside consultant an amendment to the school's charter would have to be approved by the Bibb school board. That issue came up at the board's Dec. 17 meeting. By this time, however, the old MCA board had resigned and new members replaced them. They hardly knew where the restrooms were located when the consultant or attorney or somebody made the not-so-bright suggestion they sign a contract with the education service provider before the amendment to change the charter was approved by the Bibb board. In fact, that contract was signed hours before the Bibb board meeting. With three attorneys sitting on the school board, jaws dropping on the fourth floor could be heard in the lobby.

Fast forward to a called board meeting Thursday. The MCA charter amendment still had not been approved. In the meantime the education service provider had been working at MCA. Enrollment sat at 510 students — 190 below projections — and 11 employees had been laid off. The Bibb board, citing lack of documentation about how the service provider was going to improve the school's operations and academics, denied the charter amendment request. The school board basically told MCA's board they could ask for proposals from other education service providers — the very thing the old board asked on Dec. 1.

Lost in all of this lingers the most important question: Are the educational needs of MCA students being met? If the answer is no, Curtis Jones, the superintendent, has only two choices: help them fix it — something he's not supposed to do — or recommend to the Bibb board that it vote to invalidate MCA's charter and close the school.

This story was originally published January 30, 2016 at 8:14 PM with the headline "EDITORIAL: The most important MCA question needs to be answered ."