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Thursday, July 12, 2007
That Greene County Saga
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There were lots of fireworks, figuratively speaking, after the State Board of Education meeting today — so much so that a visiting reporter from Athens asked if the meetings were always that exciting.
Unfortunately, no.
The issue stirring so many passions? That proposed charter school at Lake Oconee, which has roiled Greene County for months.
Board members today officially sanctioned a 10-year charter for a campus in the Greensboro area, near the ritzy Ritz-Carlton Lodge. Organizers hope to open by late August or early September with about 15 kindergartners in space they’re temporarily leasing from a church.
All the angst was over the structure of the academy’s attendance zone, which opponents said favored wealthy, white families with second homes in the area over less-affluent black families, who are stuck in the county’s under-performing public schools.
Nellie Stovall, whose niece and nephews attend some of those schools, had tears in her eyes as she spoke with me after the meeting. “Everybody wants a better education for their kids, but it’s like the black kids don’t count,” she said. “I want them to have the same privileges that the kids on the lake have.”
State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox, who recommended the charter’s approval, also got emotional as she spoke with hurt parents after the vote. “We should be remaking every school like a charter school,” she told one group. “Look at the history of Greene County schools. They haven’t had a good track record of raising student achievement.”
For his part, W. Rabun Neal, president of the Reynolds Plantation golf and lake community, looked pretty somber after the meeting, even though his proposal was approved. Despite his demeanor, he said he has high hopes that the school will draw new families — from all income levels — to a county, which has seen its public school enrollment decline.
“We want people to come back a year from now, two years from now, three years from now,” he said, “to see how successful the school is.”
