Cobb board approves Kennesaw school’s 1-year charter

Kennesaw Charter School has another year to prove any problems it may have had are in the past.

School officials originally wanted a new five-year charter for the school, which opened in 2003. But when that plan fell short of getting the Cobb school board’s approval, a one-year charter request was submitted.

This time, the board granted the request — just in time to meet the state board of education’s Nov. 1 deadline to receive charter requests.

The school’s current charter expires at the end of this school year. Because the school gets some funding from the Cobb system, the school board must approve charter requests before they are sent to the state board of education for a final vote.

Superintendent Fred Sanderson previously recommended to board members that the five-year request not be approved. Problems cited ranged from the school’s treatment of special needs children to personnel problems with its management company, Imagine Schools.

“Academically, they had no issues with us,” said Chip Oudt, chairman of Georgia Charters Schools Inc. Oudt is the father of a fifth-grader and a first-grader at KCS.

The school has met “Adequate Yearly Progress” guidelines and has above-average test scores.

KCS parents, teachers and students have come out by the dozens at recent school board meetings to support the school, which has nearly 500 students. As part of the charter, parents are required to volunteer 20 hours to help the school.

“It makes people involved in the community and I think that’s why the school is succeeding,” Oudt says.