A Clayton County Superior Court Judge Monday morning ordered Riverdale to conduct the necessary inspections to allow 200 students to start classes at their start-up charter school, ending a weeklong bureaucratic roller coaster ride.
The order means the students could start school later this week, according to both sides who stood outside Judge Matthew O. Simmons courtroom shortly after his ruling.
“The city needs a trigger to get the inspection done. I’ll be the trigger. Get the inspections done,” Simmons said after hearing about 90 minutes of oral arguments from attorneys for Utopian Academy for the Arts and Riverdale.
Utopian school leaders went to court to get Riverdale to complete the required fire and building inspection to enable the charter school to open.
Simmons admonished both sides saying the issue boiled down to politics.
“This is a political issue,” Simmons said. “There’s some folks that don’t want a charter school over there. And they’re trying their best to obstruct that. They prevailed upon the city to deal with this issue. Get over there and inspect the building.”
Parents, politicians and both sides claimed victory.
“I’m elated. I’m ecstatic that at the end of the day, the adults realized that this was more about the children’s education and not the politics,” said April Armstrong, whose daughter is enrolled in the sixth grade at Utopian. She attended Monday’s hearing.
Riverdale Mayor Evelyn Wynn-Dixon said the judge’s order provides a solution for both parties.
“All we have to do now is fast-track everything.”
Clayton school board member and Riverdale resident Jessie Goree, who also attended the hearing, chastised Riverdale’s interference.
“We clearly stated last Monday we were not putting Utopian out of the building. I’m glad it’s over,” Goree said.
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