A Clayton County charter middle school inched closer to opening, following a first day of school mired in red tape and confusion.
The Clayton Board of Education on Monday night instructed its attorneys to start negotiations with the tenant of the Riverdale building housing Utopian Academy for the Arts to let students begin attending the school as soon as possible. The school district owns the building.
The packed school board meeting erupted into cheers after the decision was announced.
Some 200 sixth and seventh graders were banned from starting school on Monday because the school did not have proper licenses to operate. School officials told parents about the quandry when they arrived with their children Monday.
Utopian has been trying to open in Clayton County for three years but didn’t get the go-ahead until the state stepped in last fall.
Despite the school board’s decision late Monday night, the school still has a few hurdles to clear. The tenant, the Downtown Development Authority, apparently transferred the lease improperly to Southern Crescent Centre for Innovation, which is the current landlord of the Camp Street building in Riverdale. The school shares the facilities with several other tenants. Southern Crescent is a small business/charter school incubator that is run by former DDA executive director Michael Syphoe.
Come back to read more on this continuing story.
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