A proposed North Atlanta charter school that would educate students on the classics survived a threat to its launch Monday.
The Atlanta Board of Education decided not to vote on a recommendation from Superintendent Erroll Davis that its application be denied.
Leaders of Atlanta Classical Academy now have about a month to rework their plans to address concerns about whether it would have adequate facilities and leadership. The school’s chairman, Matthew Kirby, said the petition could be considered by the board next month.
The liberal arts school would open in fall 2014 and enroll about 500 students in grades k-8, and it would later add high school grades.
Davis had suggested the board oppose the classical academy’s petition because its most likely location, at Sutton Middle School, lacked enough vacant classrooms for the two schools to share space, and modular units wouldn’t serve students’ long-term needs. Davis also wrote that the academy hadn’t identified a principal.
Kirby said Monday that he wants to work with Atlanta Public Schools to find and use existing vacant facilities, but not necessarily at Sutton Middle School. He didn’t specify other options.
“The dialogue is open. We need to look carefully at the facilities question,” Kirby said. “To use a public resource is the best thing to do for taxpayers.”
Atlanta Public Schools granted an extension for Atlanta Classical until Aug. 1 so that the school district can complete its review of the charter school’s application.
Kirby said the school system wanted to give the proposed school an opportunity to improve its plan.
Enrollment in the school would be open to anyone who lives in the Atlanta school district, and the school would include transportation money in its budget to make it accessible throughout the city, Kirby said.
One of the school’s board members, Cat McAfee, said it would help students in Atlanta’s growing Latino community.
“The opportunity for those students to bring in their language and home life with a classical influence would allow them to grow with their peers,” said McAfee, executive director for LaAmistad Friendship, which assists Latino and other first-generation students.
The new school would focus on the humanities, classical literature and a traditional education.
“Classical education, which deals with strong rigor and great works of all time, is good for all students,” said Atlanta Classical board member Lee Friedman.
The school board also removed a scheduled vote on another proposed charter school, Hinds Feet Montessori School of the Arts, from its Monday agenda so the school could fine-tune its application.
About one in 10 Atlanta public school students are already enrolled in charter schools, which is the highest rate in the state.
But school system officials have said in the past that they might be reluctant to approve new charter schools because of a dispute over pension payments pending before the Georgia Supreme Court.
The charter schools argued to the court last month that they shouldn’t have to contribute to paying off the school system’s old pension liability, but Atlanta Public Schools said excluding the charters would take money that would otherwise go to traditional school students.
About the Author
