State Board of Education members encouraged the Georgia Cyber Academy on Tuesday to go ahead with whatever student recruitment efforts it had planned for spring 2013.
That marked a sharp reduction in the tension between GCA and the state board, whose members had castigated the online charter school for not doing enough to get the proper documentation for its growing special-education student population.
The state Department of Education has threatened to recommend that the school be closed if it does not address special-education concerns. And GCA – the state’s largest public school and its first statewide virtual school – must still meet state timelines in producing a special-education action plan.
But a recent meeting between GCA officials, parents and state board members convinced board members and department staff that the school is taking those concerns seriously.
“I was impressed,” said Brian Burdette, chairman of the state board’s charter committee. “I could tell they were focused on getting this done and getting this done right.”
To underscore its concerns, the state board had refused to approve a $60,000 grant to the board that oversees GCA. Burdette had leveled some of the most blistering criticism of GCA officials, whom he said appeared not to believe the threat to close the school.
On Tuesday, however, Burdette’s committee recommended that the full state board move that grant toward approval. The committee also gave GCA more time to come up with a special-education plan and provide documentation to department officials.
GCA’s head of school, Matt Arkin, told state board members Tuesday that the school will do what it takes to alleviate their concerns.
“I’ve got a very, very strong team in place, and it’s going to get done,” Arkin said.
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