State education agency to consider closing Bibb County charter school
The Georgia Board of Education will hold a meeting by telephone Friday about whether to proceed with a process that could close the Macon Charter Academy in Bibb County.
The school of about 500 students was placed on probation in the fall and conditions that caused concern only grew worse, according to the Georgia Department of Education.
Site visits indicated that the school failed to adequately train staff, completely install computer labs and deal with disciplinary incidents.
“In the ten classrooms observed by GaDOE on March 15, 2016, the majority of students were observed off-task and disengaged without re-direction,” says one report by the state education department. “Students were observed obstructing class, including one student throwing a chair at another student.”
Friday’s meeting is to determine whether to hold a termination hearing for the school. It gets taxpayer dollars to educate students under a charter from the Bibb County School District. School district charter schools sign contracts with both the district and the state.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
