A Clayton County Superior Court Judge on Monday ended a startup charter school’s frustrating fight to open by ordering the city of Riverdale to make the necessary inspections to allow 200 students to start classes.
The order means the sixth and seventh graders could start school later this week, according to people on 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 inspections to enable the charter school to open. The school was supposed to open Aug. 4.
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 expressed joy that the issue is resolved.
“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.
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.
Last week, Utopian was locked in a bureaucratic stranglehold. Initially, the city told school leaders they needed a business license. Once it was learned the school didn’t need a license, the fight centered over who held the lease to the building.
The school board voted last week to try to work out something with the organization it considers the lease-holder so the students can start school. But the board has not heard back from that organization.
Utopian school leaders, fearing no other recourse, took their case to court.
State Rep. Valencia Stovall thanked the judge for “weeding through the deception.” She said she plans to introduce legislation during the 2015 session that would address the problems Utopian has faced.
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