May 2007: Ivy Preparatory Academy's founding board petitions Gwinnett County Schools to open a campus for girls after submitting a letter of intent in 2006. Nina Gilbert, a former Gwinnett Schools administrator, leads the charge.
June 2007: Gwinnett County Schools rejects Ivy Prep's petition.
January 2008: Ivy Prep appeals to the state Board of Education for approval as a state special school and is approved.
August 2008: Ivy Prep opens to students in Norcross.
June 2009: After operating on only state and federal funds, Ivy Prep appeals to the Georgia Charter Schools Commission and wins approval in June as one of the board's first campuses. The commission also approves Statesboro's Charter Conservatory for Liberal Arts & Technology, CCAT.
September 2010: Gwinnett County Schools files a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court against the state charter commission for approving Ivy Prep, Ivy Prep, among others. The case is later joined by six other local districts filing suit against charters that impact their state allocations. The case pits Gwinnett, Atlanta, DeKalb, Bulloch, Candler, Henry and Griffin public schools against the commission, the state Department of Education, former Georgia Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox and Ivy Prep, CCAT and Heron Bay Academy of Henry among others.
May 2010: Case is heard by Fulton Superior Court Judge Wendy L. Shoob who ruled that the law provides that the Georgia Charter Schools Commission can approve and fund schools and is therefore, constitutional.
October 2010: The Georgia State Supreme Court hears the arguments in the case after seven local school districts appeal the matter.
March 2011: State Supreme Court ruling delayed. Justices say they need more time to weigh the issues.
May 2011: State Supreme Court makes charter ruling declaring the Georgia Charter Schools Commission unconstitutional.
About the Author
