The Hamilton County Board of Education rejected an application for an elementary charter school Thursday night because board members said they were concerned Adira Academy did not have a good business or education plan.
“Charter schools are supposed to have a definite purpose, and I don’t see that here,” said Hamilton County school board member Linda Mosley. “I don’t think they are as prepared as they could be.”
Rick Smith, Hamilton County Schools’ deputy superintendent, recommended that the application to create Adira Academy be denied by the board at its monthly meeting.
Hamilton County school board Chairman Kenny Smith was the only board member that voted to approve the application.
“I thought they had worked hard,” Mr. Smith said. “I thought they were passionate.”
Last week, Hamilton County Schools’ administrators presented a highly critical review of the application at a school board work study meeting. The school’s mission was given four points out of 10. The education plan was given 25.46 points out of 40, the founding group was given 14.94 points out of 20 and the business plan was given 12.91 points out of 30, board documents show.
Each measure needed to receive 80 percent of the possible points for the administration to recommend the creation of the school. No measure received a high enough ranking, Mr. Smith said.
Marcia Griffin, a Florida charter school organizer who plans to move to Chattanooga to start Adira Academy, was not present at the school board meeting. Ms. Griffin has 15 days to file a new application that addresses the board’s concerns, and the school board has 15 days to respond, said Mr. Smith.
Adira Academy, which would enroll kindergarten through fifth grade, is modeled after Eagles Nest Charter School in Coral Springs, Fla. Ms. Griffin’s parents founded Eagles Nest.
In other business, the board approved 11 new positions, and several board members voiced concern about creating new positions when budget cuts have forced some schools to cut teaching positions.
“I am tired of all the new positions,” said Hamilton County school board member Rhonda Thurman, who voted to oppose the new positions. “We keep telling people we don’t have money.”
Joan Garrett has been a staff writer for the Times Free Press since August 2007. Before becoming a general assignment writer for the paper, she wrote about business, higher education and the court systems. She grew up the oldest of five sisters near Birmingham, Ala., and graduated with a master's and bachelor's degrees in journalism from the University of Alabama. Before landing her first full-time job as a reporter at the Times Free Press, she ...
LOL...LOL...Now this is funny."board members said they were concerned Adira Academy did not have a good business or education plan." If that's the standard then they should close all the Hamilton County Public Schools. Tommy "Smoke and Mirrors" Krantz and Dr. "Can't teach a dog to fetch a stick" Scales need to be ran out of town and replaced with 2 people who have something other than Public School Attendance on their little brains. Thanks for the comedy this morning. LOL....LOL...You guys kill me.
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