Coweta County School System Superintendent Dr. Steve Barker will hold another public listening session to discuss school system flexibility options. The Jan. 7 meeting will be held at Madras Middle School at 6:30 p.m. All school districts in Georgia must declare a flexibility option in order to receive waivers from the State Board of Education past June 30, 2015.
School system spokesman Dean Jackson said waivers allow flexibility from a limited amount of state laws and state rules. School system flexibility options that yield waivers are Investing in Educational Excellence (IE2) or Charter System. Any school district that chooses to operate without waivers will become a Status Quo district.
The selection of a flexibility option for the Coweta School System and the ability to continue to receive state waivers are important to the school system, said Superintendent Barker.
“Waivers are necessary for the Coweta County School System to operate within budget,” he said.
In order to begin the process of preparing the lengthy application required for the chosen option, and in order to ensure that waivers would be granted for the district in July 2015, Coweta County’s school board voted in last June to declare its intent to begin work on a Charter System application, Jackson said.
Following clarifications of state rules regarding IE2 and Charter System flexibility options in recent months, the Coweta County Board of Education is reconsidering its selected flexibility option for the future.
“At the time of this board’s selection of Charter System status, the guidelines and consequences outlined in IE2 were not good options for the district,” said Barker. “Primarily, the consequences required potential total loss of control of a school.”
Superintendent Barker clarified for the board that if guidelines changed regarding either flexibility option, the school board could amend its selection, however.
Jackson said the school board invited Ga. Department of Education Associate Superintendent Lou Erste to present new IE2/ Charter System details to the board and district administrators in October.
“These new details included new guidelines for the IE2 option that were being discussed by the state board, as well as a new rule to be adopted governing the Charter System option,” said Jackson. “In November, the state board implemented new IE2 guidelines that afford districts the opportunity to obtain waivers, implement flexibility and agree to more reasonable consequences. The state board approved the new Charter System rule, as well.”
Both IE2 and Charter System options will allow a district to implement desired innovations while also utilizing flexibility from a limited amount of state laws and state rules. Charter System, however, would also require new local school governance councils, additional ongoing training, and holding required monthly meetings. School councils currently operate in all Coweta schools at this time, said Jackson.
“Among the factors the school board will consider as it reviews its decision will be other sweeping and significant changes currently being required of all Georgia districts,” Jackson said. “These include new evaluation systems for teachers and administrators that are required throughout Georgia. A new state assessment instrument, also a statewide requirement, must now also be implemented at each school. These required changes will be the focus of implementation plans across Georgia school districts.”
Jackson said revisions to IE2 that are more favorable for implementation, and that carry more reasonable consequences, will allow the school board to discuss at its January meeting whether its letter of intent should be changed.
The Jan. 7 listening session will allow the public to discuss these options, said Jackson. The session will give the public an opportunity to discuss an upcoming school board decision on system flexibility options for the Coweta County School System.
The listening session will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Madras Middle School media center.
