Negotiations

continued this week as parents and organizers of a

proposed Odyssey charter school tried to address many of

the Coweta County School System's questions.

Representatives

from the Odyssey School and the Coweta County school

board met Tuesday night to try and hammer out the issues

that concern school officials.

School

system officials are trying to give the Odyssey School

organizers the maximum time to address the concerns the

school board has with the Odyssey charter, said

superintendent of education Richard Brooks.

The Charter

Schools Act of 1998 cleared the way for charter schools

to be organized in the state. The intent of the bill is

to provide an alternative to public schools with parents

making many of the decisions on how the school is run.

The biggest

hurdle the group faces in opening this school year is a

facility.

Brooks said

the school system is considering allowing the group to

place portable units on the grounds of one of the

existing public schools, but said the system has not made

an offer to allow the Odyssey group to use an older

facility in the school system.

But, if the

school system offers a facility, Odyssey School organizer

Jan Buchwald said, the proposed budget of the charter

school would be dramatically slashed. Buchwald said exact

figures on starting up the school will not be known until

the facility issue is addressed.

If

everything goes smoothly in negotiations with the school

system, Buchwald said it's possible the school could open

If

negotiations bog down and the charter school isn't

recommended to the board by its August meeting, the

school could possibly open in October, she said.

Buchwald

added that a 100-student school serving grades K-8 would

probably feature six classes and no extracurricular

activities for the first year.

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