The latest

round in the charter school debate between the Coweta

County Board of Education and Odyssey School officials

will probably have a sparse audience.

School

system officials announced this week that a called

meeting of the school board is set for Monday at 7 a.m.

During the meeting, the board will consider the latest

petition by Odyssey School officials to obtain the

board's blessing to start a charter school in the county.

Superintendent

of education Richard Brooks explained the system had no

other choice but to call the early bird meeting.

"We

have to vote on this by Nov. 29 because we were given a

60-day time frame to study it. The early start is the

only time that people could get together because of work

schedules," he said.

The debate

over granting a charter school petition to the Odyssey

School group has been simmering since last April.

The state

General Assembly passed a law in 1997 allowing charter

schools. Charter schools generally allow more parental

involvement in curriculum and also allow the schools to

hire professionals in various fields to help teach the

curriculum.

The dispute

went to third party mediation last spring when the

Odyssey group felt it was not given a fair hearing by the

Coweta County school board April 23.

The group

took its concerns to the state Board of Education, who

ordered the mediation.

But after

nearly nine hours of mediation, the issue was still not

settled and the Odyssey School group submitted another

petition.

Odyssey

School officials wanted the school to start last August

and said if the facility couldn't be completed, portable

facilities would be used.

The school

has a goal of opening with 100 students, but did not

provide the school system with the names of any students

who wanted to enroll.

The school

system also claims that the proposed charter school would

not be locally ruled. Three of the four initial directors

live outside the county.

Brooks said

the board turned down the petition because Odyssey School

officials had submitted another petition Sept. 30 and the

board had to deal with the fourth petition before it

could consider the one submitted last week.

Brooks said

the board would have to decide on the latest petition by

Monday and said it would fall under the system's new

charter school policy, which calls for a site to be

identified.