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 by the school system's Aug. 12 opening day.

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.

Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page