Stephens County BOE to Hold Public Mtgs on Charter Status

By Charlie Bauder, WNEG Radio, Toccoa

The Stephens County School Board will hold two public hearings a week from today on whether their school system should become a charter school system.

In January, the board of education voted to pursue charter system status with the state.

A charter system means a local board of education reaches a contract with the state board of education about the operation of the school system, spelling out exactly what it wants to do differently for students in exchange for a relaxation of state rules.

In return, the state spells out the student achievement goals, for which the school system will be held accountable.

Since deciding to pursue charter system status, Stephens County School Superintendent Sheri Whiten says the school system has worked with a number of different groups to prepare its charter system plan.

“We have had several community meetings,” said Whiten.  “We have had input from many different folks.  We sent out a survey to over 200 business leaders and our question to them was ‘What do we do well as a school system? What do we need to work on?’  We got some valuable information back on that.”

Two public hearings will take place Monday, September 30th during which time, the school board’s plan will be presented.

Whiten says those meetings will give people a chance to learn more about the charter system application and ask any questions they may have.

“We have a PowerPoint we will present to anyone that has questions,” said Whiten.  “We will have draft copies of the petition and are still taking input.”

The two public hearings will be at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. next Monday at the Stephens County School System Administrative Offices on Mize road.

More information is also available online at www.stephenscountyschools.com.