Local & State Headlines

Charter schools approved

• School officials table a vote on the 2008-09 academic year for Dougherty students and educators.

Barbara Rivera Holmes

ALBANY — If approved by the state, the Dougherty County School System would have three charter schools, all part of the International Baccalaureate Organization.

The Dougherty County Board of Education unanimously approved the status Monday evening at its regular meeting.

Prior to the vote, officials and meeting attendees watched a music video featuring a song written and performed by facilities employee Avery Burnes, and starring students at Live Oak Elementary School. The music video, which will be uploaded onto the school system’s Web site, tells the story of children’s healing effect on people.

Designating the schools as charter organizations gives administrators more flexibility to tweak the curriculums, said Dianne Daniels, executive director of curriculum and instruction for the Dougherty County School System. The IBO program has its own curriculum, and not all courses match with those of the state-mandated Georgia Performance Standards (GPS), she said. Charter school status would allow the school system to substitute some GPS classes with those of the IBO program.

Daniels said the designation also creates a feeder program from International Studies Elementary Charter School to Dougherty International Education Middle School to Dougherty Comprehensive High School.

Also during the meeting, officials tabled a vote on the 2008-09 academic calendar, stating during the board’s 6:30 p.m. briefing that it needed more work.

During the briefing, board member David Maschke asked officials to look into several things, including reducing the number of disrupted instruction weeks. The disruptions — such as a weekend followed by Monday and Wednesday classes but nothing on Tuesday — detract from student learning and can cause hardships for parents who may need to arrange day care.

As is, students are slated to report to school for the 2008-09 year on Monday, Aug. 4. That date may change.

In other matters, officials approved the hiring of a third-party administrator for worker’s compensation and approved fundraising activities and out-of-state field trips as well as the hiring and release of personnel.

The board’s next meeting is Feb. 27 at 12:30 p.m. at Northside Elementary School.

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