Page A10
Lake Oconee News M
Friday, May 19,2017
LOA
Continued from A1
drawing, to notify non-resident
winners that their positions would
be revoked.
The DOE ordered a second
lottery for those positions, using
only a pool of Greene County res
idents who had applied.
At a special called meeting of the
LOA board Monday night, it was
announced that the DOE and LOA
agreed to fill the slots with Greene
County residents who were on the
lottery wait list instead of conduct
ing a second drawing.
LOA attorney Richard Schmidt
also announced that after scruti
nizing the list of people picked in
the lottery, there were only seven
people who could not prove resi
dency in Greene County.
Schmidt added that the 29 new
positions authorized by the Greene
County Board of Education last
week were already anticipated in
the April 5 lottery so those will not
be additional openings.
Louis Erste, associate superin
tendent for policy, charter schools,
district flexibility, and govern
mental affairs for the Georgia
Department of Education told
Lake Oconee News Tuesday night
that LOA will still be required
to submit paperwork by May 25,
proving they complied with the
residency requirement.
“The deadline for information
still stands,” said Erste.
Special Program
But there’s more. In a surprise
move, the board also announced
that the seven students who
were selected but lived out of the
county, will be offered a “separate
program” created for them for the
2017-2018 school year.
“State presented it to us,”
Schmidt told the Lake Oconee
News. “It’s a workable plan in a bad
situation.”
The LOA board hired an Atlanta
law firm, McGuireWoods, to help
them create the program that
would be funded only with private
money. No public money would be
used and the students will not be
required to pay a tuition. Neither
LOA nor the Greene County
School System would lose any state
funding, according to LOA board
member David Mapp,
“It’s more so an effort to insulate
the school,” Mapp explained to the
audience, “so we’re not liable for
the type of implications and litiga
tions that potentially come.”
In an “open letter to the people
of Greene County and beyond”
released after the meeting, the
school said that since the lottery
on April 5, “persons who were
accepted in the lottery have quit
their jobs and moved to Greene
County, have bought new proper
ties here in Greene County or have
signed leases. In other words, they
have relied in good faith to their
detriment.”
Appealing to AG
But this doesn’t mean the school
is acquiescing to the state DOE.
The LOA Board also voted to use
the McGuireWoods law firm to
help them seek an opinion from
Georgia Attorney General Chris
Carr on whether or not LOA can
include non-Greene County resi
dents in future admissions lotter
ies.
Erste told Lake Oconee News in
an email statement on Tuesday
that “once we receive LOA’s request
to seek an AG opinion, the Depart
ment will determine whether it
will seek such an opinion.”
Just as strongly as LOA believes
its position is correct, Erste
believes LOA is wrong.
“Both the State Board of Ed
ucation/Georgia Department of
Education and the State Charter
Schools Commissions agree,” he
wrote, “that students must be
resident in a charter school’s at
tendance zone to be eligible to par
ticipate in that school’s enrollment
lottery.”
Why non-residents?
In an interview on May 10, the
day following the DOE ruling,
Schmidt said it’s important to
the county for LOA to be able to
attract people who live elsewhere.
“If people from outside the
county can come here then it’s a
huge leg up in the economic de
velopment process,” Schmidt said.
“It is a huge leg up in our ability
to attract quality teachers. So,
we don’t have to hijack quality
teachers from our Greene County
school system.”
More than 50 people attended
Monday’s LOA board meeting.
Some point out that adding
non-residents to the lottery pool
lowers their child’s chances of
being selected.
On Facebook, Trent Smith
posted this comment: “If people
so desire to send their kids to LOA
then buy a house here and take
your chances like we as tax payers
have done, or should be doing...I’m
all about growth of the area, more
jobs, better education for our kids,
4'
Mark Engel/Staff
LOA Board member David Mapp
explained to the audience that
a special program is being set
up for the seven non-resident
students whose selection for
admission to LOA has now been
revoked.
etc....other school systems don’t
bend the rules to boost growth,
the people move there for better
education [which] in turn boosts
growth.”
A post from Jessica Short says
‘We have paid taxes so, sure, our
kids should have first choice. “
“In our country,” LOA attorney
Schmidt told Lake Oconee News,
“you don’t get to make that
argument legally because we have
something called the Equal Pro
tection Act. You’re not allowed to
discriminate against people in that
way. You’re just not.”
Pre-K exception
The LOA Pre-Kindergarten
program is not included in the
ban against non-residents being
Mark Engel/Staff
LOA Board Attorney Richard
Schmidt told the audience that
the school is complying this
year with the Department of
Education's interpretation of
the residency requirements
for admission but is seeking
an opinion from the Georgia
Attorney General.
included in the lottery.
On May 10, Tucker said that four
of the 44 children selected in the
lottery for the Pre-K program were
from outside of Greene County.
They will be allowed to remain
in Pre-K, according the LOA
attorney Schmidt.
The DOE’s Erste agrees. “Geor
gia’s Department of Early Care and
Learning oversees pre-K,” he said.
The LOA charter does give
special preference for enrollment
to kindergarten to “children who
matriculate from a pre-kindergar
ten program which is associated
with the school.”
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