thedrifter
01-20-07, 06:59 AM
School for Marines' children called model
Regional | schools
Walter C. Jones | January 20, 2007
ALBANY - Recent changes have made a school for the children of U.S. Marines a model school, and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle wants to see whole school systems across the state make similar modifications.
Republican Cagle flew to the hometown of his predecessor, Democrat Mark Taylor, to show off the International Studies Elementary Magnet School and to call it a template of what he wants to see everywhere.
It's a charter school, one with special state authority to ignore most state and local regulations and to instead be governed by a written contract or charter setting out the standards to be met.
Cagle envisions entire school systems switching from state regulation to individual charters.
"I want to take the success you've experienced here and magnify that all over the state," he said.
The Albany school had been struggling. It was in a neighborhood where most of the Marines who reside there are assigned to the nearby Marine Corps Logistics Base, and that presented unique challenges.
Because Marines are transferred often, their children change schools a lot and must adapt to the various course outlines in each place they live. At the same time, many of the local children at the Albany school come from backgrounds of poverty and from single-parent homes.
So, the school board sought to convert it into a charter school and make it a magnet to attract any child in the county whose parents wanted a more international education for their children. It also used the freedom from the state rules to set up some of its own - such as requiring every parent to volunteer 18 hours a year and mandating that each child learn to speak Spanish.
Today, the school has a waiting list of students wishing to get in, and it has been recognized in its first two years as one of the most-improved in the state each year.
Wanda Monroe is the parent of two children, one in middle school and a kindergartner at International Studies.
"I chose to come here because of the academics," she said, adding that she wishes there had been a similar option when her older child was in elementary school because she can see how much faster her daughter is learning than he did.
But sitting near her at Cagle's press conference Friday was a skeptical Emily McAfee, a member of the Dougherty County Board of Education.
"I don't know if we actually need to be a charter or not," she said.
She's leery of Cagle's idea to give principals more say and to have individual schools run by a council of parents and business leaders.
"I don't think parents always know best," McAfee said.
Cagle admits his proposal is likely to run into opposition as well from groups set up to preserve the jobs of teachers and administrators once the details are revealed next week, when the proposal is introduced in the Georgia Senate.
Just two weeks into his job, the new lieutenant governor remains optimistic about his idea.
Ellie
Regional | schools
Walter C. Jones | January 20, 2007
ALBANY - Recent changes have made a school for the children of U.S. Marines a model school, and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle wants to see whole school systems across the state make similar modifications.
Republican Cagle flew to the hometown of his predecessor, Democrat Mark Taylor, to show off the International Studies Elementary Magnet School and to call it a template of what he wants to see everywhere.
It's a charter school, one with special state authority to ignore most state and local regulations and to instead be governed by a written contract or charter setting out the standards to be met.
Cagle envisions entire school systems switching from state regulation to individual charters.
"I want to take the success you've experienced here and magnify that all over the state," he said.
The Albany school had been struggling. It was in a neighborhood where most of the Marines who reside there are assigned to the nearby Marine Corps Logistics Base, and that presented unique challenges.
Because Marines are transferred often, their children change schools a lot and must adapt to the various course outlines in each place they live. At the same time, many of the local children at the Albany school come from backgrounds of poverty and from single-parent homes.
So, the school board sought to convert it into a charter school and make it a magnet to attract any child in the county whose parents wanted a more international education for their children. It also used the freedom from the state rules to set up some of its own - such as requiring every parent to volunteer 18 hours a year and mandating that each child learn to speak Spanish.
Today, the school has a waiting list of students wishing to get in, and it has been recognized in its first two years as one of the most-improved in the state each year.
Wanda Monroe is the parent of two children, one in middle school and a kindergartner at International Studies.
"I chose to come here because of the academics," she said, adding that she wishes there had been a similar option when her older child was in elementary school because she can see how much faster her daughter is learning than he did.
But sitting near her at Cagle's press conference Friday was a skeptical Emily McAfee, a member of the Dougherty County Board of Education.
"I don't know if we actually need to be a charter or not," she said.
She's leery of Cagle's idea to give principals more say and to have individual schools run by a council of parents and business leaders.
"I don't think parents always know best," McAfee said.
Cagle admits his proposal is likely to run into opposition as well from groups set up to preserve the jobs of teachers and administrators once the details are revealed next week, when the proposal is introduced in the Georgia Senate.
Just two weeks into his job, the new lieutenant governor remains optimistic about his idea.
Ellie