The public charter school has filed a letter of intent to renew its charter, which expires after the 2013-2014 school year.
Amana Academy has closed on the 100,000 square foot Alpharetta Square shopping plaza on Main Street, which has been home to the public charter school since 2007. The school secured more than $8.6 million in bonds to buy the property. The school did not use any county or school district capital program dollars to acquire the property, according to an announcement posted on Patch by Ehab Jaleel, the school’s executive director and the school’s principal. Amana Academy spent three years trying to secure a permanent home for the Fulton County charter school. One of the attempts was to get rezoning to move into a building off Marconi Drive, but that met with disapproval from many in the Windward community and Alpharetta City Council. In …
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The Fulton County Board of Education voted to terminate the public school's charter, and that decision is on appeal with the state school board.
Fulton Science Academy High School has asked the Georgia Board of Education to hold off in making a ruling on its charter termination appeal until it has a chance to find out if it can get a state charter instead. Rocco E. Testni of Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, the law firm representing the school, sent a letter dated April 9 to the state board asking for the deferral. The Fulton County School System voted to terminate the public school's charter earlier this year, saying the school had the same lack of management and fiscal problems as Fulton Science Academy Middle School had before it lost its charter renewal bid. An audit report by a consultant for the school system said low enrollment contributed to the school’s inability to …
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The Fulton County Board of Education considers the possible end of the school's charter.
Fulton Science Academy High School will have its hearing on the possible termination of its charter on Tuesday, Dec. 18. The hearing will be 10 a.m. at the school system’s Administrative Center, located at 786 Cleveland Avenue SW in Atlanta. On Dec. 4, Superintendent of Schools Robert Avossa delivered an audit report to the school board at their work session. Based on the audit report, Avossa said he would recommend terminating the public charter school's contract,. That would close the school at the end of the current school year. A week later, on Dec. 11. the school board voted to pursue terminating the Fulton Science Academy High charter. The school's governing board was offered the opportunity of a hearing on Dec. 18. On Thursday, Dec…
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10:59 am on Monday, April 15, 2013
Enough of hearing from sock puppets on here pretending to be community supporters of this school. Hear what parents of ex students from these schools and teachers have to say using HARD data, and evidence. http://georgiacharterschooldisgrace.com/ more ›
Fulton Science Academy High School's governing board meets Thursday to make its decision on whether they want a hearing before the Fulton County Board of Education.
Fulton Science Academy High School's governing board will decide whether the school will ask for a hearing to fight a push by Fulton County Schools to close the school by terminating its charter contract. Principal Namik Sercan said the public school's governing board is working on its written response to each allegation raised in the IAG audit. The formal decision to appeal will be made Thursday, Dec. 13, he said, while the response will take a few more days to finalize. Sercan, responding to questions about the audit report's claims that Fulton Science Academy High failed to meet enrollment requirements, said its enrollment has grown for five years out of seven. The two years that showed declining enrollment were when its charter renewal…
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3:33 pm on Friday, December 21, 2012
"The land matter is about to be resolved. With the resolution, FSA high school will be released from all financial liability coming from the bond. We will announce it shortly, " principal Sercan said. Wells Fargo filed in US district Court a lawsuit over the 19 million bond default against Fulton Science Academy on December 17. more ›
The public charter school's own board can request a hearing to be held Dec. 18, but the ultimate decision on the charter rests with the Georgia Department of Education.
The Fulton County Board of Education today, Dec. 11, approved a recommendation to start the process to close Fulton Science Academy High School at the end of the school year. Superintendent Robert Avossa first made the recommendation to terminate the school's charter at a school board work session on Dec. 4. Avossa based his recommendation on what staff reports call "a history of insufficient governance capacity and poor decision-making on the part of the school’s governance board." An independent audit released to the school board on Dec. 4 was said to show the Fulton School System has had concerns with the school throughout its seven-year history. The audit also found similar management issues to those discovered with the June 2012 audit…
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11:32 am on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
If there has been issues with the "governance board" for 7 years, why not get the board changed and force improvements, especially in an era when science education is lacking in this country. more ›
An Op-ED by Kelly Cadman, the Vice President of School Services at The Georgia Charter Schools Association, and a former founder of a charter school/
There has been an awful lot of energy expended by opponents of the Charter Amendment. The opposition to the Amendment claim that the state can “already” act as an appeals body for charter schools. Those supporting the Amendment wonder, if the state can already approve charters, why is the Education Establishment fighting THIS hard against affirming that on the ballot on November 6? Most of the arguments posed against the Amendment are related to the enabling legislation, which establishes a Commission. The ballot question, however, ONLY reaffirms the state’s role in K-12 general education, so why the nasty battle against the Amendment? At the heart of the argument employed by the school districts and affiliate associations who earn their …
11:24 pm on Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Cadman talks about "absolute arrogance" because a charter school application was denied. The height of arrogance is to assume that charter school applications must always be approved; that's what is being intimated here. In recent months, I have been struck by the sense of entitlement with which many charter-school supporters seem to be imbued. It's THEIR opinion which is all that matters...THEIR… more ›
WalMart heiress, others, contribute more than $1 million to get amendment passed.
It's no secret that most of the money promoting the Charter Schools Amendment is coming from out-of-state contributors. According to Atlanta Unfiltered, Families for Better Schools contributed $1.1 million to the campaign to pass Amendment 1 on November 6. Atlanta Unfiltered is a document-driven, award-winning blog written by Jim Walls, the former long-time investigations editor for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. In this post, Walls says, All told, Families for Better Public Schools has raised nearly $1.8 million, 77 percent of it from outside Georgia. Corporate donors that stand to gain from amending Georgia’s constitution include K12 Inc. (which has given $100,000), Charter Schools USA ($50,000) and Huizenga’s National Heritage …
Proponents and opponents of the state charter school amendment debate its merits.
Supporters and opponents of Georgia's charter school amendment, on the ballot this November, pleaded their cases at a voter info forum held at Johns Creek High School, Tuesday evening. Amendment 1, or HR 1162, would give a state-appointed commission authority to authorize and fund state charter schools if voters approve the legislation, or vote "Yes," on Nov. 6. Supporters of the amendment say it creates another avenue for charter start-ups; charter applicants have more flexibility on where to locate; and parents will have more local control. Opponents of the legislation say it creates another level of bureaucracy; state charter students would get more funding than students in traditional or local charter schools; and parents will not see…
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North Fulton mother says she found local control was critical after finding problems while her son attended Fulton Science Academy.
Georgia is in the midst of an intense debate over a proposed charter school amendment that will be on the ballot in November. Whatever your position, you need to read my story. The polls predict this amendment will pass with flying colors, thanks to a misleading ballot question and a majority of funding from outside the state. If this amendment passes, politics and corporations will shape our schools. Groups with multi-faceted objectives are lining up to grab their market share. If a state controlled charter school comes to town, you will have no recourse if there is a problem. Why Local Control is Critical The problems I encountered at Fulton Science Academy were not anticipated by our local and state board of education or by educators …
11:27 am on Monday, April 15, 2013
Your precious school challenged the audit and what happened? nothing right? Just because the school professes to be "award winning" do not believe it. These Gulen operated charter schools are known for overinflating the waiting lists, bragging about honors, awards and overplaying them with their advertising. But at the end of the day there is nothing special about them except for their … more ›
North Fulton mother says she found local control was critical after finding problems while her son attended Fulton Science Academy.
 Georgia is in the midst of an intense debate over a proposed charter school amendment that will be on the ballot in November. Whatever your position, you need to read my story. The polls predict this amendment will pass with flying colors, thanks to a misleading ballot question and a majority of funding from outside the state. If this amendment passes, politics and corporations will shape our schools. Groups with multi-faceted objectives are lining up to grab their market share. If a state controlled charter school comes to town, you will have no recourse if there is a problem. Why Local Control is Critical The problems I encountered at Fulton Science Academy were not anticipated by our local and state board of education or by educators …
5:31 am on Monday, November 5, 2012
Monty, your comment highlights the fract that you have not looked outside your personal reason for wanting charter schools to the bigger picture. We have Charter Schools now and will CONTINUE to have Charter Schools. This is about an amendment that gives GA the right to conver public schools into a Charter System. Not as individual Charter Schools, but 1 system. Do you really think our g'vment … more ›
Transparency still needed
3:39 pm on Friday, April 12, 2013
Backroom deal suspected as Turkish agent buys foreclosed Fulton Science Academy school property. https://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/backroom-deal-suspected-as-turkish-agent-buys-foreclosed-gulen-school-property/ more ›