School board listens to charter proposal
♦ The charter school focuses on giving students in danger of dropping out a second chance.
Floyd County Schools had a called board meeting Monday morning where members were presented with the color scheme for the new Armuchee High School gym, approved an upgrade for school bus cameras and listened to a second presentation by Mountain Education Charter High School.
The charter school focuses on giving students in danger of dropping out a second chance to finish their high school education at their own pace. Mountain Education first presented their program to the board during their February meeting. After a proposal was presented at the May meeting board members asked for the matter to be tabled until the second chance school could return and answer their questions.
The MECHS system gives students a customized curriculum Larry Shook, Interim Superintendent for Mountain Education said. The program lets them work at their own pace. In some cases it allows the students who are behind in credits to catch up with their peers, allowing them to transfer back into the school system and graduate on time. MECHS also holds their own graduation ceremony if students do not transfer back to their original high school.
Mountain Education is a separate school system but will rent Floyd County Schools facilities if the board approves to allow the charter school to open a campus in Floyd County.
Superintendent Jeff Wilson told the board Model High School is being looked at to house MECHS if they come to the area. The charter school would pay FCS for renting the facility and would operate in the evenings after regular school has ended.
Wilson said there could be an estimated 100 students in the area who could immediately benefit from the MECHS program. There are currently five Floyd County
students who travel to Bartow County to take classes with Mountain Education.
Mountain Education will hire FCS teachers to monitor classrooms while they are in session Shook said. MECHS follows the state salary schedule he said, with Wilson adding Mountain Education may actually offer a little better pay than FCS.
The board will revisit the Mountain Education proposal at a future board meeting and ultimately make the decision whether or not to partner with the second chance school.
During the meeting the board also approved a $218,330 upgrade for school bus cameras system wide. The current GPS system was supported by a company that is no longer in business, Deputy Superintendent April Childers said. The cameras on board the school buses will be upgraded so if an incident occurs administrators can have a live stream of what is happening along with a exact bus location.
The board got an simulated look at the inside of the Armuchee High School gym which included wall and floor colors. The board voted to develop a facilities five year plan and released personnel changes within the school system.
To view Floyd County School documents and board agendas visit their website https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/Index. aspx?S=4068 and select the meetings tab.