Quick Poll

Is Memorial Day an 'off day' for you or a 'work day' with your business open?

Recent Polls

Blogs

Angela McRae

Tea with friends

Deberah Williams

Everyday Finesse

Lorrie Lynch

Who's News

Published Sunday, October 19, 2008 in Local

Photo by Jeffrey Leo

Principal Andy Geeter of Odyssey School visits one of the public charter school’s classes.

Presidential candidates in favor of charter schools

By Megan Almon

The Newnan Times-Herald

While presidential candidates John McCain and Barrack Obama don't see eye-to-eye on the majority of political issues, they seem to agree on one -- the proliferation of charter schools like Coweta's Odyssey School.

Both candidates are in favor of the innovative ideas charter schools bring to the educational table, and they're making efforts to encourage public school systems to embrace them.

Odyssey School Director Andy Geeter said charter schools like Odyssey provide "an environment in which students and families feel they have a stake."

Geeter, the school's administrator since its inception in 2001, is in favor of the "flexibility" a charter-operated school enjoys. Odyssey school students live all over the county, giving families more freedom to choose where they'd like to live without fear of shifting district lines. An application-and-lottery process ensures smaller student-to-teacher ratios. Parents -- all required to volunteer a certain number of hours at the school -- are frequently seen in the classrooms, walking the hallways or working in the school's office.

Odyssey students are "clustered," meaning classrooms include students at more than one grade level. Kindergartners are clustered with first graders, second graders with third graders and so forth.

Each year, teachers are already familiar with at least half their student body and can tailor their teaching accordingly. Students who are more advanced are able to work with higher-level students in the same class, while those needing remedial help can receive it. The clustered environments also lend themselves to "peer helping," and working in groups, Geeter said.

As talk of charter schools is sparked, the inevitable question of accountability arises.

"We have the ultimate accountability," Geeter said.

While public schools face the possibility of state control in cases of mismanagement, charter schools face termination. Once a charter is written and approved, a school has five years to operate under that charter. If goals are not met, the school can be shut down.

Additionally, Odyssey School -- application and lottery process aside -- is a public school. As such, the school is held to the same state and national accountability measures as traditional schools. Geeter and his staff are very familiar with acronyms like"CRCT" (Criterion-Referenced Competency Test) and "NCLB" (No Child Left Behind). But having the flexibility of their charter frees the school to meet those measures in ways they deem best-suited to their students' needs.

The concept of charter schools goes hand-in-hand with the idea of local educational control. Individual charters allow schools to choose learning methods that might best allow their communities to rise to the bar that's set by federal guidelines like those under NCLB.

Systems around the nation have caught on to the idea. A Los Angeles charter network called the Inner City Education Foundation recently announced plans to open 22 new charter schools over the next eight years in addition to its already operating 13. This year, six charter schools were given a green light in New Jersey in comparison to one last year. Charter schools outperformed Utah's conventional public schools in reading and math under NCLB guidelines.

Odyssey School was Georgia's first state-approved charter school. There are currently six other state-approved charter schools in operation throughout the state, at least two of which opened their doors this fall.

Odyssey School, originally located on Highway 34 in the White Oak Shopping Plaza, recently shifted its fourth-through-sixth grades to a new location on St. John Circle in the Shenandoah Industrial Park, the former location of Newnan Classical School. The entire student body is slated to begin school in the St. John Circle location next fall, following a renovation of the building's additional space.

For more information about Odyssey School, visit www.odysseycharterschool.net .

Comment On This Story

Times-Herald.com does not necessarily agree with the comments posted below. Responsibility of comments rests solely with the writer. Comments posted in ALL CAPS will be deleted.

Submission of a comment does not guarantee publication. Comments will be posted by a moderator after being scanned for abusive language, relevance, etc. See our Comments FAQ for more details.