Rockdale superintendent recommends rejecting proposed STEM charter petition; board to decide by April 14

Dr. Oates, a retired superintendent serving as a special consultant to Rockdale County Public Schools, told the board on March 10 that the district’s review of a STEM-focused charter petition supports recommending rejection.

The recommendation matters because state rules require a local board to act on charter petitions within 90 days of receipt; Dr. Oates said that window would expire for Rockdale County on April 14. He urged the board to place this petition in the “rejection group,” which would allow the petitioner to resubmit in a later cycle after addressing the identified problems.

Dr. Oates told the board he had “thoroughly vetted and reviewed this petition” and concluded the proposed STEM curriculum “is at best redundant to the STEM services we already provide our students, and at worst, insufficient when compared to the curricular services that we’re already providing.” He also raised programmatic concerns about state and federal compliance: “It doesn’t appear that the staffing structure proposed by the petition is adequate or sufficient to ensure optimal state and federal compliance regarding those programs,” citing the child-find process and early-intervention requirements for K–2 students.

Transportation planning was another substantive deficiency. Dr. Oates said the petition “failed to provide a comprehensive transportation plan to accommodate the attendance of Rockdale County Public Schools students in need of such services,” and noted the district’s reliance on transportation for a large share of its students.

Dr. Oates described the petitioner’s proposal as eligible for the rejection category under the board’s charter-review policy because the application was “significantly flawed so as to be irreparable” for the current review cycle; a rejected petitioner may resubmit the next school year. The superintendent’s office indicated the petition proposed beginning K–2 in the 2026–27 school year and adding a grade each year through eighth grade.

The recommendation came as an information item at the work session; the board did not vote on the petition at the meeting. Superintendent Shirley Chester and staff said the district will follow the applicable board policy and state review rule when the board takes formal action.

If the board votes to deny the petition, state rules require the district to provide a detailed rationale to the petitioner within 60 days; Dr. Oates said his practice has been to include that rationale in the recommendation to the State Charter School Commission to satisfy the requirement.

Proper names and references mentioned during the presentation included the charter petition (identified in the presentation as Horizon of Learning Academy), board policy IBB (Charter Schools), board regulation IBBR, and state charter-review rules. The board did not make a final decision at the March work session; the April 14 deadline referenced by staff is the statutory 90-day review window the district cited.

Ending: The charted recommendation will be on the board’s upcoming agenda for formal consideration before the district’s 90-day deadline. The superintendent’s presentation and Dr. Oates’s review will form the basis of the district rationale if the board votes to deny the petition.