New School Won't Open At Marietta Charter

The former Marietta Charter School will not re-open this fall as Wright Start Prep Academy. It is closing altogether, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.

Carmen Hurst, regional director of Imagine Schools Georgia, told parents in a letter this month that the city of Marietta had informed them that Marietta Charter was zoned as a public, not a private school, according to the MDJ. Hurst also mentioned the recent decision by the state Supreme Court concerning charter schools. 

Wright Start Prep Academy serving students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Imagine Schools Georgia ran the former Marietta Charter School, owns the building and was planning to foot the bill at Wright Prep.

Marietta Charter, which had 184 students last year, had hoped to spend the upcoming year as a private school getting things in order so it could maybe apply for a charter again.

But in May, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the Georgia Charter Schools Commission - which granted charters when schools were turned down by local school boards – was unconstitutional and the 2008 law that created it was too.

Charter schools are public schools open to any student at no extra cost and are started by parents, nonprofits or local school districts. They have the flexibility to try new, specialized programs but can be held to higher standards than other public schools. Their charters can be pulled if goals aren't met.

The Marietta Charter School's future first became in doubt last summer. Citing problems at the school ranging from enrollment numbers to financial issues and academic performance, the Marietta City Board of Education voted unanimously to deny the K-5 school another five-year charter and the addition of sixth grade.

Marietta Charter, which opened in 2006, then applied to the state commission.

But on Dec. 16, 2010, the state Charter School Commission by the school for a charter in the 2011-12 school year. Although the commission often denies charters, this decision was rare in that it involved an existing school.

Marietta Charter then the commission’s decision to the state Board of Education, which on Feb. 9.