Fort Bragg Officials Withdraw from Charter School Application

Fort Bragg officials are no longer part of the application process for an on-post charter school, the Fayetteville Observer reports. 

The paper says the board overseeing the application process has changed, and the switch could jeopardize the project with state officials.

 in a charter school at a March meeting held at the Tolson Youth Center. Garrison commander Col. Stephen Sicinski said the land for the charter school already had a tentative location between Fort Bragg and Linden Oaks. Under an agreement, the Army would provide the land, Congressional funds would pay for the construction and the Cumberland County School System would oversee the school.

But complications arose. In written comments to the Fayetteville Observer, Col. Paul Wilson, staff judge advocate for Fort Bragg and the 18th Airborne Corps, said: "The leadership of Fort Bragg became aware of a conflict of interest created by a joint partnership between Fort Bragg leaders acting in their official capacity and others seeking the approval of an application with the North Carolina Board of Education for the authority to operate a high school. As a result, the Fort Bragg application was withdrawn."

Angela Romanowski, a representative from a for-profit educational management company in Michigan, told the paper that the charter school application had been changed with information about the new board.