Schools

IIAM Lawyer Calls for Second Charter Renewal Vote

Imagine International Academy of Mableton continues to fight so that its school can continue operation, despite the Sept. 29 BOE denial of its charter petition renewal.

is taking legal measures to contest the .

In a letter (attached to this article) to Cobb County School District Attorney Clem Doyle, IIAM Attorney Shawn Arnold requests the BOE revisit its September decision, with

Arnold said that just as IIAM was denied, another charter school was developing, and one of its organizers was Rep. Alisha Morgan, David Morgan’s wife. The charter school, named STEM Inventors Academy, would have “an unwarranted advantage” and no competition with IIAM no longer in the South Cobb vicinity, he wrote.

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Arnold stated “the fate of IIAM came down to Morgan’s deciding vote, with his ‘nay’ vote leaving 600 students educationally stranded.”

Because David Morgan did not announce his or his wife’s ties to the new charter school during the vote on IIAM’s charter renewal, Arnold argued that he “clearly used his official position ‘to secure unwarranted privileges, (and) advantages’ for his wife and the project she was involved in.

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David Morgan has said a conflict of interest does not exist "because I didn't have anything to do with the creation of the school nor was I elected when its charter had been approved."

The STEM Inventors Academy has since lost its leading partner, which was the Cobb County School District, and also returned its $50,000 planning grant from the state’s Race to the Top Innovation Grant Program.

However, Morgan disagreed that the two charter schools would have been in competition with each other.

"That's not the case. They wouldn't be competing. They would be complementing...It's not like they would be competing for the same funds," Morgan said, adding that having both schools would have given South Cobb parents "more options based on their children's needs."

Arnold is requesting the BOE place IIAM’s charter petition renewal back on its agenda for a vote. If the board cannot reconsider its vote, Arnold asked for an expedited formal hearing concerning David Morgan’s “violation of the CCSD Code of Ethics.”

“We want to see them discuss the school again because the first time we discussed it something was wrong with the discussion,” said IIAM Interim Principal James Owmby. “The discussion appears to be tainted by a conflict of interest.”

Owmby said the school officials, school governing board, students, parents and faculty want to receive due process, which was denied because Morgan voted on Sept. 29 despite what they view to be a conflict of interest.

Arnold said the board could also allow IIAM the opportunity to resubmit its charter petition renewal to be reviewed by the end of the school year.

Per the school board’s policy, the school board cannot reconsider IIAM’s charter application until May 1. However, by that time, the school would be forced to close and forfeit its assets while its application is reconsidered. Therefore the reconsideration would essentially be an application for a new charter school, Arnold stated.

“We have no problem rising to an occasion. We just need one to rise to,” Owmby said. “We just want to see justice done.”

 


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