BESE to decide on charter school application in October

   Officials of a proposed public charter school are optimistic that, in this case, three times will be the charm.

  Pat Ours, board president of Red River Charter Academy (RRCA), told the Marksville Chamber of Commerce recently that she believes an outside evaluator will recommend the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approve the school’s application.

   “The interview went very well,” Ours said.

   BESE will render its decision on Oct. 11.

   Two years ago, the outside evaluator did not recommend the application. Last year it did, but a BESE decision was delayed until January -- when a new governor and new BESE members had just taken office. State Superintendent of Education John White convinced BESE to reject the application because of its possible effect on the Avoyelles Parish School District’s desegregation order.

    Ours said she hopes that White and BESE, with a year to think about the issues relating to the need for the charter school, will have a different decision this time.

   “We have grown and matured in our 3 1/2 years of effort,” Ours said.

   She said this community needs economic development and “good education and economic development go hand in hand.”

  The reason the decision was made to seek to open another charter school in the parish is because “there are limited choices available to parents’ and children “are not being served in the best way they need to be.”

   Ours said the public school system “needs to look inward” as it tries to make improvements.

   “Charter schools are one recognized way to make improvements,” she added.

  “We plan to open next August,” Ours said. “We have 400 children signed up to attend our school.”

   She said the student body would be racially diverse and have students from across the parish.

  “If BESE approves our application, we will then go to U.S. District Judge Dee Drell to seek his approval. The School Board would be able to present their reasons as to why they don’t want us to open,” Ours said. “The Justice Department would then make the final decision.”

  Ours said the school is still planning to open in the former Garan Plant building. However, if it receives approval to open for the 2017-18 school year, “we would open in modular buildings while work is done on the main building.”

  The proposed school would open as a grades 6-8 middle school and add a high school grade each year until it serves grades 6-12.