State charter schools supporters and students of Ivy Preparatory Academy and their parents attended the Gwinnett Board of Education meeting Thursday about 300 strong to support school choice.
They arrived early, filling half of the auditorium with a sea of evergreen, packing front sections and overflowing into seats in the rear. The girls in ponytails and green blazers and their families in matching T-shirts took a field trip to the meeting to have some face time with the leaders who voted to file a lawsuit against their school.
Ivy Prep officials invited leaders with the Georgia Charter Schools Association (GCSA) to stand with them in their effort to protect their charter school and end the lawsuit.
“The students of Ivy Prep wanted to let the Gwinnett County School District see that this is an issue of real children, not just dollars and cents,” said Tony Roberts, executive director of the GCSA before the meeting began. “It’s very important to them that they are heard.”
Last month, the Gwinnett schools sued Ivy Prep, the state Department of Education, Superintendent Kathy Cox and several others, launching a battle over the local control of public education and the dollars allocated for students. Gwinnett’s lawsuit alleges that the Georgia Charter Schools Commission, which approved Ivy Preparatory Academy of Norcross to operate in Gwinnett, is illegally funding and authorizing new schools outside the mandates of the state constitution. It also scolds the state for giving Ivy Prep money meant for Gwinnett public school students after the Gwinnett school board rejected the charter school’s application.
On Thursday self-described “sisters and scholars,” parents and teachers of Ivy Prep, spoke against the lawsuit. Some got emotional as they defended their reasons for leaving Gwinnett public schools and their commitment to protecting Ivy Prep from being dismantled if the court rules against them.
“Why are you trying to close down my school,” student Anna Park asked as she sobbed at the podium. “ I want to learn here, and you are not going to make me stop from doing that. We will overcome this together.’’
Student Deja Holbert said Ivy Prep has proved that it has high academic standards and it outperforms other schools in the state. Holbert said stereotypes would have her “pregnant and a dropout between the ages of 15 and 17” but at Ivy Prep she is Ivy League-bound.
“At the school I was zoned to go to, the test scores were 79 percent for math, 88 percent for language arts, and 80 percent for writing. At Ivy Prep it was 91 percent for writing, 96 percent for language arts and 98 percent for writing,” she said.
Some speakers argued that the lawsuit was a waste of taxpayers’ money and that the school board should have approved Ivy Prep when it applied for charter status two years ago.
“True local control is parental control,” parent Latrice Ross said to board members. “The money should follow the student. Why should public education be the exclusive domain of the traditional school district?”
Nina Gilbert, the head of Ivy Prep, thanked Gwinnett County for once employing her for 10 years and inspiring her commitment to instructional excellence that helped her open Ivy Prep. She invited the school board to visit her school.
“Two years ago you denied our existence; we are here today,” Gilbert said, her voice full of emotion. “Our test results and our students tonight are proof that [we are] successfully developing scholars who know how to boldly advocate for themselves and for their future. ... How can that not be in the best interest of our community.”
Gilbert received a standing ovation for her comments.
The pleas to drop the lawsuit did not sway the conviction of the school board, however. School board chairman Dan Seckinger said the lawsuit was in the “best interest” of the students and taxpayers of Gwinnett.
“We appreciate your comments,” Seckinger said after the last speaker. “Most of you ladies were very well mannered.”
Dr. Robert McClure, a school board member, assured the audience the lawsuit was not meant to be “personal,” but is a constitutional issue.
“I deeply regret that Ivy Prep finds itself in the middle of this issue,” McClure said. “We didn’t charter the school. We didn’t start the unconstitutional Charter Schools Commission. … You don’t just obey the constitution when it suits your purpose.”
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