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Concerns that SOAR school may go private

A parent and former leader of the Athens Chapter of the NAACP wants Clarke County School District leaders to explain why they are meeting with representatives of a private company that runs alternative schools and whether they may privatize the local SOAR Academy.

"My main thing is to inform the community as to what the intentions of the board are and the school district's intentions as it relates to SOAR Academy," said Grady Martin.

Martin is concerned the school district might turn the punitive alternative school over to Ombudsman Educational Services, part of a Nashville-based company that runs more than 140 alternative schools in 16 states.

Neither Clarke County Board of Education members nor Superintendent Philip Lanoue have announced any plans to relinquish the management of SOAR Academy, but have spoken to Ombudsman representatives and visited at least one school the company manages.

School administrators together with two board members, Allison Wright and Ovita Thornton, in December toured at least one school in Douglas County run by Ombudsman.

School board members and administrators won't say if they are considering whether to privatize the school. When asked, board members and administrators would only say Lanoue hasn't made a formal recommendation to do so.

The December visit does not necessary mean school officials are seriously entertaining a change, Wright said, but board members on occasion must attend seminars or visit with other education professionals to stay abreast of education trends.

"It was like a field trip that the school district will go on when there's something to look into and check out ideas," she said.

Twenty-two school systems in Georgia have outsourced alternative school programs to Ombudsman - including four schools in Cobb County, where Lanoue worked before the Clarke board hired him last February.

In some deals with Ombudsman, those school districts said the company could provide smaller class sizes, computer-based credit recovery opportunitie

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