Two Charters Schools in Bibb County Aim to Open Doors in Fall 2014

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Two charter school applications in Bibb County have been approved, and officials are looking to open their doors by the next school year.

Charter school officials say they want parents to have a choice about where they send their kids to school.

After years of applying, and re-shaping their presentation for Bibb school boards, two charter schools have been accepted, to try and make that vision a reality.

Mary Lou Ezell is all smiles.

She’s the chairperson for the proposed Macon International Charter Academy.

After making a presentation in front Bibb County’s school board on Thursday, she’s happy about the big news.

“It was a wonderful evening for us, this is something that we worked for a long time, and to see it accepted last night was just amazing,” Ezell said.

The board decided to approve two charter applications.

One application is for the Macon International Charter Academy and the other for the Academy for Classical Education.

Now Ezell and her team are looking forward to the next steps.

“A facility in the next couple of month, and probably January we’ll put applications online for parents to apply. We hope to have our student body in line by the end of February first of March,” Ezell said.

Monya Rutland is a consultant for the charter academy. She felt like the journey to get the application approved was a long one, but she’s ready to see a change.

“As a parent I wanted a choice, and I wanted other parents to have choices about where they would like to send their children to school,” Rutland said.

The charter school will be using the international baccalaureate program that’s aimed at helping students learn in a changing world.

“Now we will have a feeder coming into that program, I envision that program enlarging over years. I think that a rising a tide, rises all of the boats, and I think its going to be a plus for Bibb County schools as well,” Ezell said.

Rutland says she wants the charter school to work collaboratively with existing public schools and says it’s the perfect opportunity for parents to get involved.

“They can feel comfortable sending their children there. It’s a place where they can feel comfortable getting involved and getting engaged,” Rutland said.