6 days ago
Savannah-Chatham school board to review nutrition budget deficit and REACH charter
The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System plans to recommend the approval of the district's first new charter school since 2013, when the county board of public education okayed Savannah Classical Academy's charter.
REACH Public Schools submitted its full petition to the school district in March. The petition was completed by Jessica Ray, superintendent of the California-based Propel Charter Management Group. Propel will serve as the school's primary educational service provider. REACH's petition states that its partnership with Propel is "designed to maximize the educational and financial interests of the charter school through a multifaceted approach that combines Propel's proven expertise with strong local partnerships."
The recommendation is scheduled on the agenda for the board's next meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
SCCPSS proposes to extend charter school REACH
REACH's petition notes that Propel has identified a facility, for which it is currently negotiating a lease. The REACH petition states that Propel would "take the liability for the facility and sign the lease until the Governing Board is ready and then Propel assign the lease to the REACH Governing Board."
REACH's petition included bios on its Governing Board members, who include:
Chair Patrick Connell, a local Savannah attorney
Treasurer Jason Gallegos, once the vice president of commercial lending at First Chatham Bank, which began operating as Cadence Bank as of Monday, Aug. 11
Vice-Chair Kate Blair, who is described in the petition as having done "extensive work with Brightside Advocacy (formerly CASA), which advocates for at-risk children to prevent child abuse and neglect."
Board member Michael Owens, President and CEO of the Tourism Leadership Council and cofounder of Grace Autism Services
Board member Christopher Middleton, Superior Court of Chatham County Judge since 2024, former founder of CRM Law Firm, and former assistant public defender for the Eastern District Judicial Circuit.
Connell and Gallegos also served on the governing board for the Savannah Exploratory Academy, another proposed charter school that did not receive the school board's approval back in 2019. The charter did, however, receive approval by the Georgia State Charter Schools Commission to open in 2020. Construction delays forced the academy to delay opening until August 2022. The academy ultimately did not open and cannot be found on the state commission's website.
The school district granted REACH's request for a 90-day extension after its initial application to provide an itemized response to the district's request for expanded details on how the proposed charter school plans to increase student enrollment and align curriculum with Georgia Standards of Excellence, among other topics. The district's recommendation noted this response and the overall application made the charter "sufficient for recommendation."
Other key SCCPSS August agenda items
The board will also discuss a $777,740 contract with Epic Special Education Staffing. The proposed contract states that Epic will staff the district with Special Education Teachers and Psychologists due to the vacancies the district is currently unable to fill for the school year 2025-2026." The staff needs relate to student psychological services that include "psychological-educational testing, observations and consultations with administrators, teachers and parents."
The proposed contract follows recent concerns expressed by parents of students with autism about the lack of parent involvement when the district decided to restructure its autism services program. The restructuring resulted in some students being moved to different schools as well as the need for six additional autism classroom teachers. All but one of the additional teacher positions had been filled prior to the start of school on Aug. 4, according to Chief Academic Officer Derrick Butler.
Additionally, the school district will ask the board to approve nearly $2.4 million for Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) Professional Services. The funds would come from "vacant SLP account lines" under the Specialized Learning program that are not being charged."
The school board will also hear the district's recommendations for the following among other proposed agenda items:
Recommendation of roughly $1 million in annual contracts with three suppliers for school police uniforms, accessories and body armor
A $1 million transfer of General Fund monies to the district's pre-k fund because the state pre-K formula does include a "training and experience factor in salary calculation."
A contract extension ratification with Willliams Institutional Food for food products and distribution services from July 1 through Dec. 31 in the amount of approximately $4.9 million
A General Fund transfer of $5.9 million to the operations fund to prevent a fund balance deficit in the School Nutrition Fund related to staff projections for fiscal year 2025
A fund transfer of $5.5 million from "savings associated with salary vacancies and benefits to cover 308 various deferred maintenance projects, with $1.5 million going toward "school nutrition equipment."
Where to attend or watch SCCPSS Board meetings
The next round of board meetings takes place Wednesday, Aug. 13 at the Whitney Administrative Complex, 2 Laura Ave., Savannah, 31404. Meetings are held at the Jessie Collier DeLoach Boardroom within Building G of the complex.
School board agendas are typically posted online on Board Docs the Friday before the next meeting.
Meetings are open to the public unless otherwise noted:
11 a.m. Informal Session
1 p.m. Executive Session (not open to the public)
2 p.m. Regular Session
The school district also streams board meetings at under the 'live' section tab. For a full list of upcoming board meetings, go to
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@ and JoeInTheKnow_SMN on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: New charter school goes to Savannah school board vote at meeting
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