CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Emotions ran high in Cherokee County as the school board rejected a bid for a charter school Friday.
Hundreds of people packed a high school auditorium as the decision came down to a single vote.
Channel 2's Tony Thomas was there for the decision and as parents and teachers reacted afterwards.
The Cherokee Charter Academy had hoped to open this fall on Sixes Road. Its future is in doubt after the Cherokee County School Board turned it down Friday night for the third time.
Twenty minutes after the school board vote, the heated exchanges continued between a parent who wanted the charter school and a teacher who didn't.
"I'm just not understanding how you think this school is going to solve your problems, with teachers that are less qualified," said teacher Kristin Guinther.
It's a debate that's raging in several Georgia counties.
In a 4-3 vote, the county school board voted down a plan by Charter Schools USA to open a nearly 1,000-student publicly funded but privately run school to be called the Cherokee Charter Academy.
"In my opinion, this is economic segregation," said Lillian Vernamen, who was opposed to the plan.
District leaders said the charter school would have diverted $7 million from the county schools and warned of possible layoffs. One board member said parents still have a choice.
"You can move," the board member said.
That didn't sit well with some in the crowd.
The Cherokee Charter Academy still has one move left. It can and likely will go before the state Tuesday and ask for its approval, although the funding would be a lot less, Thomas said he was told.
WSBTV
