Hundreds protest overturning of charter school law

ATLANTA — A group of several dozen middle-schoolers clad in pleated skirts and green sweaters came to the Capitol on Tuesday to rally in support of their charter school and others like it that are facing an uncertain future after the Georgia Supreme Court ruled some schools to be unconstitutional.

The young girls from Ivy Preparatory Academy in suburban Atlanta joined about 400 people gathered on the Capitol steps under cloudy skies to share their fears about what will happen to the 15,000 students enrolled in the 16 charter schools affected by Monday's state Supreme Court ruling. Justices overturned a law that had allowed the state to approve and fund charter schools over the objection of local school boards.

The ruling does not affect the 65,000 students attending charter schools approved by their local school districts.

"We don't know what's going to happen," said Victoria Hudson, dean of students at Ivy Preparatory Academy, an all-girls school in Norcross. "But we're going to continue teaching our students as long as we can."

Hudson said the school felt it was important for students to attend the rally "for the girls to learn that they have to speak up, to realize that they do have a voice."

Annie Sears went to the rally to support The Museum School in Avondale Estates, where her daughter Izzy is in kindergarten. The school opened last fall and has a unique curriculum, partnering with local museums and other organizations to give students a hands-on learning experience. The school has about 135 students in kindergarten through third grade and plans to add a grade each year through eighth grade.

Sears said it seemed foolish to close a school that is consistently outperforming traditional schools and said she shudders to think what will happen if the school has to close.

"I'm not prepared to talk about that because I'm really hoping something will work out," Sears said. "I'm not ready to give up."

And neither is the school's principal, Katherine Kelbaugh, who attended the rally.

"We fought hard to get this school open and we see this as one more challenge we have to overcome," she said.