Thursday, January 24, 2013
The Georgia Department of Education was asked to help stop an attempt by Fulton County Schools to close the public charter school.
Fulton Science Academy High School formally asked the state to help keep the doors of the Alpharetta public charter school open. The Fulton Science Academy High School Governing Board issued the following statement: “The parents, students and faculty are committed to preserving the high school’s charter and the integrity of its universally recognized academic programs. We look forward to presenting our case to the state school board as well as the facts surrounding our charter and FSA’s successes as a high-performing STEM school," the board's statement, released Thursday afternoon, said. Fulton County Schools told the school's governing board it planned to close the school after this academic year, two years before its charter is …
34.060549
-84.241256
Fulton Science Academy High School
4100 Old Milton Pkwy, Alpharetta, GA
/articles/fulton-science-academy-high-appeals-to-state-over-charter
1127239
/locations/8676634
Friday, December 21, 2012
The bank needs to sell the Fulton Science Academy property where a new school was to be built so it can recover the investment of bondholders.
A lawsuit against Fulton Science Academy is a step in the foreclosure process on school property that will allow Wells Fargo to recover the investment of bondholders, according to bank officials and the school's attorney. "Wells Fargo acts as a trustee for publicly held bonds and has a responsibility to recover the investment of the bondholders. Wells Fargo is following the appropriate legal procedures to foreclose on this property," said Jamie Dexter in a statement issued by Wells Fargo. The property is on Fanfare Way in Alpharetta, which is next to the west side of GA 400. Only the middle school organization was the target of the lawsuit, Dexter said. Fulton Sunshine Academy and Fulton Science Academy High School were named in the suit …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The bank claims the schools are in default on an $18.9 million loan.
Three schools are being sued in federal court by Wells Fargo over an $18.9 million loan default. Fulton Science Academy, Fulton Sunshine Academy and Fulton Educational Services (which operates Fulton Science Academy High), are named in the civil suit filed in U.S. District Court on Dec. 17, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported. On. Nov. 1, 2011, the defendants entered an agreement that appointed New York Mellon as trustee of bonds to finance a project to buy land and build a new school. On March 30 2012, Wells Fargo took over as trustee. A real estate deed was used to secure the debt. "Defendants have failed to meet their repayment obligations for those funds under the terms of the Note. The Note has been accelerated with payment in …
Monday, December 17, 2012
The Fulton County Board of Education considers the possible end of the school's charter.
Fulton Science Academy High School will have its hearing on the possible termination of its charter on Tuesday, Dec. 18. The hearing will be 10 a.m. at the school system’s Administrative Center, located at 786 Cleveland Avenue SW in Atlanta. On Dec. 4, Superintendent of Schools Robert Avossa delivered an audit report to the school board at their work session. Based on the audit report, Avossa said he would recommend terminating the public charter school's contract,. That would close the school at the end of the current school year. A week later, on Dec. 11. the school board voted to pursue terminating the Fulton Science Academy High charter. The school's governing board was offered the opportunity of a hearing on Dec. 18. On Thursday, …
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Fulton Science Academy High School's governing board meets Thursday to make its decision on whether they want a hearing before the Fulton County Board of Education.
Fulton Science Academy High School's governing board will decide whether the school will ask for a hearing to fight a push by Fulton County Schools to close the school by terminating its charter contract. Principal Namik Sercan said the public school's governing board is working on its written response to each allegation raised in the IAG audit. The formal decision to appeal will be made Thurdsay, Dec. 13, he said, while the response will take a few more days to finalize. Sercan, responding to questions about the audit report's claims that Fulton Science Academy High failed to meet enrollment requirements, said its enrollment has grown for five years out of seven. The two years that showed declining enrollment were when its charter renewal…
34.060549
-84.241256
Fulton Science Academy High School
4100 Old Milton Pkwy, Alpharetta, GA
/articles/charter-high-prepares-to-fight-fulton-s-school-closure-push
1127239
/locations/8370769
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The public charter school's own board can request a hearing to be held Dec. 18, but the ultimate decision on the charter rests with the Georgia Department of Education.
CORRECTION: Through an editor's error, the original headline on this article named the school incorrectly. Fulton Science Academy High is the charter school affected, as the story stated. The Fulton County Board of Education today, Dec. 11, approved a recommendation to start the process to close Fulton Science Academy High School at the end of the school year. Superintendent Robert Avossa first made the recommendation to terminate the school's charter at a school board work session on Dec. 4. Avossa based his recommendation on what staff reports call "a history of insufficient governance capacity and poor decision-making on the part of the school’s governance board." An independent audit released to the school board on Dec. 4 was said to …
34.060549
-84.241256
Fulton Science Academy High School
4100 Old Milton Pkwy, Alpharetta, GA
/articles/board-votes-for-closure-of-fulton-sunshine-charter-school
1127239
/locations/8364421
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Robert Avossa today will present to the Fulton School Board an auditor's report in support of a letter of termination of the public charter school's contract he plans to send to the school.
Fulton Science Academy High School will close at the end of the school year if the Fulton School Board agrees the school's charter contract has been violated and the school must close. Superintendent of Schools Robert Avossa is expected to ask the Fulton School Board to terminate the charter school contract with Fulton Science Academy High School in Alpharetta during a work session today. Avossa wrote a letter dated Dec. 4 that detailed reasons for the termination recommendation, many of which mirrored reasons given when Fulton Science Academy Middle School was unable to renew its charter. This letter is part of the supporting documents posted with the Dec. 4 work session agenda for the Fulton School Board. "This action is necessary …
34.060549
-84.241256
Fulton Science Academy High School
4100 Old Milton Pkwy, Alpharetta, GA
/articles/fulton-superintendent-plans-to-close-fulton-science-academy-high
1127239
/locations/8297740
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
North Fulton mother says she found local control was critical after finding problems while her son attended Fulton Science Academy.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Georgia is in the midst of an intense debate over a proposed charter school amendment that will be on the ballot in November. Whatever your position, you need to read my story. The polls predict this amendment will pass with flying colors, thanks to a misleading ballot question and a majority of funding from outside the state. If this amendment passes, politics and corporations will shape our schools. Groups with multi-faceted objectives are lining up to grab their market share. If a state controlled charter school comes to town, you will have no recourse if there is a problem. Why Local Control is Critical The problems I encountered at Fulton Science Academy were not anticipated by our local and state board of education or by educators …
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Fulton Science Academy's Angela Lassetter says Wells Fargo's demand is in attorneys' hands now. A payment agreement, new investor or selling the land for the proposed building are some possible solutions.
UPDATE June 28, 5:30 p.m.: Fulton Science Academy Board of Governors member Angela Lassetter said today the schools can pay back the $18.9 million in bonds. Lassetter spoke about FSA's future as a private school, a school system audit report and her school's investigation and response to that report in an interview this afternoon. Wells Fargo Bank, the bond investor, sent out a "Notice of Acceleration" on June 25 by certified mail to the Development Authority and the three schools involved: Fulton Science Academy (middle school), Fulton Sunshine Academy (elementary school) and Fulton Educational Services (Fulton Science Academy High School). The bank's notice, sent by Virginia Anne Housum, a vice president for Wells Fargo, said the …
34.060831
-84.308752
Fulton Science Academy Middle School
1675 Hembree Rd, Alpharetta, GA
/articles/investors-recall-fulton-science-academy-bonds-70ad6046
1124290
/locations/7344720
The charter middle school's board of governors took issue with the school system's report.
CORRECTION: A reference to Fulton County on immigration services was reversed, and has been corrected in the copy below. Fulton Science Academy Middle School effectively won't exist after Saturday, when its charter with the Fulton County School System expires. But its board of governors responded today, June 28, to an audit report's findings with its own investigative report. GlassRatner, a national specialty advisory services firm headquartered in Atlanta, performed an investigation into the audit report written by IAG Forensics, and it took issue with much of the report. "Many of the alleged findings in the IAG Report are flawed, unsupported and inaccurate and the IAG Report failed to make factual findings based on actual data and …
34.060831
-84.308752
Fulton Science Academy Middle School
1675 Hembree Rd, Alpharetta, GA
/articles/fulton-science-academy-responds-to-school-board-audit
1124290
/locations/7342108
Aimee Nobile
5:38 am on Monday, March 11, 2013
I'd rather have tax dollars go to a school that is outperforming with less money, rather than one that is mediocre. The truth is, this school has had outstanding performance, as well as happy parents and students. What is so horrible about that? Last I checked, the parents of the students at the school paid tax dollars too? Public schools are simply getting by teaching for CRCT's only, and … more ›