EDUCATION

Historic day: Montgomery's first charter school welcomes students

Krista Johnson
Montgomery Advertiser

Students and parents marched into LEAD Academy on Monday, eager to take part in a historic moment for Montgomery as its first charter school opened its doors.

Decked out with new backpacks and sneakers, the kindergarten through grade 5 students moved in a sea of navy blue through the hallways of the newly remodeled building. The school didn't receive its occupancy permit until Wednesday afternoon, giving teachers less than 24 hours to put furniture and decorations in their rooms before community members gathered for the open house on Thursday.

More:State overrides MPS board ruling to provide LEAD food services

Also on Wednesday, the school's leaders scrambled to figure out what students would eat come Monday after a Tuesday evening vote by the Montgomery County Board of Education denied a food service contract. 

Despite the last minute hiccups, the campus was pristine and breakfast was served on opening day. 

Parents started arriving with their children by 7 a.m., posing for pictures in front of the lobby's fountain and in front of their classroom doors. Contractors mingled quietly throughout the building. An assistant principal requested someone find large umbrellas by pick-up time, fearing the 60% chance of rain. 

Downstairs in the kindergarten classrooms, students were welcomed as the class of 2032.

The first day of school at LEAD Academy in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday August 19, 2019.

Upstairs fifth graders were acknowledged as the first class who will graduate from LEAD. Unlike former first days, the students did not greet each other with familiar smiles — each was brand new to this school and will get a fresh start at making friends. Their parents, for many different reasons, chose to take a chance by enrolling their children at LEAD. They won one of the 360 spots for the school through a lottery, with more than 900 students applying. 

"This is not only a great thing for LEAD Academy — I believe it is the beginning of change in Montgomery for education," Board President Charlotte Meadows said before the school day started. " ... Every single child can learn and will learn and its all about the student at lead academy.

"I couldn’t be more pleased with how smoothly everything has been," Meadows said about how the school's morning went. "It's hard to be as calm and organized as it has been."

More:LEAD Academy taps Park Crossing Principal Nicole Ivey to lead charter

It wasn't until March that LEAD was given approval to open the school this fall and that was after the initial 2018 approval was invalidated following a lawsuit filed by the Alabama Education Association. The suit went before the Alabama Supreme Court in February, with the court approving the school's original 2018 application. 

During an information session this summer, Board President Charlotte Meadows said the Board spent $30,000 fighting the lawsuit. 

"God has made us to be overcomers and we have overcome," Meadows said about the many challenges the school has faced. 

In preparation of opening, LEAD had about six months to renovate the interior of the Eastern Boulevard building, which had previously served as a bank. The board also hired 25 staff members, founded an afterschool program, decided to employ a development officer tasked with fundraising efforts, lost a board member, spent an hour debating what color of uniforms to go with and landed a $200,000 donation from the Montgomery Area Realtors Association. 

More:House District 74 runoff: Charlotte Meadows looks to education in GOP run

Meadows also launched a campaign for the House District 74 race in April. She finished first in the June 11 Republican primary and will face Michael Fritz in the Aug. 27 GOP runoff. 

LEAD Academy's enrollment goals, according to its contract with the charter school commission.

About half of the school's teachers have previously worked for MPS. Two teachers started their first year in the profession. The school will continue to add new students and additional grades each year, with plans to be a K-12 with an enrollment of 1,224 by 2025. 

When it comes to the educational standards LEAD must meet, according to its contract with the Alabama Public Charter Commission, students will have to show improvement in multiple areas if LEAD wants to continue operation.

Most of those standards are based on a higher percentage of LEAD students performing at or above proficiency levels than the percentage of students in MPS do.

Another group is working to bring more charters to the city, possible as soon as next year. The Montgomery Education Foundation received approval on its application in December 2018 but its contract with MPS could not be executed after board members failed to hold a vote. 

More:MPS board's failure to vote on contract means Education Foundation charter won't open this fall

At that time, the plan was to convert four Montgomery public schools into charters — Davis and Nixon Elementary schools, Bellingrath Middle School and Sidney Lanier High School. As charter authorizers, MPS is required to issue a request for proposals, which the district did in November last year. The Education Foundation plans to submit another application, but will exclude Lanier from the feeder pattern, said Justin Hampton, the foundation's director of innovation.

Call Montgomery Advertiser reporter Krista Johnson at 334-303-9019 or email her at kjohnson3@gannett.com. You can also follow her @KristaJ1993.