Museum School to Make Formal Pitch to DeKalb School System

 is planning to submit next week its petition for a charter to operate as part of the DeKalb County School System.

It's the second time the school has made such a request. The public charter school's last petition was denied by the DeKalb County school board, which is when the school turned to the state and later received a charter.

Since then, a lot has changed. Ramona Tyson is acting superintendent since former Superintendent Crawford Lewis was indicted on charges of running a criminal enterprise in the school system. The board's make-up has also changed with several new members  elected.

The DeKalb board of education will review the request for approval or denial at its regularly scheduled board meeting on June 13, according to an email sent to parents from Katherine Kelbaugh, the principal of The Museum School.

"We are finalizing our documents now and will be ready to submit prior to deadline," Kelbaugh said in the email.

The Museum School, which has 135 students, opened last fall serving grades K-3. The school has plans to add 4th grade for the 2011-2012 academic year.

The school's museum concept of learning incorporates arts and cultural experiences. Students step outside their classrooms and engage in activities at places like the Georgia Aquarium and learn from experts from these organizations.

The launch of The Museum School was seven years in the making and it was conceived by area residents and parents, many of whom chipped in money from their own pockets. School boosters have raised more than $300,000 for the school's development fund.

Charter school supporters protested the state capitol in downtown Atlanta after the Supreme Court's decision. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a letter to the editor that cited the court's decision "flunks history, ignores roots of segregation."

Administrators insist that the Museum School will not close due to its support, even from those in state government.

If the school does not get a charter from DeKalb County, another option is to petition for a special charter from the state that would help them with 55 percent funding, though the Museum School would still need to come up with remaining 45 percent. 

"We have building expansion plans for the summer that we're proceeding with," said Sasha Webb, board chair of The Museum School, during an interview last week. "We are working hard. We've told parents everything we know. We're transparent through this process."

She added, "we've overcome so many obstacles to get to where we are now that this is just one more to get beyond."

The Museum School's third grade CRCT scores (the only grade tested by the state this year) are at 100 percent for reading, english, language arts and science, and 95 percent for social studies and 90 percent in math.

The school also has wait lists for every grade.

"We accomplished a lot in our first year," Webb said.