At the urging of school superintendent Clayton Wilcox, the Pinellas County School Board has decided to give the Athenian Academy charter school in Dunedin one more brief chance to fix its problems.
The board voted 6-1 to grant a one-year provisional charter to Athenian Academy. That decision, which reverses a unanimous March vote against giving the school a new charter, places a heavy burden on Wilcox and his staff to monitor the school's performance.
Wilcox asked for it. Shortly after the School Board voted against renewing the charter, Wilcox asked board members to allow him to meet with the school's directors and parents to see if he could work out something to keep the school open. Parents and teachers had begged the district not to shut down the school, which provides some instruction in Greek.
Wilcox came back to the School Board this month with the recommendation for a one-year charter, which will allow Athenian Academy to open its doors for the 2005-2006 school year only.
DF: At a cost of over 4,000 dollars per student a year, this charter school in Florida is a icon in the community for trying to spread our Hellenic language to non-Hellenes. We hope that the school can fix its act in the next year.
posted on Sunday, July 31
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