MCSD board’s alternative education advisory council adds members

Two months after the Muscogee County School Board agreed to form a citizens committee to help improve alternative education, the group still hasn’t met but more folks have agreed to serve.

Tollie Strode, a former U.S. Army officer, told the school board during its work session Monday night that county-wide representative Kia Chambers, who was absent, asked him to update the board on the progress of the committee, now called the Community Advisory Council.

Chambers, the board’s vice chairwoman, proposed forming the advisory group as part of her prevailing substitute motion April 10 to delay for three months voting on superintendent David Lewis’ controversial recommendation in March to hire Camelot Education, a private, for-profit company based in Austin, Texas, to run three alternative education programs in the Muscogee County School District for $6.4 million annually. The board, however, didn’t wait three months. In another split vote, the board put the recommendation back on the table May 15 and voted it down. But the Community Advisory Council remains viable.

Board members nominated residents to represent each of the county’s eight districts. Strode is representing the Chambers’ county-wide seat. Ten other residents have been or will be appointed to at-large seats, bringing the council’s total number of participants to 19.

The Ledger-Enquirer reported last month the names of 10 residents appointed to the council. Strode revealed six more Monday, leaving three more to be determined. Here is the updated list of council members:

▪ District 1: Carolyn Randolph, former educator.

▪ District 2: Nathan Smith, bill collector

▪ District 3: Olive Vidal-Kendall, Columbus Technical College director of counseling and special services.

▪ District 4: Marjorie Barker Jackson, educator.

▪ District 5: Jamie Battles, first-grade teacher at Clubview Elementary School.

▪ District 6: Bart Steed, owner of Kar-Tunes Car Stereo, former MCSD board candidate.

▪ District 7: Mike Edmondson, retired teacher.

▪ District 8: Sarah Beecham Powell, former associate vice president at Columbus Technical College.

▪ County-wide: Tollie Strode, former Army officer.

▪ At-large: Waleisah Wilson, founder and president of NewLife-Second Chance Outreach Inc., a nonprofit organization helping former inmates transition back into the Columbus community.

▪ Marianne Young, vice president of the Arnold Magnet Academy PTA and mother of a special-needs student.

▪ Charles Redd, field program specialist for Region 8 of the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services.

▪ J.A. Hud, director of Project Rebound, which facilitates psychosocial development for those disrupted by social conditions.

▪ The Rev. Ralph Huling, president of the local Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and pastor of St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus and New Hope Baptist Church in Lumpkin.

▪ Lisa Jenkins, mother of a special-needs student.

▪ Tonza Thomas, Columbus NAACP chapter president.

▪ Physical therapist to be determined.

▪ Child psychologist/psychiatrist to be determined.

▪ Behavior specialist to be determined.

“The bottom line is,” Strode told the board, “this group, after 90 days of work, will come back with a recommendation to the board for consideration. We’re going to do our best to not tell you how to suck the egg, but we are going to try to give you a guide way to make the omelet.”

The advisory council will take the following approach, Strode said: “What we’re going to do is take a step back and get this group with a sound understanding of what should be happening … and understand what the actual is. Then we should be able to define the problem and then come back to you after each one of these process steps and say here’s our recommendation to you.”

Despite the slow start, the good news is, Strode said, “We’re not starting off at ground zero,” thanks to Wilson and Young conducting the April 24 forum, where residents described alternative education problems and suggested solutions. “We want to start off and leverage the understanding that was gained in that meeting to make this work,” he said.

The school board is expected to formally appoint and charge the advisory council during its June 19 meeting, Strode told the Ledger-Enquirer on Tuesday. That’s when the 90 days will start ticking, he said.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 2:56 PM with the headline "MCSD board’s alternative education advisory council adds members."