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COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board will be in Columbus on Monday to hear from local residents on a proposed charter school.
Inspire Charter Schools, which was a finalist in the first round of applications earlier this year, is seeking to open a school for 360 students in grades K-6 in Columbus.
Kenneth McFarland, one of the proposed school's leaders, said the meeting will help people learn how a charter school would benefit local children.
"It's not for us to talk, it's for the community to talk," McFarland said. "We are a grassroots effort and we like to make sure all people are involved and all people that have an opinion can be heard. This would be the time to do it."
The public meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday at Genesis Church in Columbus.
The proposed school would be located at Genesis Church where Darren Leach, the school's executive director, serves as head pastor.
Leach tells The Commercial Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1oRxPmw) that Mississippi native and former Michigan educator Reddell Holmes has been selected as the school's principal.
ICS has previously applied for a charter. They were denied earlier this year.
Since their original application, leaders altered the grades that Inspire Charter School would serve. Originally, the school hoped to serve kindergarten through third grade, as well as a ninth grade. In the second application, the group said it would focus solely on kindergarten through third grade.
ICS is one of two groups seeking approval for a charter school.
The state board will hold a public meeting in Jackson on Nov. 19 for public input on Midtown Partners' proposal to open a school for 208 students in grades 5-8 in Jackson.
The state authorizer board will announce a decision on Dec. 5 on whether to grant the charters.
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Information from: The Commercial Dispatch, http://www.cdispatch.com
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