Imagine Main Street Academy - A Charter School

This property, once an elderly care facility, has come up several times in conversation, and I wanted to share some notes from a quick talk with the realtor today. According to Richard Bowers, the Catholic Church owns the building and land, and can be characterized as a motivated seller, as they’d like to turn it back into cahs for other projects, according to Richard. Also, there have been three near-closings, all falling through, and he is working on getting an extension for another, though with the current market, it probably doesn’t look too good, IMHO. A neighbor of mine, who is a large-scale commercial builder has seen the property and said it is well suited (only about 20 years old), and the walls for the single-occupant rooms could be knocked down to create larger classroom space. Of course, I live around the corner and LOVE the location! (my disclaimer…)

details: 5.76 acres, 9675 sq. ft, 16 fully furnished units, R-1 zoning, asking price is $1,300,000

3409 washington road listing details

Hello-

The Imagine Main Street Academy, A Charter School will have a community meeting on November 15, 7:00pm at College Park First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall.  We ask that you bring any letters of support from friends, family, neighbors and businesses.  The business letters of support should be on the supporting business letterhead.  You will find a sample letter of support at www.themainstreetacademy.com.

Other helpful websites are www.imaginegeorgia.com and www.ibo.org.  

Everyone please attend so we can show the need for a choice in education in our community.  Even if you have previously attended a community meeting, please join us!  We need everyone’s support! 

Thank you!

Carol Shaginaw

Hi all MSA supporters and organizers!

we’re almost at 350 reads for the blog - great start - please post up some personal stories  or articles you may come across - here the address to make your own entries: http://mainstreetacademy.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

thanks for reading, but most of all, thanks for writing!

Questions? Selah Abrams @ 404.660.4561 is happy to help out!

Those of you who turned in receipts/reported expenses to me should be getting reimbursed by the end of next week. A finance report will be posted by the end of next week as well, and will be available for perusal at the community meeting.

Any questions? 404-375-8297.

Thanks,

Audrey

Planning For A New Southside School
Imagine Main Street Academy
A Charter School
Do you feel we need more schooling options in our area? Have you ever known a neighbor in
College Park, East Point or Hapeville who decided to move away because they had kids and were
unsatisfied with the schooling options?
If you answered yes to either of these questions, here is your chance to get involved and
address those issues. A large and growing group of parents and other citizens in our area feels strongly
that we need an alternative to the present local schooling options. To address that, we are seeking to
start a charter school to serve our area. And we need your help!
What are charter schools? Charter schools are independent public schools that are open to all
students, regardless of income, gender, race or religion. They exist under a contract with an
authoritative public body, such as a state or local school board, that holds the charter school
accountable for results. Charter schools run independently of traditional school districts, yet since they
are public schools they are funded by taxpayer money, not tuition. Visit www.publiccharters.org for
more background on charter schools.
Imagine Main Street Academy: A Charter School will be a small-to-medium-sized,
community-based charter school specifically formed to serve our diverse and growing population. The
school would be kindergarten through fifth grade initially, and would primarily serve the College Park,
East Point and Hapeville area. We envision a program focused on high student achievement, with a
wide-ranging curriculum solidly based in reading and math. The curriculum could also include elements
that many of us remember fondly from our childhood – art, foreign language, music, science, and
physical education, all taught on a regular basis. We will follow an International Baccaleureate (IB)
curriculum, with a special focus on Spanish. See www.ibo.org for more information on IB.
We have initiated discussions with Imagine Schools (www.imagineschools.com), a company
that works with communities to develop charter schools. The current plan is to have a charter school up
and running by Fall 2009, with Imagine Schools’ help. We will submit our application to the Fulton
County Board of Education in February 2008.
Our biggest need currently is to spread the word, and get letters of support from businesses,
churches, synagogues and other spiritual instutitions, political leaders, and families. Please contact
Carol Shaginaw at the email address below for information on how to get those letters to her.
• Contact: Carol Shaginaw
email: carolshaginaw@comcast.net
• Website: www.themainstreetacademy.com
• Next public meeting: Thursday, November 15. 2007
7:00 p.m.
College Park First United Methodist Church
www.collegeparkfirst.org
• Who should attend: Parents and other concerned citizens in the
East Point/College Park/Hapeville area
• Please sign this petition
for a charter school: http://imaginegeorgia.com/ImagineMainStreet.html
• Please get letters of support from businesses, churches, synagogues and other
spiritual instutitions, political leaders, and families. Forward them to Carol Shaginaw.

Main Street Academy Nov. 15th meeting

Once again…a beautiful day and great responses to MSA’s booth! Noel has some typically great photos, as rumor has it. The booth looked great as well! A quick discussion with one of the charter review board members revealed that the more we can demonstrably show that parents in the community are involved, and that MSA is able to differentiate itself in its links to the community, the better the chances for having the charter application accepted. There was also a hint that charters will not be accepted ad infinitum, so the sooner the better to apply.

Please post your comments or articles - links to news, also — we’ve had over 110 readers so far, and we can use the number of posts and readers as quantifiable proof that the community is engaged. thanks for checking us out!

Here’s two templates for letters of support. Please print out, have them signed as original copies, and turn in at the next meeting (or before)

Charter Support Letter

Business Charter Support Letter Template

Sat. 9.29.07 - Barrett Park

Sun, music, food, families - a perfect day in the park! The booth looked fantastic, with food and drinks for fundraising, and materials or interested passersby to get the real and accurate scoop on the effort to broaden the available choices for public schools in the tri-city area.

Also running from 11-2 pm was East Point Mayor Joe Macon’s Mayor’s Education Coalition event at the East Point Public Library. Mayor Macon and his wife both expressed their firm support for the MSA charter application, and of the need for more choices for public schools in the area. Clearly, excellent schools are a prime driver for both new businesses and people to move to the Tri-City area.

More comments and pictures to come from Noel and others…

p.s. coming up is the East Point Hispanic-Latino Festival on Oct. 6 in downtown EP 3-9 pm Dancing, Music, Food - hot!

CURRENT FOCUS: Signed letters of support from business, civic and church leaders, developers, and YOU!

We support public education!

We want to offer a choice of public schools to our children by
opening a charter school alongside the current
schools offered. Just as the University of Georgia,
Georgia State and Georgia Tech are all public
universities offering a choice as to what learning
emphasis fits best for individual Georgia students,
Imagine Main Street Academy is a charter school
that will offer a similar choice for elementary
students primarily in the College Park, East Point
and Hapeville areas.

• Imagine Main Street Academy: A Charter School

will be a small-to-medium-sized, community-based
charter school specifically formed to serve
our diverse and growing population. The school
would be kindergarten through fifth grade initially.
We have partnered with Imagine Schools
(www.imagineschools.com), a company that works
with communities to develop and manage charter
schools.
- The curriculum offered will be IBPYP, which is
unique for elementary students in South Fulton
County. The program has a dual language focus
of English and Spanish, better preparing our
students for today’s global economy.

• The International Baccalaureate Primary Years

Programme (IBPYP) is a transdisciplinary
programme of international education designed
to foster the development of the whole child, for
students up to age 12. It focuses on the total
growth of the developing child, touching hearts
as well as minds and encompassing social,
physical, emotional and cultural needs in addition
to academic development.
The PYP draws on research and best practice
from a range of national systems with a wealth
of knowledge and experience from international
schools to create a relevant, engaging, challenging
and significant educational framework for all
children.

• The curriculum framework consists of five

essential elements: concepts, knowledge, skills,
attitude, action. The knowledge component is
developed through inquiries into six
transdisciplinary themes of global significance,
supported and balanced by six subject areas.
Teachers assess students by selecting or designing
methods of assessment appropriate to the learning
outcomes they intend to capture. Teachers also
take into account the diverse, complicated and
sophisticated ways that individual students use
to develop and demonstrate their understanding.

• Charter schools are independent public schools

that are open to all students, regardless of income,
gender, race or religion. They exist under a charter
that holds them accountable for results. Charter
schools run independently of traditional school
districts, yet since they are public schools they
are funded by existing taxpayer money,
not tuition. Visit www.publiccharters.org for more
background on charter schools.

• The current plan is to have a charter school up

and running by Fall 2009, with Imagine Schools’
help. We need strong public support as we submit
our charter for approval in March 2008. We
invite you to write a letter of support, help spread
the word, join us for our next meeting and make
your voice heard as these plans move forward.
Even if you don’t have school-age children, please
get involved to better our community’s future.
We can’t do it without you!