Cooksey gets seat at charter schools table

By VIctor Alvis

The state’s new Charter Advisory Committee is a sure sign of the Georgia Department of Education’s growing interest in the charter school format, according to the state director of the charter schools program.

As a member of the advisory committee, Dalton’s Brian Cooksey, director of operations training for Shaw Industries, will help oversee this relatively new educational model.

“My understanding is that when the nine-person committee was formed, they wanted to have a representative from the business side to go with some of the folks on the academic side,” Cooksey said. “They had one slot for someone from business or manufacturing, and as a representative from a large employer like Shaw, I can speak to the needs of businesses and how charter schools can impact the skills set of the future work force.”

Cooksey graduated from Pelham High School, where his dad, Gene, was a teacher and coach. His mother, Susan, is a retired elementary school teacher after 25 years in Georgia schools.

Cooksey earned a management degree from the University of Georgia and has been at Shaw since graduating 13 years ago. He started as a supervisor in a manufacturing operation, moved into human resources, then training eight years ago. Shaw’s corporate training program has been recognized the past three years by Training magazine as a Top 100 training company. Shaw divides training into three categories: administration, sales and operations, the group Cooksey oversees.

“Like my parents, I see the value in what education can do to help people, but I took a different approach, with adults,” said Cooksey, who was nominated to the committee by Dalton’s Larry Winter, a member of the state Board of Education.

“The state board only got to nominate three to this committee, so it’s a big coup for our area that Brian was selected,” Winter said. “We wanted an industrial representative to help build a bridge between charter school students and their ultimate employers. His experience in training made him a perfect fit for helping people at the state level impact how local people coming through charter schools will be taught.”

Georgia currently has 60 charter schools and will have 74 in operation in the new school year. School systems must file petitions for charter schools with the state, and the state Board of Education approves such schools, which operate according to a set contract between the state and a local school board.

“There has been a demand from parents who like to be able to choose from a number of schools. They like to have that option,” said Andrew Broy, who took charge of the state’s new charter school division a year and a half ago. “Charter schools have the advantage of being able to waive certain state, system and local regulations. They are more flexible and responsive, so they can focus directly on how to improve student achievement.”

And now, thanks to Georgia Senate Bill 39, the Charter Systems Act, public school systems can petition to convert their entire system to charter school status. Up to five petitions can be approved during the coming fiscal year. They will each receive an implementation grant of $125,000, funded out of $3.2 million allocated for charter schools in 2007-2008, a 160 percent increase over the prior year.

In June, Georgia also won a $17 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help create new charter schools. Georgia was one of 10 states sharing in the $284 million program.

Winter said the state board of education also nominated Linda Zechmann, a state board of education member from south Georgia, and Marina Volanakis, founding principal of South Fulton Academy, to the committee.

For the state Senate, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle appointed Charles Knapp, a former UGA president; Otis Brumby Jr., Marietta Daily Journal publisher, and Mark Whitlock, CEO of the Central Educational Center in Coweta County.

Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson will also appoint three members to the committee, whose first meeting is scheduled for July 31 in Atlanta.