Charter school with environmental focus receives conditional approval

The group hoping to open an environment-focused charter school received conditional approval on Thursday to move forward and potentially open in the fall 2012, while another group wanting to launch an international academy was denied that opportunity.

The state Charter School Advisory Committee gave conditional approval to the Cape Romain Environmental Education Charter School, which means the group must make some minor adjustments and clarifications to its application before going to the state Public Charter School District board.

The committee turned down the application from Dr. Sheryl J. Johnson International Academy, which would have offered year-round school, and that group hasn’t decided whether to reapply.

State charter officials were impressed with Cape Romain’s application. Dennis Drew, who chairs the state advisory committee, said it was one of the best he’d seen this year, and Wayne Brazell, superintendent of the state public charter district, said he’s never seen a group more prepared to present to the state committee.

“The key things were they had really developed community support for the school, and they’d done their homework about teaching the South Carolina standards through environmental education,” Brazell said.

The state charter committee ensures schools’ applications meet the state charter school law, and charter school hopefuls can’t go to the next step – either the state charter board or local school boards – until they receive its OK. The state charter board likely will consider Cape Romain’s application later this month.

Read more in upcoming editions of The Post and Courier.