New Charter School to Open in HEPHZIBAH, GA

Charter schools continue to open across the state of Georgia, including one in Hephzibah, GA. According to Channel 12, the local station, it’s been a three year process to get it off of the ground. The new school will serve Burke, Jefferson, Columbia and Richmond Counties and is named the Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics.

The school has a different curriculum compared to other public schools. G.S.I.C. offers four career pathways picked specifically for this area: Linguistics for Fort Gordon, nuclear engineering for Plant Vogtle, sustainable agriculture tailored for farming counties, like Burke County, and entertainment for Georgia’s growing film and video industry. City and school chairman Robert Buchwitz says this is essential. “It’s real life stuff. It’s real jobs. These people can go and seek jobs,” he said.

The charter school does not answer to the local boards of education, but instead has its own local board made up of seven area people including lawyers, educators, and city leaders. The board reports to the state board of education. They have more flexibility with the curriculum, but higher accountability. “The teachers and the principal together can create a curriculum that works for those students, it’s not something coming from a board running fifty schools we have a board and a principal that’s running one school,” Allen said.