[Editor s note: In a previous version of this story, the first name of Georgia s former governor was incorrect. We have corrected that mistake.]
Julie Wade has for the past decade worked with two Savannah Chatham County Public School superintendents and other school board members toward some great turnarounds for the schools and district.
But that 10-year tenure is coming to a close. Wade announced in November 2019 that she would not seek re-election to the school board when her term expired in 2020. “I’ve served for ten years and it’s time for someone else to take over the District 1 seat,” Wade said last year.
Citing instances of breach of contract, a lawsuit filed on behalf of two Savannah-Chatham County charter schools is winding its way through civil court.
Savannah Classical Academy and Coastal Empire Montessori (CEMCO) allege that the Savannah Chatham County Public Schools district acted in bad faith when it demanded that previously allocated funding be returned after the schools enrollment fell below projections.
The lawsuit was filed in Fulton County Superior Court in December 2019.
The district alleges that the charter schools accepted funds based on higher school enrollments in 2017 and 2018, but when full-time enrollment at both schools dipped in 2019, the district asked for the difference in the funding to be returned by the schools.
The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System held its final meeting of the semester where they discussed the possibility of moving back to a virtual learning model.