KidsPeace, a residential treatment program for students in grades four through 12 with behavioral and mental health needs, has been operating as a charter school in Bowdon since September 2004, but because of legislation passed in 2006, it can no longer serve as a charter school, said Executive Director Scott Merritt.

“From a policy standpoint, we were informed by the state (Department of Education) that they had concerns as to whether or not our charter could be renewed, because we don’t meet the current criteria,” Merritt said.

According to state rules governing charter schools, any student should have access to a charter school.

“The problem with KidsPeace is its model is that kids really get assigned there based on their background, and because they’re serving a particular type of background, it doesn’t fit well with the charter school open-enrollment concept,” said Andrew Broy, associate superintendent for policy and external affairs at the Department of Education.

The school and the DOE discussed the situation for about a year and came to the conclusion that the school did not meet the definition of a charter school, he said.

That left the school under the umbrella of Senate Bill 618, which means it becomes associated with the Carroll County school system as a kind of alternative school.

“That’s not fully applicable to a DJJ (Department of Juvenile Justice) school or a treatment-facility school,” Broy said. “What you’ve got there is kind of a hybrid school, which is an alternative school in name and where students are sent there from all over the state, not just Carroll County.”

The law, passed in 2006, makes KidsPeace eligible for funding through the Quality Basic Education Act and, now that it is no longer a charter school, for additional funding through grants that must pass through a local education agency, in this case Carroll County Schools.

“Prior to 618, providers basically did not get paid for educating our kids,” Merritt said. “It was something that we had to do on our own out of the per diem that we receive from the Department of Human Resources.”

Senate Bill 618 changed all that, putting the responsibility of educating students from outside a school system’s jurisdiction if they are placed their by the Department of Human Resources or the Department of Juvenile Justice. In other words, the education money should follow the students, he said.

At the school, little will change except it will lose its title as a charter school, Merritt said.

The 60 enrolled students will still receive their education at KidsPeace.

“Other than just knowing, the students and the staff really shouldn’t recognize anything that’s different,” Merritt said. “We continue to hire teachers. We continue to handle evaluations of teachers. We teach them here on campus.”

However, the school system will now take control of creating the individual education plans for the students and it will become the reporting and fiscal agent of the school.

The school will continue to serve the same students “ special education students with severe emotional behavior disorders, said Education Manager Patricia Swint. It will also continue to be a part of the national non-profit KidsPeace.

It will be up to the Carroll County Schools Board of Education as to how involved they become in the operation of the school, Broy said.

“We are not closing,” Swint said. “We’ll still educating the kids here and we work with Carroll County (Schools) in making sure that happens.”

The school is now researching the types of agreements that similar schools have with their local boards of education.

“We want to do everything we can to cause as little disruption to Carroll County Schools as possible,” Merritt said.