The governing board of Cirrus Academy voted to oust its head of school, Gail Fowler, late Thursday night following a closed-door virtual meeting that lasted more than three hours.
Fowler was fired immediately after her termination was approved in a 5-1 vote, with board member Nathan Lewis the sole opposing vote.
Fowler, who retired as principal at Southwest High School before she was hired at Cirrus, had been the state charter school’s superintendent and CEO since 2019.
“This has been a very long meeting,” board chairperson Shirlynn Kelly said. “There was a lot of discussion and I just apologize for the amount of time that it has taken to come up with a general consensus.”
Board members did not say why they fired Fowler, but the move created an opening for individuals who have worked for or closely with the State Charter Schools Commission to take the helm of the school.
Next, the board voted 5-1 to hire Cross & Dot LLC as its interim head of school as it searches for a permanent leader.
The Jefferson-based company is owned by Heather Robinson, who previously worked as the principal of Georgia Connections Academy. The company has for years been on the State Charter School Commission’s list of approved governance trainers for charter schools.
Terrence Washington, one of the school’s two CFOs and a former accountability manager for the State Charter Schools Commission, also works for Cross & Dot.
Fowler’s firing comes a little more than four months after the State Charter Schools Commission voted to approve a three-year charter contract renewal with Cirrus Academy. Charter contracts are typically granted for five-year terms. The three-year contract marks the third abbreviated charter term granted to Cirrus by the state commission.
Cirrus Academy opened in 2016 on Pio Nono Avenue in the former Eugenia Hamilton Elementary School. Since then, the charter school has struggled to meet the state’s academic standards while also grappling with operational, financial and governance issues. Leadership has changed a number of times over the years but two of the school’s board members, Kelly and Lewis, have served on the board since its inception.
On Friday, Fowler posted a video online regarding the board’s decision to end her employment.
Fowler said it was under her leadership that Cirrus received accreditation and met the state’s academic standards for the second time in the school’s history. She said the school is on track to meet academic standards for a third straight year.
“To the parents of our scholars at Cirrus Academy, thank you first of all for having faith in a struggling school that was not supposed to make it,” Fowler said. “Thank you for having faith in me as superintendent, as principal, as teacher. … Let’s look to the future of Cirrus Academy.”
To contact Civic Journalism Fellow Laura Corley, call 478-301-5777 or email [email protected].
