A Prince George’s Circuit Court judge on Thursday extended a temporary restraining order allowing Potomac Public Charter School to remain open through July 11.
An attorney for the school, Tiffany Alston, told The Examiner that Potomac will file an appeal to the Maryland state Board of Education requesting a stay of its charter revocation and an immediate hearing.
Prince George’s schools spokesman John White said the judge on Thursday essentially reaffirmed a June 19 letter from the county Board of Education giving the school until July11 to “close out the school year.”
Initially, Alston said Potomac received a letter from the county Board of Education on June 11 notifying the school that its charter had been revoked and it would be shut down June 15. But Potomac received a temporary restraining order June 15 preventing the closure.
Alston said the school had been on probation since March over accounting questions, the need for a fully functioning governance board, whether there was a nurse on duty at the school and other issues.
New Potomac board of directors President Marsha Byrd said the school presented an updated remediation plan to the county Board of Education last week.
“We simply stated our case and simply explained we feel [that we are] in compliance,” she said.
Byrd said the county Board of Education’s primary problem was with the school’s governing board.
“We now have a functional board that is working,” she said. “We have a new board president.”
According to Byrd, Potomac wants a chance to go forward and “prove that we, in fact, can, with this new board, run the school properly.”
White confirmed the county Board of Education received Potomac’s correspondence.
“The board hasn’t made any further decisions,” he said. “It made a decision to revoke the charter.”
