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People say imitation is the best form of flattery.

A group of parents was so pleased by their children’s experiences at Greensboro Academy that they want to open a similar charter school in Guilford County next year.

The proposed Cornerstone Charter Academy would provide a free “back-to-basics” education to students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

The five-member board of directors plans to submit its application to the state Office of Charter Schools by next week, said board President Mary Catherine Sauer.

The board will hold a meeting for interested parents tonight and collect signatures for a petition that it will include in its application.

“My kids, especially my older two, have had an outstanding education at Greensboro Academy,” said Sauer, a mother of four.

“We are patterning ourselves after a model we’ve seen work well.”

Charter schools are public and tuition-free but operate independently of school districts. More than 1,800 students attend Guilford’s four charter schools. All of those schools either operate at capacity or have waiting lists.

The 12-year-old Greensboro Academy serves more than 700 mostly white, middle-class students in kindergarten through eighth grade in northwest Greensboro. It has a waiting list of 1,100 students.

That waiting list spurred Sauer and other Cornerstone board members to create another option for local families.

“I so clearly remember that feeling of how devastating it is to know that there’s a better choice out there, but we can’t get to it,” said Sauer, whose oldest son was once on a waiting list at Greensboro Academy. “We want everyone to have that choice.”

The Cornerstone board would be among the first group of applicants since state lawmakers removed a 100-school cap in June.

The state Board of Education later approved two application deadlines: Nov. 10 for “fast track” applicants who want to open schools next year, and an unspecified date in April for groups that need more planning time.

The Office of Charter Schools has not yet received any applications, according to Director Joel Medley.

But interest is high. Parents for Educational Freedom, a charter school advocacy group, held a series of meetings in September to recruit applicants of color. More than 100 black educators, business people and community leaders went to a meeting in Greensboro to learn how to apply for start-up grants and loans.

“We’ve been hearing quite often around the state that some high quality leaders are stepping up to the plate,” said Darrell Allison, president of the Parents for Educational Freedom. “We don’t want just any and everybody getting into charter schools.”
Cornerstone’s board and steering committee, which include people with teaching and nonprofit management experience, want to open a school by August. The school initially would serve more than 500 students in kindergarten through sixth grade and add seventh and eighth grades in subsequent years, Sauer said.

Cornerstone’s board has not yet identified a potential location for the school.

“There’s a lot of work involved in this,” said board member Karla Hall. “I feel as confident as you can be starting out on a new venture.”

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com