MARIETTA — The public will have an opportunity to address the Marietta City School Board tonight about its plan to renew the district’s charter system application.

The petition is due by Nov. 1. Marietta Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck said she and her staff have been working since August to perfect the 45-page application.

“It is very straight-forward and exciting, and I think because we’ve been through this process before, there is a great understanding for what it can do for us and what it means to Marietta City Schools,” she said.

Lembeck believes charter-system status gives Marietta “the flexibility to really adjust and in many cases even create our identity as public education evolves.”

She anticipates a response from the Georgia Department of Education in the spring.

But Lembeck said this renewal has been different than the original application.

“The last time we were able to be more global and general in some of the innovations that we might want to do. This time, they required a little more specificity … we really identified areas for improvement and looked at targeting those areas.”

The petition outlines how the district will evolve to address specific needs or apply for waivers.

“It required a deep dig into our data and the identification of different areas that we wanted to work,” she said.

Many of the new initiatives include things such as lowering the number of students who are retained multiple times, increasing the graduation rate, and helping students better transition from eighth grade to ninth grade.

A copy of the petition is on the district’s website. Board Chair Jill Mutimer said citizens are invited to review it and share their comments tonight.

The public hearing will begin at 5 p.m. in the Marietta City Schools board room.

“We welcome that communication to help shape our petition,” Mutimer said.

In other business, the board will also consider approving:

n A $24,960 contract with S&S Flooring Company Inc. of Marietta to install carpet in 11 classrooms at West Side Elementary School off Polk Street in Marietta.

The principal requested the new flooring because the current tile floors “present a noise factor as well as requiring a great deal of custodial care.”

The second lowest bid of $31,071.80 was submitted by Austin Floors of Dallas, followed by Bonitz Flooring Group Inc. of Atlanta, which bid $31,535.

n A services agreement with the Cobb County School District for the current school year to help 12-24 students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

“Cobb Audiology is a Cobb County School District state-of-the-art facility staffed by highly-trained experts who assess students with demonstrated hearing difficulties,” the agenda item states. “Cobb Audiology custom fits products designed to facilitate appropriate access to learning environments for students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, provides storage when products are not in use, and manages service plans."

Services are billed individually based on the Medicaid reimbursement schedule, but the total cost is not to exceed $10,000 annually. It will be funded by the Federal Flow-through Funds.

The regular meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Marietta City Schools boardroom, 250 Howard St., Marietta.