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By BONNIE ADAMS badams@leader.net
Tuesday, March 04, 2003 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE – Members of the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board complained
Monday night that the Bear Creek Community Charter School application left
many questions unanswered before they voted 7-2 to deny the proposal.
One charter school planner said efforts will begin today to obtain the
1,000 signatures needed to appeal the decision to the state Department of
Education.
“The game is not nearly over,” said board of trustees President Dave
Blazejewski.
The charter petition will be presented to the Luzerne County Court of
Common Pleas and then forwarded to the state Department of Education Appeals
Board. The state must issue a written decision within 90 days of accepting the
charter appeal.
Blazejewski said he expected Monday’s denial of the proposal to open a
charter school this fall for 250 kindergarten through sixth-grade students in
the now-closed Bear Creek Elementary School.
Superintendent Jeff Namey said the board heard only generalities from
charter planners in response to their concerns.
“It’s not enough for me to hear you say, `Yes, we’re going to comply.’ How
are you going to comply?” Namey asked.
He called the charter plan an experiment and said, “This school board is
going to be held responsible for your failure.”
The board’s denial came after a 90-minute presentation by district
administrators and an attorney who outlined flaws in how the application
addressed curriculum, technology, the budget, special education and other
areas.
Charter planners had heard from those administrators at Friday’s special
meeting. But they had not heard from Lancaster attorney Jeff Litts, who on
Monday night strongly criticized the plan.
He said there is no sustainable support for a charter school, based on a
10-year drop of 16.2 percent drop in Bear Creek’s school-age population. He
said the application lacked letters of support from district teachers and he
questioned the ability to meet enrollment goals.
Litts also questioned the track record of Charter Schools USA, the Florida
management company assisting charter planners.
School board member Ellen Smith noted that Litts hadn’t attended Friday’s
meeting. “I feel somewhat overwhelmed by your presentation,” she said.
“We’ve had little to no time to prepare for their comments,” Blazejewski
said afterward.
A charter school is an independent public school that operates under a
charter granted by a school board. Wilkes-Barre Area would pay about $7,000 to
the charter school for each district non-special-education district attending.
Glenn Pierce of Charter Schools USA called the application an overview of
the Bear Creek charter plan. He said the firm is knowledgeable of government
guidelines and will adhere to them. Pierce said the proposed charter school
budget will have a $200,000 contingency fund and a $174,547 budget surplus.
Eight months ago, Smith and board members Jim Atherton and Charles Luce
voted to keep Bear Creek Elementary open. Monday night, only Smith and Luce
supported the charter proposal.
“I’m willing to take a chance,” said Smith, calling the charter idea
progressive. She said there should be a school in the 70-plus-square-mile area
from which Bear Creek Elementary drew students that now attend Solomon-Plains
Memorial School.
Smith acknowledged there are compelling concerns about the charter plan,
but she said the district also grapples with meeting mandated requirements.
Luce said he feels obligated to give “geographic equity” to the Bear Creek
area and he pointed to the former school’s superior academic performance.
Atherton and board members Joseph Moran, James Height, president Brian
Dunn, John Corcoran, Owen Costello and Barbara Youngblood denied the
application.
Atherton and Corcoran said opening the charter school could prevent the
district from someday building a new school in Bear Creek. Moran said the
charter plan questions had not been answered, and Dunn said the charter group
was rushing into opening the school.
Bonnie Adams, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7241.