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By BONNIE ADAMS badams@leader.net
Wednesday, March 05, 2003 Page: 3A
The Wyoming Valley West School Board’s denial of attorney Joseph Murray’s
Kingston charter school plan has him thinking in bigger terms.
His charter school group and Wilkes-Barre Area’s Bear Creek charter school
group might take different approaches now that their school boards have
rejected their applications.
Murray said the proposal for a 160-student charter school to open in August
may be replaced by a new application for a 300-plus student school for the
2004-2005 school year.
Murray said Tuesday afternoon that he does not have a concrete plan yet.
But he said scrapping the proposal that the Wyoming Valley West School Board
unanimously voted down Monday afternoon is one of three options for the group.
Members could also decide to appeal the denial to the state Department of
Education or address the School Board’s concerns and resubmit the original
plan to the School District.
“I want them all to think about it,” Murray said of the dozen charter group
members. He expects them to choose a course of action within the next week.
The Valley West board took only a few minutes Monday night to deny the
Helen Murray Charter School application. The proposed elementary school would
dedicate about 40 percent of class time to the arts.
The district’s committee report said the charter school would “largely
duplicate existing services and instruction” that the district already offers.
“I’m not convinced that everybody read what we submitted on Nov. 15,”
Murray said regarding the application. He said he has not received a copy of
the committee report.
Dave Blazejewski is the board of trustees president for the Bear Creek
Community Charter School that was supposed to open in the now-closed Bear
Creek Elementary School. He said volunteers would immediately begin collecting
the 1,000 signatures needed to appeal the School Board’s 7-2 denial to the
state.
Blazejewski said the certified petition should be in the state’s hands
within a month. The state will then have 90 days to decide on the appeal.
Some Wilkes-Barre board members had said at Monday night’s meeting that the
charter group had not adequately addressed their concerns about curriculum,
special education and other issues.
Bonnie Adams, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7241.