The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts, a private foundation also known as The Chester Fund (TCF), has announced that a charter has been approved for the Chester Charter School for the Arts (CCSA), which will open its doors on Sept. 10.
It will cover kindergarten through sixth grade and any child residing in the Chester Upland School District is eligible to attend.
“I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to build a great school for the beautiful children of Chester,” said John Alston, a music professor at Swarthmore College who is founder and president of The Chester Fund, which will raise funds to provide specialized arts and academic programming at the new school.
In 2008, through Alston’s efforts, The Chester Fund formed a partnership with the Chester Upland School District to create the Chester Upland School of the Arts (CUSA). Last fall, however, CUSA’s educational programs were compromised and 70 percent of CUSA’s staff was furloughed because of massive cuts in the school district budget and state education funding. This inability to protect staff and programming was the key reason TCF decided to terminate the partnership with the district and apply to open a charter school.
In January, the Chester Upland School Board voted to deny The Chester Fund’s application to open a charter school and in the spring, TCF brought an appeal before the Charter School Appeal Board in Harrisburg. The Appeal Board decided in favor of the charter school on July 24.
“I am delighted that the Appeal Board in Harrisburg has awarded our charter to create the Chester Charter School for the Arts,” said Maurice Eldrige who chairs the board. “We are working to provide the finest education program possible for the children of Chester. They have great potential and deserve to realize it. We look forward to fostering their growth and hope as well to become a beacon of success for the district itself through collaboration with its other schools.”
Anna Hadgis will serve as principal of Chester Charter School for the Arts, which will offer full-day kindergarten and classes in music, dance, drama, physical education, Spanish and the visual arts as part of the core curriculum. An extended after-school program in academics and the arts will begin in January. The new Chester Charter School for the Arts, which will be at 200 Commerce Drive in Chester Township although it has an Aston postal address.
The plans call for it to grow by one grade each year through Grade 12 and will also include a Pre-Kindergarten 3 and 4-year-old program starting in 2013.
Hat tip Celina De Leon
I’m pleased but can’t get overly excited. A charter school is simply another public school, albeit, probably better than those in Chester.
I’d much rather see vouchers in play.That would give parents a wide choice in where to send their kids to get educated
I’m pleased but can’t get overly excited. A charter school is simply another public school, albeit, probably better than those in Chester.
I’d much rather see vouchers in play.That would give parents a wide choice in where to send their kids to get educated
can anyone tell me if the teachers at the charter schools are unionized.
The answer is possibly — Catholic schools are unionized after all — but the PSEA still hates them:
From the Pennsylvania Department of Education:
At least 75% of the professional staff of a charter school must hold appropriate Pennsylvania certification. The charter must list the general qualifications for non-certificated staff and additional criteria are established. The staff may bargain collectively, but not as part of the school district’s bargaining unit. Protections are built into the bill to allow teachers to transfer to a charter school without penalty to employee rights: seniority, right of return, retirement, health benefits and tenure.