Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Parents urged to attend board meeting
LONDON GROVE >> Concerned about the looming deadlines for recertification and perceived delaying tactics by the Avon Grove School Board, parents and friends of the Avon Grove Charter School met in the school’s auditorium on Monday to sort out rumors and challenges.
Head of School Kristen Bishop explained that the charter school is authorized by the Avon Grove School Board, and that its charter will expire on April 11, just five days after the next scheduled district school board meeting.
She said if the charter is not approved soon it will be difficult to move on to some important plans, like replacement of windows, renovation of rest rooms and expansion of the elementary school.
“We know that some projects will have to be put on hold if we don’t get the vote,” she said.
She cited the rapid growth in the charter school population through the years and the desire many parents have to enroll their children in a small, neighborhood school like Avon Grove Charter. She said the school was created to encourage lifelong learning and to improve education overall. She also spoke of the partnership the charter school has historically had with Avon Grove and encouraged parents to attend the April 6 district school board meeting, during which time the charter is scheduled to be approved.
She added that there is a misunderstanding among some that charter schools are private and don’t deserve support. They are not. She said she sometimes thought the name should be the Avon Grove Public Charter School to set people straight.
Many people in attendance spoke of widespread talk in the community that the Avon Grove School Board is purposely delaying
approval in an effort to force charter students back to Avon Grove High School and elementary schools so they can retrieve the financial allocations that accompany students to the charter school.
Business Manager Donna Archer took on that concept that the regional school would receive a windfall by retrieving charter students with a presentation of “facts and fiction.”
She described in detail the funding arrangements between the authorizing district and the charter, explaining that
the charter receives only 75 percent of what the regional school gets from budgeted income per student. She also showed figures and lists that demonstrated how charter schools receive fewer financial benefits than regional schools at the state budget level.
“In Pennsylvania, charter schools have 6 percent of the students but only have 4 percent of the budget,” she said.
She also said that if Avon Grove absorbed charter students, they would have to hire more teachers, build more classrooms and pay
more salaries.
At the same time, the charter schools must exist on less money, they must maintain the same standards such as testing, teacher certification and nondiscrimination that the regional public schools do.
In answering questions about what is fact and what is fiction, she said she had no answer to the question asked by many charter parents, “Why are my taxes not following my children?” she asked.
Hosting the meeting was founding Charter School Board member David Galligan,
who traced the development of Avon Grove Charter School back to 2002 when many local families chose to keep children in small, neighborhood schools rather than see them in large megaschools that the district had planned.
He showed slides of a grass roots effort to obtain a building, the old Avon Grove Elementary School, and things like desks, teachers and books economically — even scraping around to find desks at $1.50 apiece.
Late in the meeting, several
candidates for the upcoming election to the Avon Grove School Board introduced themselves to the 100 or so residents in attendance, speaking about their commitment to education for all students and — several — to their commitment to school choice.
Bishop concluded the meeting by saying that the success of the school on a lesser budget is because of the dedicated faculty that works for lower salaries than the district teachers. “We have fantastic teachers. The staff is committed,” she said.