Renaissance Academy charter renewed

Twentyone years after Renaissance Academy charter school first opened its doors, the Phoenixville Area School Board has unanimously approved a five-year renewal of the school’s charter.

The vote came at an unusual Sunday afternoon meeting conducted by the school board in order to avoid being in conflict with the state order that all school buildings be closed starting Monday, March 16, according to board President Blake Emmanuel.

The recommendation to renew the charter until June 30, 2025, came from the district administration, but it came with conditions.

Board member Jeesely Soto, who heads the board’s finance committee, said the recommendations include trying to increase the school’s percentage of English language learners.

Currently, the school’s enrollment has .05 percent of English language learners. But the two districts that send the most students to Renaissance — Norristown and Phoenixville — are diverse communities with English language learner enrollments of 39 percent and 29 percent respectively.

“It’s surprising to me that the English language learner enrollment is so low” at Renaissance, said Soto.

The district has also recommended the academy support moving more of its teaching staff to “level two” certification.

Another recommendation is for Renaissance to increase its spending on special education students.

Phoenixville Superintendent Alan Fegley said the school receives $5.6 million from state and district sources as part of the charter school formula but spends only $1.6 million on special education.

However, Renaissance Business Manager Carol Schaeffer was in the audience and said the district’s take on special education funding is a misconception.

She said that is likely due to how she budgets, and that the only puts “additional spending for outside services” in the special education budget line, and the school actually spends much more than Fegley indicated.

Schaeffer said the school will be happy to comply with the recommendation that the school provide the school district with an annual report that will show this.

“To be fair,” said Fegley, the last time the district renewed the Renaissance charter, “they complied with all of our recommendations.”

Renaissance Academy has existed since 1999 and opened for class in 20000. In 2013, the school broke ground on its new campus in Franklin Commons.

EVAN BRANDT — MEDIANEWS GROUP Unwilling to hold off on conducting official business, the Phoenixville School Board conducted an emergency combined workshop/voting meeting Sunday afternoon.