Whitehall-Coplay administrators call for rejection of charter proposal
The Whitehall-Coplay School District administration has recommended the school board deny the application for a proposed STEAM academy charter school, which would focus on science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
The Whitehall STEAM Academy Charter School is seeking to open in August 2024, serving 300 students in kindergarten through third grade at 215 Quarry St.
The Whitehall school is the third proposed STEAM charter academy seeking approval from a Lehigh Valley school board in recent weeks. Others are proposed in Allentown and Bethlehem Area school districts, where the district administrations have also advised their school boards to deny the applications when they vote in February.
The Whitehall-Coplay School Board will vote on whether to approve or reject the Whitehall STEAM Academy Charter School application at its regular board meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 26.
All three proposed schools based their applications on a template from the Pennsylvania STEAM
Academy in Harrisburg, and plan to use the school as a model if authorized to open. The applicant groups said the Lehigh Valley schools will emphasize project-based and experiential STEAM learning through local partnerships.
In Whitehall-Coplay, the administration questioned the strength of such local partnerships and said the applicant has not shown sufficient community support.
Superintendent Robert Steckel said Tuesday the application fails to recognize that the district includes Coplay Borough in addition to Whitehall Township. Additionally, he took issue with the businesses and organizations listed as supporters in the application.
Steckel noted that of 106 signed business support letters, only 32 businesses are located in the district. All 32 of these businesses are located in Lehigh Valley Mall and signed their support letters on the same day.
“The solicitor of interest clearly just walked the Lehigh Valley Mall and asked for signatures,” Steckel said, adding the district was only able to validate 14 signatures.
Steckel said there were 2,983 businesses licensed in Whitehall
Township and Coplay Borough as of June 2023, and the 32 letters submitted from the area do not show sizable support.
Steckel also said some community partners listed in the charter school application confirmed with the district that they have not lent support to the school, nor discussed partnerships with school representatives.
These organizations include: Da Vinci Science Center, Lehigh Valley Children’s Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Lehigh Valley, Touchstone Theatre, Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit.
The administration raised multiple concerns with the financial sustainability of the school, identifying what it believes is an inadequate budget for technology support, personnel salaries and furnishing the new school.
As for academic planning, Renee Sallit, director of teaching, learning and technology, said the charter applicant’s proposal “seems more like a collection of verbose statements than a thoughtfully designed educational framework.”
She noted concerns with a lack of locally designed curriculum materials, as well as what she said failure to adequately address using a model of Multi-Tiered System of Supports to systematically address students’ academic, behavioral and social-emotional needs.
Other educational concerns relate to a lack of information on a grading system and professional development for literacy education.
Brian Leinhauser, an attorney for the applicant group, questioned whether the board has already made a decision to reject the proposal, citing his past experience representing charter schools. Jeffrey Sultanik, an attorney for the district, denied any decision has been made.
As for the administration’s presentation, Leinhauser said, “There are a substantial number of items that are not required under the charter school law that the [district] seems to think are relevant to your analysis.”
He noted the lack of a bullying policy is not a fair deficiency under charter law and said the school will develop systems for managing bullying.
Leinhauser also argued it’s important the school be approved so Whitehall-Coplay families have access to a charter school located in the district so they don’t have to travel; this would be the first charter school located in the district.
“Families can find the environment that is best suited for the children in their house and elect to go forward with their education there, and if they are dissatisfied they can elect to go elsewhere,” he said. “However, in the Whitehall-Coplay School District families do not have that choice within the district.”
During public comment, Anthony Kopack, a resident, said district families already have “plenty of choice” when it comes to local charter school offerings in the region, even if not located in Whitehall.
Bruce Charles, a resident with grandchildren in the district, questioned the motives of the applicant group and said he hopes the school board denies the application.
“An application that’s been cut and pasted with errors that go for infinity from what I’ve heard certainly doesn’t sound like a proper presentation of a business institution,” he said.