School Board Poised to Vote Again on Charter School in Trevose

The is scheduled to vote again on a planned charter school Wednesday.

And a rejection seems likely for the revised application for the proposed Keystone Academy Charter School in Trevose.

School district leaders made it clear earlier this month that they were not impressed with the revised application, which was still calling for a September opening.

The application got a resounding rejection in February, with the board citing 23 concerns including a lack of educational experience among school founders, budget deficiencies and a failure to demonstrate sustainable community support.

Former Superintendent Bill Gretzula said during the Aug. 3 hearing on the revised application that school founders had made less than a dozen revisions, most of which involved adding some staff members. But he said there were no significant changes to the list of founders.

Gretzula expressed concern that Keystone foundation members apparently don't plan to undergo criminal background checks.

In addition, the superintendent said he still wanted to know if founders had reached out to the International Baccalaureate Organization, whose program is the basis for the school's curriculum.

Gretzula and board attorney Tom Profy III seemed most perplexed by the fact that the revised application still calls for a September opening for the school.

“It's an impossibility to open the school by the proposed date,” the superintendent said after the hearing.

An attorney representing the founders of the proposed school did not answer questions during the hearing. Profy said the founders had 10 days to do so.

The founders previously said more than 300 members of the community support the project and that 300 students had pre-enrolled.

Leading founder Ark Libkind has said the founders would appeal to the state if the board does not approve the revised application.

Wednesday's school board meeting begins at 7:30 pm at the .