North Hills To Consider Provident Revised Charter School Request

The North Hills School Board will once again take action on to open a charter school for students with dyslexia on Cemetery Lane.  The vote will occur during the board’s legislative meeting tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the North Hills Junior High LGI room.

from Provident Charter School on Feb. 6, 2012. Subsequently, a revised charter school application was submitted to the district on April 27. 

The school district based its original denial on four primary factors: 

• Provident Charter School does not meet provisions of federal and state education law. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) requires students to be taught in the least restrictive environment. IDEA specifically states that special education students, which would include dyslexic students, should be educated with their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent possible. In addition, Pennsylvania’s Gaskin Settlement Agreement further articulates that children with disabilities are to be educated in regular education classrooms.
  
  
• The application failed to demonstrate how the proposed charter school would enhance students’ learning opportunities and offer substantively unique and innovative educational options for the community. 
• Provident Charter School submitted an application for a regular charter school, which operates within a single a school district. However, all supporting documentation and presentation materials indicate its intention to serve as a regional charter school, which requires a different application and process. Within its presentation, Provident Charter School officials specifically stated that North Hills School District was not selected due to educational need but rather physical location.
  
  
• The applicant failed to demonstrate sustainable support within the school district community.  Although there were more than 200 public comments and letters of support/non-support regarding Provident Charter School – including letters from far outside the intended service area – only 11 were from residents of the North Hills School District.  Of the 11 individuals, five indicated support of the charter school and six were against.

“Following the public hearing, Provident Charter School failed to establish community support nor did its application provide sufficient evidence of a need for such services as required by law,” Michael J. Witherel, school district solicitor, said. “More importantly, the proposed charter school violates state and federal mandates to educate special needs children in the least restrictive environment, which is first and foremost their local neighborhood school.” 

Charter and cyber charter schools are public schools.  The student’s home school district is required to pay tuition, which is determined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, to the charter school. For the 2011-12 school year, North Hills School District pays $10,435.34 for every regular education student who attends a charter school.  For special education students, the cost is $19,215.27 per student. 

“Public schools are required by law to teach all children – including those with dyslexia – in the least restrictive environment.  Charter schools are, in fact, public schools, funded with taxpayer dollars. At North Hills, we take great pride in our ability to teach the vast majority of our special needs students in the regular classroom” Dr. Patrick J. Mannarino, superintendent, said. “Segregating students from their peers based on a disability is reversing years of progress in special education.”  

The charter school planned to initially serve 96 students diagnosed with dyslexia in grades 3 and 4 in 2013. Enrollment would continue to increase each additional academic year, with 336 students spanning grades 2 through 8 by Year 6 or 2018-2019. 

“North Hills School District has a highly regarded special education program,” Dr. Mannarino said. “In fact, we recently completed a comprehensive special education audit that included program and file reviews, classroom observations as well as parent surveys and interviews.  Our North Hills special education program received high praise from the state review team.”  

Regional charter schools are open to students from throughout the area – regardless of residency.  And, if any point of the home school district is within 10 miles of the charter school property, the home district is required to provide bus transportation.  According to information provided by Provident Charter School, 23 of the county’s 43 school districts are within a 10 mile radius of its desired Cemetery Lane location. 

The application was submitted by a coalition of "concerned parents and professionals" that includes Kossman Development Co., signed by Curtis Kossman, president of the proposed charter school's Board of Directors.

- Submitted by Tina Vojtko on behalf of the North Hills School District. Have news you'd like to share with Patch readers? Email information and photos to Richard Cook at richinpgh@gmail.com.

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