New Charter School Has Swarthmore College Ties

The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts, a private  foundation also known as The Chester Fund (TCF), has announced  that a charter has  been approved for the Chester Charter School for the Arts (CCSA), which will open its  doors on Sept. 10. 
It will cover kindergarten through sixth grade and any child residing in the Chester Upland School District is  eligible to attend.
"I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to build a great school for the beautiful  children of Chester," said John Alston, a music professor at Swarthmore College who is founder and president of The Chester Fund, which  will raise funds to provide specialized arts and academic programming at the new school.  
In 2008, through Alston's efforts, The Chester Fund formed a partnership with the  Chester Upland School District to create the Chester Upland School of the Arts (CUSA).  Last fall, however, CUSA's educational programs were compromised and 70 percent of  CUSA's staff was furloughed because of massive cuts in the school district budget and  state education funding. This inability to protect staff and programming was the key reason TCF decided to terminate the partnership with the district and apply to open a  charter school. 
In January, the Chester Upland School Board voted to deny The Chester  Fund's application to open a charter school and in the spring, TCF brought an appeal  before the Charter School Appeal Board in Harrisburg. The Appeal Board decided in favor of the charter school on July 24.

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