District Officials Not Impressed With Revised Charter School Application

leaders are obviously not impressed with a revised application for a charter school in Trevose, which still calls for a September opening.

And an attorney representing the founders of the proposed Keystone Academy Charter School was obviously in no rush to answer any of the district's second round of questioning Wednesday night. Surprisingly, the lawyer didn't even know the location of the planned school.

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

Superintendent Bill Gretzula said at Wednesday's hearing that school founders had made less than a dozen revisions, most of which involved adding some staff members. But he told Patch there were no significant changes to the list of founders.

Gretzula said the revised application stated that a CEO would be hired in June 2011 but didn't indicate if that had happened. He also expressed concern that Keystone foundation members apparently don't plan to undergo criminal background checks.

In addition, the superintendent said he still wants 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.

Among Profy's questions were if the founders had sought occupancy permits, finalized a lease or found out from the township if zoning variances are needed.

When Profy asked Keystone attorney Joshua Pollak if he knew the location of the proposed school, Pollak replied, “Not off the top of my head” and began looking through the application. A couple minutes later, Profy asked if the proposed location had changed and Pollak said no. That would mean the school is still planned for the Metropolitan Industrial Center, which apparently would require a zoning variance.

Board President Heather Nicholas asked why the application states that by the third year 75 percent of students would be at or above grade level in reading, math, science and social studies.

“This would make your school a failing school by AYP (the Adequate Yearly Progress federal standard),” she said.

District business director Jack Myers said the state reimbursements listed in the revised application do not reflect the state's diminished charter school funding plan.

Pollak did not answer the questions. Profy said the founders have 10 days to do so, and the board will make a decision at its Aug. 24 meeting.

Pollak said neither the leading founder nor the lead consultant for the school could make Wednesday's hearing and that is why he asked for a continuance, which was turned down by the school board.

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

“That support carries over in this application,” Pollak said after Wednesday's hearing.

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