NEW ARTS CHARTER SCHOOL PROPOSED FOR CITY OF CHESTER

Chester, PA (September 1, 2011) The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts, a private foundation also known as The Chester Fund, announced today that it plans to apply to open a charter school in the Chester Upland School District, which includes the City of Chester, Chester Township and Upland Borough.

In 2008, The Chester Fund (TCF) formed a partnership with the Chester school district to create the Chester Upland School of the Arts (CUSA), with TCF providing private funds for arts and technology programming as well as teaching assistants in every grade and an extended-day program for the older children. This year CUSA will serve 275 Chester children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. The proposed charter school would ultimately serve students in Kindergarten through 12th grade, building on the successes of CUSA.

This spring, CUSA achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Test (PSSA) for the second year in a row. Thanks to superlative teachers, the school’s 4th graders made a 20% gain in reading proficiency and 15% gain in math, improving on their results as 3rd graders last year.

Unfortunately, over the summer CUSA was ravaged by massive reductions in the school district budget as a result of the state government’s cuts in education funding. In the wake of these events, CUSA’s educational programs have been compromised and all but two of the classroom teachers have been laid off due to teacher-union seniority rules. This inability to protect staff and programming was the key reason TCF decided to terminate the partnership, effective the end of the current school year (June 2012), and apply to open a charter school.

“We deeply appreciate the partnership we’ve had with the district over the last three years, but also realize that to continue educating Chester children, we have to be able to design our own programs and hire and keep the best teachers,” said TCF and CUSA founder Dr. John Alston. “The only way to accomplish this is to apply for a charter.”

“The children’s education must come first,” added Maurice Eldridge, TCF Board Chair. “We are saddened by what has happened, but we are excited about our future charter school.”

The new charter school, to be called the Chester Charter School for the Arts, will open in September 2012 pending approval of the charter application. The school will welcome students in grades K-6, and any child in the district will be eligible to attend.

The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization founded by Swarthmore College music professor John Alston, is dedicated to providing Chester’s disadvantaged children with a first-rate, arts-enriched education that will prepare them for college and success in life. Dr. Alston is also the Founder and Director of the acclaimed 120-voice Chester Children’s Chorus. Maurice Eldridge, Vice President of College and Community Relations at Swarthmore College, chairs The Chester Fund Board of Directors.

Visitors from the Honda Mid-Atlantic Region delivered a donation to CUSA on April 7, and enjoyed a talk with principal Anna Hadgis and a full tour of the school — ending with founder John Alston leading the littlest children in song.

Jonathan Eldridge, representing the Region’s Financial Services office, said this after the tour:
“Supporting the outstanding work that CUSA is doing aligns perfectly with the basic tenets of the philosophy and mission of the American Honda Finance Corporation’s philanthropic activity.  The corporation seeks to nurture a society where caring and energetic individuals actively participate in socially responsible activities.  One of our global directions is to support the education of our youth for the future.  We are thrilled to play a part in contributing to this school’s continued success.”

Scott Chalfant paints with CUSA children while renowned artist Michael Traines meets CUSA’s children for whom he will teach a class at the school in February.

H.L. Chalfant has chosen The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts as the recipient charity for their annual event.  Visit http://www.hlchalfant.com/ to learn more about H.L. Chalfant’s efforts.

Click here to download/view high resolution .pdf of the flier below.

“It is always a pleasure to be around teachers and administrators who genuinely care about the children they serve. I was moved as the children sang the school anthem, and the song’s refrain “I am somebody” communicated both verbally and in sign language is a powerful message in a young person’s life.”

Naima Oyo, M & T Bank, Regional CRA Officer, New York

“During my visit to CUSA, I was amazed by the positive energy and creativity in the building. I really believe in the mission of this school. The passion of both the staff and students was truly palpable. What a positive learning environment for these young minds!”

Brandon Smith, M & T Bank, Assistant Vice President, Glenolden Branch Manager

“CUSA is a place where students and teachers are engaged in helping to create a brighter tomorrow for everyone. During my visit we could see first-hand that Boeing’s donation to The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts is supporting the learning and future of Chester’s talented children.”

Peggy Sweeney, Global Corporate Citizenship at The Boeing Company

NBCPhiladelphia.com – Dawn Timmeney
Dr. John Alston is using music to inspire and empower kids in the Chester Upland School District. It’s part of the program at the Alston’s private/public Chester Upland School of the Arts and you can help the cause.

Chester’s Mayor Wendell Butler supports The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts and The Chester School of the Arts!

Click here to read Mayor Butler’s letter of support.

By Art Carey
Inquirer Staff Writer
October 14, 2009

John Alston is an avid cyclist. With a tailwind, he can pedal from Chester to Swarthmore – just over two miles – in about six minutes. That’s how close the two communities are. In most other respects, they are far apart. Swarthmore is mostly white and rich. Chester is mostly black and poor.

Alston, an associate professor of music at Swarthmore College, is well aware of the difference.

“There’s no way to justify the disparity of opportunity between two communities that are so geographically close,” says Alston, 48, of Brookhaven. “Money shouldn’t be the determining factor for something as basic as education.”

Fifteen years ago, Alston decided to rectify the disparity in his own small way. He recruited children from Chester elementary schools and began the Chester Children’s Chorus. His inspiration was his own experience. When he was 11, he joined the Newark Boys Chorus in North Jersey.

“It saved me,” Alston says. “It allowed me to develop the skills to teach at a place like Swarthmore College.”

The success of the chorus (it has grown from seven members to 104 today) spurred Alston to imagine doing more. The result: the Chester Upland School of the Arts, an experiment that could serve as a model for urban education not just in Chester but the nation.

The goal is to create a school that offers advantages to the disadvantaged, that is amply endowed with resources, and that employs intensive instruction in the arts to foster academic achievement and personal growth.

“This is a real opportunity to compete with children in the most affluent school districts in the United States,” Aston says. “If they can learn to love Palestrina, they can learn to love Shakespeare. If they can learn to love Rossini, they can learn to love Tolstoy and Austen.”

The Chester Upland School of the Arts (CUSA) is a public elementary school that has partnered with the Chester Fund for Education and the Arts, a nonprofit organization formed by Alston and others to support the school.

Last year, when CUSA opened, it went only as far as second grade. Last month, classes resumed with more than 240 pupils, from pre-K to third grade. As those children progress, the school will eventually teach students up to eighth grade, and ultimately, Alston hopes, through high school.

The private assistance CUSA receives from the Chester Fund – nearly $2.3 million so far – has enabled the school to afford the “extras” that are the essence of what makes it distinctive: intensive instruction in the arts, with full-time teachers of music, dance, studio art, as well as computer technology; classes of 20 students, with two adults in every class; an extended-day program during which students continue their work in music, dance and studio art, or receive tutoring and help with homework.

“Everything the research says about best practices, and how to mitigate the challenges of poverty, we’re doing in this school,” says Gregory Thornton, superintendent of the Chester Upland School District and a champion of CUSA. “Does poverty or a zip code determine a student’s outcome? That’s the big question, and this is a big bet. If we miss, I don’t know what we do next.”

There are encouraging signs. At the beginning of last school year, CUSA ranked second to last among the district’s six elementary schools in reading and math skills. By year’s end, it had climbed to second from the top, and one kindergarten class achieved the district’s highest scores.

Little wonder that Chester parents are clamoring to have their children admitted. Students are chosen by lottery, but still, says Thornton, his phone “rings off the hook.” CUSA is quartered in a refurbished building that was originally Chester High School. Inside, it is clean and new, bright, and colorful. A sign on a classroom doors exhorts: “Laugh. Dance. Sing.” The children need no prodding. Dressed in khaki pants or skirts and navy blue polo shirts, they are polite and happy.

“We got art, music, dance, and computers,” boasts Kabree Daniels, 8, a third grader who likes to paint, draw, and color, and who hopes to become an artist.

“We’re able to do fun things here you can’t do at other schools,” says Denae Powell, also 8 and in third grade. “We have great teachers and a great principal.”

Her mother, Tonya Powell, agrees, “When your child is excited to go to school every day, that says something great about the teachers. . . . You can tell they’re not teaching just for a paycheck.”

Janet Baldwin, 57, CUSA’s principal, considers herself fortunate to be leading the school.

“We’ve been given the resources, the teachers, and the support we need to be successful,” she says. “Not just financial and physical support but emotional and philosophical support for a vision of high achievement
through the arts.”

But with high expectations also comes pressure. Says Baldwin: “We have to hit a home run.”

The other day, as Alston strolled the halls of CUSA, children greeted him with smiles, hugs, and high-fives.

“Hello, Dr. Alston,” a girl in pigtails said.

“I hope you’re ready to bring it today,” Alston said to a lad who responded with admiring eyes.

Alston exchanged greetings with Vince Wilson, 22, an alumnus of the Chester Children’s Chorus who took a year off from college to serve as a teaching assistant at CUSA.

“He transformed my life,” Wilson says of Alston. “He helped discover the music that was in me.”

Now Wilson tries to do the same for others, serving as a mentor for boys and young men in the Chester Children’s Chorus and as a role model at CUSA.

“I want the kids to see a different kind of male,” Wilson says, “males who are interested in learning, males who like culture and art.”

About 3 p.m., the students gathered in the Sunshine Room for their “All-School Sing.” Playing the electronic keyboard, Alston led them in a series of spirited songs. They concluded by singing the school song, “I Am Somebody.”

I am bright, I am beautiful

I am wise, I am wonderful

I am special, I am smart
Love and joy grow in my heart.

Afterward, his brow glistening, Alston confessed that, yes, at times it’s exhausting – being “on” for the kids all the time, having to raise more than a million dollars a year to support both the school and the chorus.

“I do it because I can and I should and I must,” he says. “Art is the thing that patches some of the holes we have in our hearts. The wounds never go away, but making music and beautiful things helps us get through the day and maybe figure out what to do and become next.”

Contact staff writer Art Carey
at 610-313-8106 or acarey@phillynews.com
Reprinted with permission from The Philadelphia Inquirer.

November 18, 2010: Fox Chase Bank Executive VP, Chief Payments Office, Kerry Lynch, presents The Chester Fund for Education and the Arts with $10,000 check in support of CUSA’s core programming.  Students join TCF’s Managing Director, Wendy Emrich and Mr. Lynch as he presents CUSA’s principal, Anna Hadgis, with a year-end donation.

Kelly Gallagher, Fox Chase Marketing Specialist, says, “It was great to see the school – we were happy to come out for a visit! You all do such great work here.”