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Nov. 14 Public Hearing Recap

RECAP OF PUBLIC HEARING HELD ON NOVEMBER 14, 2011

On November 14th, we had our first public hearing on the charter-school application.  TCF founder Dr. John Alston did an outstanding job of summarizing everything about the proposed Chester Charter School for the Arts that will be new and different, and wonderful for the education of Chester children.

The presentation included the following important information:

  1. TCF will have raised $2.4 million dollars for CUSA through 2012. We have $418,000 already “pledged” for the charter school.
  2. We have 238 children “pre-enrolled” at CCSA, which is 75% of first-year enrollment(!) and more are coming in every day.
  3. We have a list of nearly 20 partners who will be running programs or providing services to CCSA, including the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Union soccer team. Special local partners include Swarthmore College, Widener University and Crozer Keystone Health System.

Leo Hackett, the attorney who ran the hearing for the school board, opened the evening with a summary of the charter law and timeline, being clear that the earliest a decision could be made on the application was 45 days from the first hearing (end of December), and the latest a decision could be made was 75 days (end of January). He then announced that the district representatives would hear The Chester Fund presentation first, take some time to study what they had learned, and then hold a second public hearing to make their own presentation.

All in all, the evening was a very positive one. We felt well prepared and buoyed by the large number of people who came to support us. The room was overflowing with parents who had come out to support the charter application and many went to the podium to express their support for Dr. Alston and the charter school. Also in attendance were several TCF board and staff members; board members from our sister organization, the Chester Children’s Chorus; CUSA principal Anna Hadgis, CUSA assistant principal Akosua Watts and a number of CUSA teachers, both current and furloughed.

Many, many thanks to everyone who attended the meeting to support us. We will post the date and time of the next school board public hearing on the TCF Web site and our Facebook page when it is announced. The journey continues!