Kudos for a new kind of school

Chesapeake Charter overcame obstacles on way to first year

Friday, June 27, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN First-grader Nate Albers chugs his way through a tunnel of arms created by teacher Sona Bonds, parent volunteer Paula Tepel, second-grader Megan Picard, instructional resource teacher Sandy Imbriale, third-grader Hunter Imbriale, kindergartner Jordan Imbriale, guidance counselor Julie Carrell and teacher Adrianne Mathis on the last day of school for the Chesapeake Public Charter School. Tuesday marked an end to the charter school’s first year. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

The next night members of the Chesapeake Public Charter School and some of its staff and parents heard the school board call the school a shining example in the state.

Things weren’t always so rosy for the school, though.

For several years before the charter school opened, board of education members questioned charter school organizers repeatedly about such things as how students could afford uniforms and school trips, whether enough students would apply and if the school would abide by teacher and staff contracts. Plans for student diversity came under fire at times, as did the alignment of curriculum to that of the state. There were issues revolving around transportation and student safety.

But the biggest questions were about the school building itself, which was in flux for several years. By early 2007 the school had settled on the property along Great Mills Road known as ‘‘Big Blue,” which was formerly a racquet club owned in part by Tom Watts.

Watts renovated the building (finishing with only days to spare before the start of school last August). Now the school is looking to expand into more sections of the large building, hopefully adding a gymnasium and stage at some point.

Last spring the school board and Superintendent Michael Martirano repeatedly voiced concerns over whether the building would be ready in time for the August opening.

‘‘We are really down to the wire on all of this,” Martirano said in March last year. ‘‘I’m beyond my comfort zone right now.”

The school board put the charter school on probation at the time, saying certain benchmarks of progress had to be met or else opening would be delayed for a year.

‘‘It’s a leap of faith on the part of parents to bring their children here not knowing it’s going to be open a second year,” board member Cathy Allen said in April 2007. Bill Mattingly, vice chair at the time, said it was ‘‘a school that, in essence, is an experiment.”

Mattingly questioned the charter school’s ability to raise more than $100,000 every year. ‘‘I don’t want this to be a one-year wonder. I want it to be a long term commitment,” he said. He also criticized the defensive posture in e-mails the board and superintendent received during late April and early May in 2007.

One e-mailed called for a stop to ‘‘trumped up excuses” aimed at stopping the school. Others called the superintendent’s remarks ‘‘patronizing” and questioned why the board’s discussions about the school have been continually negative.

An education director was named last spring but resigned from the position a couple of months later, putting the school weeks away from opening without a leader. Kathy Glaser, a former school principal, stepped in as an acting administrator to open the school until Nicole Connolly was hired away from Calvert public schools.

Things were much cheerier at Wednesday evening’s school board meeting as the superintendent and four board members – member Gary Kessler was absent – praised the charter school for its first successful year.

Connolly has developed a good reputation among the charter school parents and has worked well with school administration and the county school board.

‘‘Job well done,” Martirano said. He said that the ‘‘bumps in the road” over the last few years had all been resolved and he also congratulated the school board for taking a leap of faith in supporting the charter school.

‘‘As you well know, I have asked lots and lots of questions,” Allen said. ‘‘It was never my aim to stop it from happening.”

‘‘We really do appreciate all of the support you’ve given us the first year,” said Angela Funya, a governing board member and curriculum consultant for the school. ‘‘Sharing that vision is a continuous process,” that includes planning and explaining what a charter school is to the general public, Funya said.

The school’s education program focuses on ‘‘connections to place,” through studying local environmental issues and taking more than a dozen field trips over the school year.

Parent participation is high at the school, with some 5,400 logged hours of volunteerism. The school has also installed a playground and established a garden behind the facility. ‘‘It’s just taking a little longer than we expected,” Funya said of the garden. Now that it’s established, she said, it should be easier to manage.

Allen offered her gardening expertise to assist.

Another accomplishment of the school was filling its library bookshelves. When the charter school opened last summer nearly all of its shelves were bare. Now the media center boasts a collection of 3,600 titles.

The school held classes for kindergarten through fifth grade in its first year and will add sixth grade next year and still plans to add seventh and then eighth grades over the following two years. Eventually, Funya said, it could serve up to 380 students.

Starting this summer the two boards connected with the charter school – its governing board and an alliance, which mostly is in charge of fundraising – will merge. ‘‘This makes a great deal of sense,” Allen said.

Maryland School Assessment results are not due out until next month, but Kelly Hall, director of elementary instruction, administration and school improvement, said so far the school seems to be posting scores similar to historically high-performing schools in the county.

‘‘Our benchmark data is good” and a review of recent math assessments ‘‘looks fabulous,” she said.