Beaver County Charter School Gets Reprieve From State Officials

By Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Jan. 18–After directing some school districts to tell parents to withdraw their children from the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland, Beaver County, the state Department of Education is now telling districts to await further guidance.

The school has enrolled about 300 high school students from 35 school districts, including about 30 who take classes at Western Beaver County School District instead of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center where the school leases space. The $23.5 million center — which includes classroom, practice and performance space — opened last year. The state contributed $7.5 million for its construction.

State Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak recently sent letters to the Midland School District, which chartered the school and some other districts, whose residents are enrolled in the school, saying the school is violating the state charter school law.

Dr. Zahorchak’s letter said one of the violations is it enrolls students who do not take any courses at Lincoln Park. He also maintained the school improperly billed for students before the school started operating in the building, didn’t file a complete charter school application with Midland and does not have “its own academic curriculum.”

Nick Trombetta — executive director of Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, superintendent of the Midland School District and CEO of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School — went to Harrisburg yesterday to make his case to state officials. He said the school has both a valid charter and curriculum.

Today the school has planned a community rally for 10 a.m. at the school.

Sheila Ballen, director of press and communications for the education department, said state officials did not visit the charter school before reaching their conclusions. “Since Lincoln Park is really questioning us and disputing the facts we found, we have to go back and look at the facts again,” she said. “That’s why we’re asking people to hold off and ask for clarification.”

At the school yesterday, Brad Trump, a sophomore from Burgettstown, Washington County, who focuses on musical theater, said he was afraid the school might close but then he got angry when he learned state officials never visited the school.

“It was all prejudgment,” he said.

Through the classes, he said, “You learn how to put yourself into what you do, so it means so much more when you do it.”

Student schedules typically include arts classes in the morning and academics in the afternoon although the school is moving toward providing both all day.

The academic classes use the Lincoln Interactive curriculum, which is a spinoff of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, based in Midland. The curriculum is offered by the National Network of Digital Schools, which was founded in 2005 and also provides the school’s maintenance services.

The curriculum is online and enables students, who have laptop computers, to work at varied paces. However, the classes are taught by live teachers. In an Algebra 1 class yesterday, students didn’t even have their laptops open. The teacher taught and engaged the students much as teachers do in traditional schools.

Some students also take college-level courses taught by Community College of Beaver County at the performing arts school.

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