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School districts think outside the classroom to compete with charters

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
  • Boyertown students attend 12 separate charter schools, including Renaissance Academy. But when a sampling of 25 charter school students and their families within the district’s area were asked if they’d consider attending a Boyertown-run cyber school, 16 answered they’d consider it, according to Karen Beerer, Boyertown assistant superintendent, in the cyber school presentation.
  • “We see that cyber education is the best academic and financial option for a number of our students,” Beerer said. “(That is) not all of our students, but certainly a number of them.”
  • Like Boyertown, Pottstown School District officials believe their product of cyber school is superior to the current cyber-charter models.
  • Superintendent Reed D. Lindley explained their “plug in” program. Essentially, through partnerships in the community, students of the Pottstown Virtual Academy can “plug in” at areas such as the YMCA for physical education, the Gallery on High for art education, and Ben’s Music for music education, as well as other “plug in” sites.

 

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School districts think outside the classroom to compete with charters

May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

With the arrival of charter schools, the way was paved for their Internet-based equivalent, cyber-charter schools.

Cyber schools established outside of brick and mortar establishments have seen growth in recent years, prompting the efforts put forth by Spring-Ford Area School District, Phoenixville Area School District, Boyertown Area School District and Pottstown School District.

In his presentation on Boyertown’s cyber school initiative, Superintendent Dion Betts outlined two motivations for the program: to recoup some of the money lost when students go to other programs outside the district and to provide a better cyber program than what the current cyber school programs provide.

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The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School announces interim CEO

May 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School today announced that Dr. Nick Trombetta, its founder and Chief Executive Officer, will step down on June 30. Michael Conti has been nominated to serve as interim CEO, pending approval by the PA Cyber Board of Directors.

“After 36 years in public education, it is time for me to start a new, active chapter of my life. I am extremely proud of the work we have done to build the best cyber charter school in Pennsylvania and I look forward to continuing to do what I love most: advocating for students,” Trombetta said.

Founded in 2000, PA Cyber is a public school that brings together proven academic methodologies and modern technology to offer a compelling alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar public schools for K-12 students across Pennsylvania. PA Cyber has experienced extraordinary success and growth in the past twelve years. The school served 500 K-12 students in 2000 and now has more than 11,000 K-12 students across the commonwealth enrolled.

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Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School graduate wins West Point acceptance

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As some around the nation wonder about the effectiveness of both cyber and charter schools, the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, that state’s largest and most successful cyber charter school, announced on May 7, 2012, its first graduate to win an appointment to West Point United States Military Academy. Hannah Tuffy of Scot Township near Scranton, Pennsylvania, will be a member of the 2012-13 school year’s incoming corps of cadets at West Point. She enters what former President John F. Kennedy once described as “part of a long tradition stretching back to the earliest days of this country’s history and that where you sit sat once the most celebrated names in our nation’s history.”

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PA Cyber graduate appointed to USMA West Point

May 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

SCRANTON, Pa., May 7, 2012 Her college ROTC commander said the U.S. Military Academy at West Point would be making a big mistake if it didn’t offer an appointment to Hannah Tuffy of Scot Township near Scranton.

West Point got the point. Hannah Tuffy will be a member of the incoming corps of cadets this fall.

Dr. Nick Trombetta, PA Cyber’s CEO, said she is the first graduate of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School to win appointment to the Academy.

Lt. Col. Thomas, commander of the ROTC program at Cedarville (Ohio) University, wrote in his nomination: “She is smart, physically strong and mentally tough.  . . I would be remiss if I do not comment on her personal strength and peer leadership.  She has been a cadet in my ROTC Battalion for this one semester and has accomplished more in that one semester than most of the juniors . . . The United States Military Academy will be making a mistake if they do not accept this cadet.  The Army deserves future officers like her.”

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Commonwealth Connections Academy Team Becomes First Cyber School Finalist at National Engineering Challenge

May 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Commonwealth Connections Academy’s state-winning Real World Design Challenge team placed second in the country at the 2012 National Real World Design Challenge, topping 28 other teams.

Commonwealth Connections Academy is a leading virtual public charter school that serves students in grades K-12 from across Pennsylvania. Commonwealth Connections Academy was the sole virtual school to qualify and participate in this year’s National Competition, and is also the only virtual school to place within the top three nationally in the four-year history of the Real World Design Challenge.

An annual and nationally recognized program, the Real World Design Competition is sponsored by a public-private partnership (including partners such as Cessna Aircraft and NASA Langley Research Center) with the goal of increasing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and providing students access to real world engineering experiences. This year, 45 total states, independent states, and territories participated in the Challenge, while 30 total teams moved on or participated in the National Competition.

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Blairsville-Saltsburg hires principal, appoints director

April 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Saltsburg area gained a new high school principal and a new school board representative at Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Blairsville-Saltsburg School Board.

The board voted unanimously to hire Allan Berkhimer as the new principal of the Saltsburg Middle/High School and to appoint Holly M. Hall to a vacant Region III board seat.

Berkhimer will receive a starting salary of $77,500 through the 2012-13 school year, prorated to the number of days worked. His first day at the Saltsburg school will be determined by his release date at the Shade-Central City School District in Cairnbrook, where he has been employed as a junior/senior high school principal for the last five years.

He previously served as a social studies teacher at the senior high and junior high levels in the Hollidaysburg Area School District. He also completed three years of active duty with the U.S. Army, serving stateside as a specialist in an air defense artillery unit.

Berkhimer will succeed Tom Trunzo, a former Saltsburg teacher and coach and Marion Center High School principal who returned from retirement on an interim basis after Saltsburg’s previous principal, Eric Kostic, left for another position.

School board President Ed Smith said Berkhimer “stood out among three excellent candidates.”

Berkhimer said he was attracted to the opening at Blairsville-Saltsburg because of the district’s “very contemporary and progressive approach to education.”

He referred to the district’s recent successful launch of its own virtual academy, to compete with cyber charter schools that have been attracting some students away from traditional public schools. The district also has approved an agreement with Apple that will provide an iPad 2 tablet device for each student in grades 9-12.

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LTE: Education Spending … the Rest of the Story

April 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ultimately, these increases were enabled by failing to fully fund pensions for public school teachers. But like family budgets, the bill is now coming due like at Central Dauphin School District where officials announced the cut of more than 70 teaching jobs and a tax increase of more than three percent just to make ends meet.

But they are not alone as total taxpayer contributions for school and state worker pensions will increase from $1.7 billion in 2011-12 to more than $6.1 billion in 2016-17—a 257 percent increase. Next school year, the average homeowner will pay an additional $370 just for increases in required pension contributions.

Unfortunately, those with perpetual palms up are repeating the popular narrative that simply blames state lawmakers. This old yarn ignores how the Pennsylvania State Education Association was complicit in the crisis. The PSEA lobbied not only for increases in pension benefits, but also for the 2003 and 2010 legislation to delay pension payments.

Finally, many discussions on education spending ignore the most exciting part of the story: the great success of school choice. School choice programs such as charter schools, cyber charter schools and scholarships offered through business tax credits give Pennsylvania’s children quality education with fewer tax dollars. Schools of choice—private, charter, and home school—save taxpayers $4.3 billion annually.

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Frontier Virtual Charter High School Fires Entire Teaching Staff

April 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Layoffs may be on the wane, but they haven’t stopped entirely. Just ask the teachers at Philadelphia’s Frontier Virtual Charter High School.

On March 9, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, the Frontier school laid off its entire teaching staff. For the past month, the PDN reports, classes have been suspended and Frontier’s 85 students have been hanging around at home, unsure of what the future holds.

News of the faculty implosion at Frontier comes within hours of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest monthly jobs report — a document that seems encouraging until you look past the headline.

The unemployment rate fell to 8.2 percent in March, according to the report issued Friday — a continuation of the very gradual decline it’s been on since September. But analysts believe that number is dwindling because more and more job seekers aregetting frustrated and abandoning their search, thereby falling out of the ranks of the officially “unemployed.”

And many of the new jobs added in March were low-paying positions in the food services industry – not the kind of work that will drive a broader economic recovery.

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Saucon Valley School District exploring online classes

April 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Saucon Valley School District wants to offer online high school classes to draw students back from cyber schools.

Saucon is one of a number of Lehigh Valley schools trying to stem the flow of money out of the district to charter schools and to entice students back with the promise of a district diploma.

Superintendent Sandra Fellin is proposing a multifaceted program that in addition to creating a cyber high school would allow students to make up credits for courses they’ve failed, attend summer school online and bring in new electives.

Fellin presented her plan to the school board Tuesday after months of research and it was well received.

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