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Tuesday, May 20, 2003

By Martha Raffaele, The Associated Press

HARRISBURG -- The first online charter school to be approved by the state under new regulations governing "cyber" charter schools will plug into the Internet starting in the fall, officials said yesterday.

Commonwealth Connections Academy plans to enroll about 400 students from across the state in kindergarten through eighth grade, said Mickey Revenaugh, vice president of state relations for Connections Academy Inc., which will manage the school. The Baltimore, Md.-based private company is a subsidiary of Sylvan Ventures, the research and investment division of Sylvan Learning Centers.

"We couldn't be happier," she said of the approval.

Commonwealth Connections, based in Harrisburg, was among five proposed cyber schools whose applications were initially rejected by the state Education Department in January because organizers failed to demonstrate sufficient community support, among other reasons.

On Friday, the Education Department granted the school a three-year charter that expires June 30, 2006, and can be renewed for five years after that. Commonwealth Connections had to revise its application twice before it was approved.

The Education Department was given authority to approve or reject charters for the schools under revisions to the state's charter school law that lawmakers passed in June.

Previously, cyber schools were approved under the same process as bricks-and-mortar charter schools under Pennsylvania's 1997 charter school law, which gives local school boards authority to approve charters for independently managed, state-funded schools.

Eight online schools are currently operating in Pennsylvania, but one of them -- the Einstein Academy Charter School -- was ordered to close next month unless it successfully appeals the revocation of its charter.

The cyber-school law was passed in June in response to school boards' criticisms that the existing charter school law didn't provide more specific regulation of cyber schools, which can have statewide enrollment if they choose. The district in which the student lives must pay the tuition cost.

Commonwealth Connections will provide free computers and Internet connections to families who need them, and it will pay the Internet bills of families who already have online service, Revenaugh said.

The school's curriculum will offer a combination of computerized and textbook assignments, Revenaugh said. The proportion of class time spent on computers would likely range from 15 percent for children in kindergarten through second grade to 50 percent of the time for older students.

The school will employ eight teachers and a principal based in Harrisburg.

Connections Academy also operates schools in Wisconsin and Colorado through locally approved charters or contracts with school districts, Revenaugh said.

"We're very thrilled and gratified that there is (an approval) process Pennsylvania has put in place which is a clearly rigorous one," she said. "It's creating a blueprint for other states to find a way to make sure that these schools are available and that they're also high-quality."

The Education Department is also considering the revised application of one other proposed cyber schools, the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School in King of Prussia, said Ana Paulina Gomez, a department spokeswoman. A decision is expected in early June.

Correction/Clarification: (Published May 21, 2003) The Commonwealth Connections Academy is the first cyber charter school to be approved by the state under new regulations, but there are eight other cyber charter schools already operating in the state. A headline yesterday incorrectly stated that Commonwealth Connections was the state's first online charter school.