The pastor of St. Mary Czestochowa Church in McKeesport recalled the emotional moment when the parish leadership decided to sell its old school and convent to Propel Schools, an expanding charter school organization that was looking for a permanent home in McKeesport.

"Our people spoke and there were tears shed. It was hard, but we have to go with the times," said the pastor, the Rev. Edward S. Litavec.

Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Second grade teacher Ron Holloway, left, and first-grader Teshiana Smith-Nichols, 6, await last Thursday's groundbreaking for the new Propel School in McKeesport, at the former St. Mary's Polish School, visible in the background. At right are parent Denise Dandrea, top, and second-grader Lorenzo Terrel Grant, 7. Teshiana and Lorenzo took part in the groundbreaking ceremony. Click photo for larger image.

"We are happy to have new neighbors and we are very proud that our history will serve as a backdrop," he told an audience at a ceremonial ground-breaking last Thursday for Propel's new McKeesport school in the old St. Mary Polish school building.

For two years, Propel Schools, a growing charter school organization, has been renting space on Shaw Avenue from St. Nicholas Byzantine Church for its kindergarten through fourth-grade school while looking for a permanent home in the city.

Jeremy Resnick, executive director of Propel Schools, said the not-for-profit organization recently bought the old school and convent at Versailles Avenue and Soles Street from St. Mary Czestochowa Church for $425,000.

He said the convent would be razed to make room for a 14,000-square-foot addition. When finished, the school will have about 38,000 square feet of new and renovated space and 18 classrooms.

With acquisition, demolition and renovation costs, the project is expected to cost more than $4.4 million.

"We are very excited about McKeesport," said Mr. Resnick, who hopes the new Propel School will help revitalize the neighborhood around it and be an impetus for people to move into the city.

When the school opens in August, it will serve children from kindergarten through sixth grade. Mr. Resnick said seventh and eighth grades will be added later.

Propel Schools operates charter schools in Homestead and Turtle Creek and will open an elementary school next year in Kennedy. Propel also has applied to open a school in Duquesne.

Mr. Resnick said Propel's temporary school on Shaw Avenue, McKeesport, which has 235 pupils, draws from several school districts, including Duquesne, Clairton, Elizabeth Forward, East Allegheny, West Mifflin and West Jefferson Hills.

As part of opening the schools, Propel officials have had to fight legal battles with public school boards that don't want the competition of a charter school or with municipalities that try to block the schools.

Created by a 1997 state law, charter schools are tuition-free independent public schools funded by public school districts, based on how many district children attend. But many public school districts, concerned about the funding drain and other issues, have tried to challenge the creation of charter schools.

The McKeesport Area School District tried to block Propel from coming to the city, but the Pennsylvania Charter School Appeal Board ruled in favor of Propel in 2004.

McKeesport officials challenged that decision but, last December, Commonwealth Court ordered McKeesport officials to grant Propel a charter to keep its school open.

Parents who attended the ground-breaking wore "I love Propel" buttons. They were enthusiastic and sometimes emotional cheerleaders for a school they believe offers an important educational choice.

Jeanine D'Amico, of White Oak, dabbed her eyes with a tissue as she listened to the speakers. She has two children in the McKeesport Propel school, which, she thinks, is vastly superior to public school.

"I wanted private schools, but could not afford it. Charter schools are the next best thing," she said.

"I just hope they build a high school," she said.

Recounting the history of the old school and its parish, Father Litavec said St. Mary Czestochowa was founded in 1893, in the days when Slovaks, Germans and Croatians operated their own churches and schools in the then-bustling community of McKeesport.

In 1899, the Felician sisters, a Polish religious order, came to McKeesport from Coraopolis to teach at the school and live in the convent next door, he said..

The school, which was built in 1935, served a dual purpose; parishioners worshiped in its basement for many years until their present-day church was built in the early 1950s.

"I got married downstairs [in the school] in 1949," said Jane Potemra, of Elizabeth Township, one of the people at the ground-breaking event.

In 1979, the school became Central Catholic, a consolidated parochial elementary school. When it closed in 2002, the Felician sisters left.

Holy Family Institute has been leasing space in the school since then to run a day school.

Now it is Propel's turn.

Father Litavec said parishioners were happy that there will be many little children in the neighborhood, across the street from the stone church where they worship.

For more information about Propel Schools, go to www.propelschools.org.