For a few days last month, the Ambridge Area School District Web site was filled with arguments against the proposed Baden Academy Charter School and an online petition for those opposed to the school.

That material has since disappeared, and district Superintendent Erv Weischedel declined to comment this week on why it was posted or why it was taken down.

And, district administrators asked no questions at a Dec. 28 public hearing on the school's proposal.

"We are following the steps laid out in the charter school law," Dr. Weischedel said. He said the administration is preparing a presentation on the strengths and weaknesses of the proposals and will make a recommendation to the school board.

He would not say when the presentation would be made, however, and declined to offer initial thoughts on what it would say.

Charter school founder and spokesman Steve Catanzarite said he was disappointed by the lack of dialogue at the hearing.

"We welcome the tough questions," he said. "We're always looking for an 'i' we can dot or a 't' we can cross to get better."

Besides, if it comes down to an online battle, the charter school is not faring too badly; its Facebook page has yielded 250 pre-enrollments, more than the initial offering of 192 seats in the school.

"The response has been not exactly surprising, necessarily, but certainly gratifying," Mr. Catanzarite said.

The school is being designed around an arts-education model, blending the arts into all the curriculum to bring other subjects to life. Visual arts and music can be blended into history lessons, for instance, and there is a natural link between music and math. Literature can be brought to bear on science and social studies as well as reading and writing.

The school's board is proposing to offer full-day kindergarten to both 4- and 5-year-olds and to run through third grade -- though Mr. Catanzarite said pre-enrollments, are being assessed to make sure the offerings meet the demands.

The school is being proposed for the former Mt. Gallitzin school in Baden, which is in the Ambridge district. The Ambridge school board has to wait 45 days after the hearing before approving or denying the application and can wait as long as 75 days.

Based on the initial reaction and some public statements from Ambridge board members, Mr. Catanzarite is assuming that the board will deny the application. The charter school can then either revise and reapply or turn to the state Charter School Appeals Board, which can overturn the decision of the local board.

Mr. Catanzarite said he is pretty confident regarding the proposal's chances with the state board.

The school is being sponsored by the National Network of Digital Schools, a nonprofit spinoff of the Midland-based PA Cyber Charter School. It also is drawing on the expertise of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School, another PA Cyber spinoff.

Mr. Catanzarite is director of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland, which houses the Lincoln Park school, and works closely with officials from that school, National Network of Digital Schools and PA Cyber.

Those organizations offer some hard-knocks lessons along with educational expertise. In mid-decade, they faced media scrutiny, critical state legislators and an apparent investigation by the state attorney general's office, weathered it and are growing.

"One thing I learned from [PA Cyber founder Nick] Trombetta, whenever we face hard questions, he would say, 'This is great! What can we learn from this?' " Mr. Catanzarite said.

He said the main thing he learned from the hearings is that many people misunderstand the school's mission, regarding it as a school to teach arts. He said the point is the teaching, not the arts: "It's a school that integrates the arts into education."

He said the directors are planning a series of meetings with prospective parents to address their questions and ensure the concept is understood.

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