City's oldest charter schools are thriving, but only 1 of 3 meets federal standards
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Darrell Sapp Post-GazetteMaurice Barron, 8, a third-grader at Manchester Academic Charter School on the North Side, has his hands full as he switches classes.
Click photo for larger image.
While Pittsburgh Public Schools struggles with too many empty seats, the city's first three charter schools are at or near capacity, with waiting lists of hundreds of students.
Officials at the three schools -- Manchester Academic Charter School on the North Side, Northside Urban Pathways Charter School in Downtown's Cultural District and Urban League of Pittsburgh Charter School in East Liberty -- say that some parents and mainstream public school officials remain skeptical of charter schools, which first opened in Pittsburgh in 1998.
But so many parents are looking for an alternative to regular public schools that the area's first charter schools don't need to do much advertising. Word of mouth spreads quickly enough.
Combined, the three schools have 600 students.
"It gets better and better, and our waiting list gets larger and larger," said Vasilios Scoumis, chief executive officer of Manchester Academic Charter, which has a waiting list of about 200. "The more we keep performing and the more we offer opportunities, the more parents find out about us and consider us."
Manchester Academic is the only one of the three that performed well enough on state math and reading tests given in the spring to meet the adequate progress standards under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. About two weeks ago, Urban League was given a warning, the first step, and Northside Urban Pathways was placed in School Improvement I, the next step, which provides for school choice.
Under state legislation passed in 1997, charter schools are independent public schools authorized by the school district in whose territory they are located. By law, districts must pay charter schools for each student they enroll from that district.
More than 100 charter schools, including 11 cyber charter schools, now serve more than 40,000 children in Pennsylvania, according to the state Department of Education.
First Published October 3, 2005 12:00 am
