While Gloucester school parents and school officials continue to wait on the opening of a planned charter school that many say was wrongly approved amid missteps by the state Department of Education, another education department mixup is impacting a charter proposal in another Essex County city.
The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has confirmed that, because of a typographical error, it had incorrectly identified the Lynn Preparatory Charter School as seeking students from Salem as well as Lynn — a prospect that would have left four charter schools all recruiting Salem students.
But the proposed kindergarten to eighth-grade school is intended only for Lynn students, according to Mark Hathaway, one of the charter school founders.
"We will not be drawing from Salem at all," said Hathaway, also a founder of The Hathaway School, a private school in Swampscott. "After all our Lynn seats are filled through the lottery system, students from other towns can apply, but our drawing is from Lynn."
Three proposed charter high schools have filed proposals with the state to serve at-risk students from Salem:
The Salem School Department, which would open a downtown Salem Community Charter School to serve 100 students.
Road to Success Charter High School, which would serve 320 students from Salem and Lynn. (The group applied for a charter last year but did not get one. It has since removed Peabody from its proposal.).
Richard Milburn Academy, which wants to serve 250 students from Salem and Lynn.
The city of Salem already has one charter school, Salem Academy, which opened in 2004 and enrolls more than 300 students in grades six through 12.
Salem is affected by a new law impacting school districts with the lowest MCAS scores in the state. The education reform law, passed earlier this year, allows charter school spending to double in districts where MCAS scores are in the bottom 10 percent of the state, and Salem falls into that category.
Hathaway, whose group is applying to open Lynn Preparatory Charter School, currently operates The Hathaway School with his wife, Joanne Civitarese. Last year, Hathaway and Civitarese, who live in Ipswich, applied to open their Lynn Preparatory Charter School and made it to the final round.
Pulled recommendation
But Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester pulled his recommendation before the board voted because the state wrongly believed the founders would close the Hathaway School if the Lynn charter were granted.
"A private school cannot become a charter school," said Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokesman J.C. Considine.
Considine cited charter school regulations, which state that "private and parochial schools shall not be eligible for charter school status," and that private schools can't seek charter status for the "purpose of securing public funding."
Hathaway said he and his wife, however, have no intention of converting their private school, on Blaney Street in Swampscott, into a publicly funded school.
"We're physically bringing the school back to Lynn," Hathaway said.
Meanwhile, the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School — still wrestling with state and local building code issues — is targeting a Sept. 13 opening, two weeks behind the original date and two weeks behind the rest of the Gloucester public schools.
But the latest enrollment figures show that just about two-thirds of GCAS students committed to attending the new facility — opening in the former Cape Ann Medical Center building in Blackburn Industrial Park — will be drawn from Gloucester public schools.
That school's current planned enrollment includes two students from Rockport, two from Essex, two from Salisbury and one from Manchester, in addition to those who live in Gloucester but have previously attended parochial or private schools or other public schools under school choice.
Bacteria Keep Swimmers Off Some Fla. Beaches
Police: Houston Found Under Water, Unconscious
Sandusky Can See Grandkids, Have Local Jury
Obama Unveils $3.8 Trillion Budget
Raw Video: Israeli Embassy Car Attacked
Coroner: Don't Know Houston's Cause of Death Yet
Valentine Greetings Sent Worldwide From Loveland
Greek Austerity Measures Spark Riots
Raw Video: Obama Budget Goes to Capitol Hill
Arab League Wants U.N. Help in Syria
Nordic Festival Puts North Korea in Spotlight
'Rumor Has It' Adele's Rolling in the Grammys
Grohl, Grammy Nominees Cut Up on the Red Carpet
Greece Passes New Austerity Deal Amid Rioting
Raw Video: Greek Rioting Ahead of Austerity Vote
Raw Video: Child Rescued After Kosovo Avalanche
Pop Music Superstar Whitney Houston Dies at 48
Whitney Houston's Church Mourns Her Passing
Reaction to Houston's Death at Clive Davis Party
79 Turtles Seized at Shanghai Airport
