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Schools

Charter School Pleads Its Case To Bristol Township School Board

School board has between 45 and 75 days to make a decision.

The founders of Excel Academy Charter School, along with a legion of representatives from American Paradigm Schools, held a public hearing Monday night with a quorum of board-members from the Bristol Township School District.

According to Excel's founders James Jones and Rev. Mel Howard, if approved, the Excel Academy Charter School will be the first charter school in Bristol Township.

Excel presentation included a 10-minute video showcasing American Paradigm's charter schools and philosophy.

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"Charter schools provide a choice; a choice for students, but also a choice for teachers … each charter school is the same, but also different," American Paradigm Schools Chief Executive Officer Stacey Cruise said.

American Paradigm Schools is the Philadelphia-based educational association behind both First Philadelphia Prep and Tacony Academy charter schools.

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Currently, the academy is planned to be a 12-month school, running for approximately 200 days a year, and is expected to enroll approximately 675 Elementary students, and 400 secondary students by its fourth year.

According to Jones, 75 to 80 percent of enrolled students will be from Bristol Township. Any remaining open slots will be be filled via lottery system to any child who applies, in or out of the township.

The Excel Academy is planned to be focused on "entrepreneurial education." Traditional education will coincide with business-themed classes like business ethics. In addition, students will be expected to have passports, and will have a heavy daily focus on the learning of international languages.

According to Cruise, each charter school under the American Paradigm umbrella has a specific theme which work to build specific traits.

In addition, the schools would work cooperatively in various facets. In a theoretical example given to the school board, Excel Academy's students would be required to draft a functioning business proposal, while students in the media arts centric Philadelphia First Charter School would take those drafted proposals and design the advertisements and commercials for them.

Both the founders of the American Paradigm School system and Excel Academy say they have received “tremendous support” from both the local community and businesses, as well as from elected officials including Governor Tom Corbett, 8th Congressional District Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, and Bristol Township Councilman Tony Tucker.

Tucker was in the audience for the meeting, but did not speak on behalf of himself, the charter school or township council.

Pennsylvania adopted the charter school law in 1997. According to the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, there are currently 154 charter schools in the Commonwealth with 90,000 enrolled students and a waiting list of more than 30,000 students.

PA's charter laws allow parents to "opt-out" of the traditional public education system. For every student that is sent to a charter school, the township the student was sent from is required to pay a set price out of its general funds to the charter school.

In the charter school's proposal, the township would have to pay approximately $12,450 per student to Excel Academy, which according to the school district's Business Manager, Gerald Barcik, is 32 percent higher than the cost per pupil currently in Bristol Township.

Despite the higher cost, co-founder James Jones sees the charter school as beacon to bring people into the township.

"Bristol Township is a hub," Jones said. "We want to provide a lure to bring people back into the township."

According to Jones, the school district as seen a decline in attendance in the past several years, a sentiment that Bristol Township School District Superintendent Samuel Lee said he vehemently disagrees with.

"(The school district's projections predict) 500 news students will enter the district steadily by 2018," Lee said. "People are staying here, people are choose our schools and people are receiving a good education."

Reactions from residents were mixed.

"Some of the keywords I've heard here tonight: reading, writing, arithmetic, standardized testing, career ready education, innovation, group work, positive environments, etc. -- welcome to Bristol Township schools," Bristol resident Sheila Beeman said.

While Beeman's statement received a roar of applause from those in attendance, including members of the school board, not everybody in the audience was against the idea of a charter school in the township.

"If the board decides to not approve the charter school, they would be denying those children who currently have no say, a choice or opportunity at success," Westley Retlzer said.

From the date of the hearing, the board has between Oct. 27 until Nov. 26 but no earlier, to reach a decision on whether to approve the school's charter for the 2012-2013 school year.

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