SVRCS Hearings End

Vote on Future Months Away

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP–The final hearing for the Sugar Valley Rural Charter School took place Tuesday night, a series that began in March of this year. And according to information Tuesday a Keystone Central school board vote on the Loganton school’s future likely won’t come until sometime in early 2016.

With no more witnesses to be heard the next step is to allow for a 30-day public comment period. The public has until October 15 to submit comments to the school district. The school district then has until November 30 to submit their reviews and another 30 days of review for Sugar Valley. The school district then has 30 days again for a rebuttal.

It’s not clear when exactly the board will make its decision due to the new year; however it’s possible the vote will take place on February 4, during the school board meeting.

Tuesday’s hearing heard three witnesses from the school district and Sugar Valley about state-required clearances for charter school professional staff.

Barbara DiMarino, an independent consultant hired by the school district, said, “I do not believe the charter school is complying with the school’s charter.” She continued, “75% of charter school teachers needed to be certified, and they were not.”

Testimony was also given by William Deavor, Sugar Valley’s Administrative Coordinator, who confirmed that teachers at Sugar Valley had been performing outside of their certifications. Deavor said, “On behalf of the school we were all under the impression that this situation was appropriate and it wasn’t until some conversations that we realized that we were in error with the current situation.” Deavor continued, “However, any time we ever had any conversation about certifications that these issues were never brought forward to our attention. So our assumption was that we were in compliance with state law.”

It was indicated emergency clearances have been obtained as official clearances are being awaited for Carrie Nixon, director of the school’s support services since 2004.

Kelly Hastings, Superintendent for Keystone Central School District was the last to give testimony. Hastings gave a PowerPoint presentation that displayed many of the academic and extracurricular activities offered by the school district. .

Hastings said, “One thing I think is nice about these classes is how close they relate to the real world.”