Peace at Last: KCSB Joins SVRCS Trustees and Okays New Charter
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – It appears the decades-old, contentious charter differences between the Sugar Valley Rural Charter School and the Keystone Central School District are over.
The Keystone Central school board on Thursday evening unanimously approved a “release and settlement agreement” between the charter school and the school district. The charter school board of trustees on April 21 had given unanimous approval to a new 5-year charter with Keystone Central. Sugar Valley board member Wayne Koch heralded the accord, stating he appreciated that there will be “peace in the valley.”
Immediately after the vote, the district released a statement offering some detail on the new agreement and the effort that led to the accord:
May 7, 2020
Sugar Valley Rural Charter School 5-year Renewal
Following the approval by the Charter Board of Trustees on April 21, 2020 and the successfully passed motions by the KCSD Board at a special voting meeting on May 7, 2020, the Charter has been officially renewed for a five year term beginning with the 2020-2021 school year.
After a failed motion to renew the charter for a five year term, both sides agreed to revisions to the charter. Several months of talks between leadership teams from the Sugar Valley Rural Charter School and the Keystone Central School District, has yielded a positive outcome and both sides have agreed to mutual terms.
The revisions in the agreement are mostly related to the operations of the Charter School and are directly aligned with the deficiencies that were uncovered by the report presented to the Keystone Central Board of Directors in December by independent consultant, Mr. Harry Mathias. There has been some disagreement between the two entities regarding a cap on overall enrollment of the Charter School.
Now there is clear language on an enrollment cap of 475 students and the Charter School will have two years to reduce their enrollment from 491 students to the new ceiling. Agreeing on an enrollment cap provides a better chance for the Charter School to improve their academic program with a manageable number of students and permits the school district to accurately predict tuition fees and the relief to know that they cannot infinitely expand.
