School board approves charter school application

Thursday, Jan. 19, 2006

The first charter school in the county could open as early as the fall, following the school board’s approval of an application from a Fort Washington school earlier this month.

Potomac Public Charter School, which first submitted an application in 2004, will began negotiations with the school board on Feb. 6, in hopes of opening its doors in the fall, said Deborah Driver, president of the school’s board.

‘‘We’ll be one additional choice for a quality public school education,” Driver said.

The Prince George’s County School Board denied Potomac Charter’s application for two years. Potomac Charter’s first application failed because the county didn’t have an application review process in place. Established in 2004, the county’s application review board ultimately rejected Potomac’s second application.

Driver said that she’s excited the board approved Potomac Charter’s application and is looking forward to opening the school’s doors.

Potomac Charter would serve students in Kindergarten through eighth-grade, Driver said. Driver said the school would focus on a college preparatory curriculum and that each student would be given an individualized academic plan tailored to his or her specific needs.

If approved, a charter school would be supported, in part, through county funds and staffed with public school teachers. Unlike traditional public schools, however, charter schools have private boards that help chart the direction of each school. The county school board approved the application of Lincoln Charter School last year. But the school, which was slated to open in Marlow Heights, wound up suing the school board because, under a court ruling, Lincoln Charter would not receive the same per-pupil funding as traditional public schools.

The county maintained that charter schools should be responsible for expenses like transportation and maintenance.

If approved, said John White, a spokesman for the school system, Potomac Charter would be ‘‘another innovative option for students.”

White said that the applications of three other public charter schools have also been approved. Those schools are Hyde Turning Point, EXCELL Academy, and Imagine Foundations.

Potomac Charter will negotiate a number of items with the school system, such as building location and the amount of funding per pupil from the county, White said.

Fort Washington activists Moe Thomas said he was thrilled to learn that Potomac Charter’s application had been approved.

‘‘I think charter schools are necessary and long overdo,” said Thomas, 84, whose daughter was among the first wave of children to integrate Fort Washington’s public schools system more than 50 years ago.

Driver said she’s optimistic that a contract would result from the negotiations and that the school would open in August.

‘‘We’ve worked hard on this dream of a quality public charter school and we’re happy that it’s finally coming true,” Driver said.

E-mail Lester J. Davis at ldavis@gazette.net.