Proposed West Easton school lacks defined partners

Feb 25, 2013 (The Morning Call (Allentown - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- When the founders of the first charter school proposed in the Wilson Area School District started searching for partners with an entrepreneurial spirit, they didn't need to look far to find Tony D'Angelo.

His traveling seminar, Rich Grad, which instructs people how to dream big and get rich, is based just two miles down the street in downtown Easton. Money talks, but most students are never taught to speak its language, D'Angelo says.

Founders of the proposed Business and Entrepreneurship Academy Charter High School in West Easton submitted an application to the Wilson Area School District in November that lists D'Angelo's organization and six others as agreeing to form a partnership with the charter.

But D'Angelo isn't sure exactly what that relationship would entail.

"I'm not that involved in it except from just an initial support," D'Angelo said. "I don't know what our level of commitment would be or could be." He isn't the only one. Five of the prospective partners listed on the school's application told The Morning Call they support the school's mission but aren't sure how they will be specifically involved. One potential partner couldn't be reached for comment and the final partner is landlord Abe Atiyeh, who would provide some level of financial backing for an incubator program.

Patricia Lear, whose Lear Educational Center in Wilson is listed as agreeing to offer reading support, is on the charter's founding board. She said she supports the school but was at a loss to describe what a partnership with her company would look like.

"In all honesty, I can't answer you on that," Lear said. "I don't know. I really don't know." The purpose of the overtures to D'Angelo, Lear and others was to get them in line for future consideration, said Joe Lewis, former Bethlehem Area School District superintendent and consultant for the charter's founding board. The partners are "waiting in the wings" until the charter gets approval, Lewis said.

"Nobody, nobody, is going to sign a partnership until a charter is granted," Lewis said. "It is highly dependent on a very successful CEO/principal to carry through on those." State law says school boards should reject charter proposals only if they have little community support, financial flaws, no building, or curriculum that is not materially different from the home district's.

When the Wilson Area School Board votes Wednesday on the school's application, it will have to decide whether undefined partnerships like D'Angelo's constitute enough to provide field trips, career fairs, job-shadowing opportunities, incubators and internships as the charter proposal suggests.

These are the only aspects of the charter school's curriculum that appear to be different from what's already offered at Wilson, said David Wright, the district's director of curriculum and instruction.

"All of those things, you're going to have to have business partners," Wright said. "I don't know how you would do that without them." Though the proposed West Easton school doesn't have defined partnerships, its founding board has 22 members from the regional business community, including entrepreneurs and CEOs. Its application included letters of support from entrepreneurs like Donna DeMarco, co-founder of Viddler, an online video hosting service based in Bethlehem.

DeMarco said she participated in a similar entrepreneurship program at Allentown's Lincoln Leadership Academy charter school, where she told students about her experience starting her own company. Students then developed their own business plans.

"It was an amazing transformation process just to watch these kids change and grow," DeMarco said.

She isn't listed as a partner for the West Easton charter school, but DeMarco said she would be willing to provide mentorship opportunities or whatever help the school needs.

Mark Lang, a founding board member whose business is listed as agreeing to form a partnership, said it's difficult to determine the school's needs before it's open. Organizers may "have to scramble a little bit more." But Lang, executive director of Charter Partners Institute, a business that develops curriculum for teaching innovation and entrepreneurship, said he's sure the school's initiatives are attainable.

The Wilson Area School Board will examine the partnerships when it votes on the charter at Wednesday's meeting, but board members need only look to Catasauqua for a cautionary tale about what can happen if a charter school doesn't secure the community partners promised.

The Medical Academy Charter School, which is supposed to prepare students for careers in medicine, opened in Catasauqua in August and has about 150 students. But the school never finalized agreements with its partners and has displayed little evidence of teaching medical curriculum, according to Robert Spengler, superintendent of the Catasauqua Area School District.

The Catasauqua School Board has given the academy 30 days to show improvement and 60 days to be in compliance with conditions set by the district. If those conditions aren't met, the board will consider beginning proceedings to revoke the academy's charter.

Wilson Area School Board President David Seiple said the Medical Academy's struggle to finalize partnerships is worth noting.

"We will no doubt add it to the discussion and decision-making progress," Seiple said.

Both the Medical Academy and the Business and Entrepreneurship Academy hired the same consultant, Harold Kurtz, to complete their applications to the host districts.

Atiyeh, who leases a building to the Catasauqua school, helped develop the idea for the Medical Academy, along with former Bethlehem Area School Board President Craig Haytmanek. The developer said Lewis approached him with the concept for the Business and Entrepreneurship Academy and the two men are the "brains behind it." Lewis said he was involved in creating the concept with a group of community members that also included Pastor Phil Davis, of Shiloh Baptist Church in Easton. Davis, chairman of the founding board, did not respond to calls seeking comment.

The business charter school's model has worked at the college level, said entrepreneur Gus Gustafson, who teaches a leadership development course at Lehigh University's Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation.

Gustafson's course pairs students with entrepreneurs and provides opportunities for the same experiential curriculum the West Easton school hopes to offer.

"I'm convinced that the model, if done correctly, can work exceptionally well," Gustafson said.

But while Gustafson is listed on the charter's application as agreeing to form a partnership for "mentoring" and for a "shark tank exercise," he said he was never asked to formally commit to the school.

"Perhaps it's too early for that yet," Gustafson said.

adam.clark@mcall.com 610-820-6168 ___ (c)2013 The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) Visit The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) at www.mcall.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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