When: Coatesville Area school board meeting, April 28.
What happened: Parents, students and teachers came to the meeting hoping to save the Coatesville Cyber Academy but discovered the board had voted to end the program two weeks earlier.
Background: Coatesville Cyber Academy was started five years ago. Drew Steiner, a teacher in the program, said that an email went out to families of students attending the program. It indicated the issue would be voted on at the April 28 meeting, and there would be an opportunity for them to comment at that time.
However: At the conclusion of the April 14 committee meetings, the board held a short, special meeting when board members approved contracting with the Chester County Intermediate Unit for students to attend the Brandywine Virtual Academy as part of the consent agenda. Brandywine Virtual Academy will replace the district’s in-house Coatesville Cyber Academy.
Why it’s important: Steiner said Coatesville’s academy has 205 active students. He does not believe these students will switch to Brandywine but will instead choose cyber charter schools.
The cost: Steiner said that if the students do choose to go to cyber charter schools next school year, 47 students with individualized education plans would cost the district almost $2 million, while 172 regular education students would cost over $2.5 million.
Quotable: “We’ve invested five years in this program, and now we’re just pushing it out the door,” Steiner said.
Other happenings: The board approved contracts for the second phase of the North Brandywine Middle School project. The lowest responsible bids were the following: general construction from Tester Construction Group LLC of Bala Cynwyd, $54.26 million; electrical from Boro Construction of King of Prussia, $8.2 million; mechanical construction from Tri-County Mechanical Inc., of Coopersburg, $8.44 million; and plumbing from Myco Mechanical Inc. of Telford, $3.46 million.
Lower than estimated: David Schrader of Schrader Group Architects said that the total bids are below the $77 million in hard costs the district has budgeted for the project.
Board vacancy: As of this meeting Donna Rowland, board member representing Region 1, has resigned. A notice will be posted on the district website with directions on how interested residents may apply to fill that vacancy.
Next meeting: The board meets next on May 12.
