At a hearing regarding the future of Gillingham Charter School on Wednesday, five of its students took the stand to defend it.
“When I come to Gillingham, I get to learn a lot of things in an enjoyable fashion, and the way that works for me. At a lot of other schools. I don’t get to do that,” Mitchell Sabol said during the hearing, held at Pottsville Area’s Howard S. Fernsler Academic Center.
A 10th-grade student at Gillingham, he has attended the charter school since the start of this school year. Prior to that, he said he studied at 21st Century Cyber Charter School, Saint Clair Area and Tamaqua Area.
At Gillingham, he said he’s taking numerous courses, including Latin, and he’s been given the opportunity to teach a “debate class.”
“Are you teaching other students?” Christine Elizabeth Reilly, Mehanicsburg, an attorney for Gillingham, said.
“Yes,” Sabol said.
“Is that part of the curriculum that’s offered at Gillingham?” Reilly asked.
“It’s offered,” Sabol said.
“I enjoy learning at Gillingham because I’m not learning to learn what they want me to learn. At other schools, I learned so I would know what they’d want me to know. At Gillingham, I learn to know everything I can and am capable of knowing and to just get as much out of everything I can,” Sabol said.
Enoch Holbert, a 10th-grade student at Gillingham, said this is his fourth year at Gillingham. He said he likes “the atmosphere at school and the way that they teach.”
“What about the atmosphere makes you feel good about going there?” Reilly asked.
“It’s very friendly. It’s very nice. Everyone’s supportive,” Holbert said.
“And you said the way that they teach?” Reilly asked.
“Yes. The teachers like learning along with the students. Every class that we have is an experience. Everyone’s always learning,” Holbert said.
And Holbert said he believed people who weren’t familiar with the school might feel “uneasy” about its teaching philosophy.
“Tell me what you mean by that?” Ellen C. Schurdak, Bethlehem, an attorney for Pottsville Area, asked on cross examination.
“People hear about how we do narration and things like that when most people are used to their students going and writing things like book reports. It’s a different way to do things like that. When people hear about it and don’t know what it is, I think people are afraid of change and how it’s different,” Holbert said.
Savannah Crutchfield, an eighth-grade student at Gillingham, said she’s been a student there since the school opened in 2011.
“For someone who isn’t familiar with Gillingham Charter School, do you think there’s anything important that they should know about the school?” Reilly asked.
“I think it’s very interesting and different how our learning, like curriculum, is off of books and then once we read it we either narrate — which is telling back orally — or we write it down in our journals, or we can also draw it. Then it helps us remember. Instead of spitting out information we are able to think and just tell the teachers what we got from it. And they’ll help us elaborate on that,” Crutchfield said.
“Do you know what today’s hearing is about?” Schurdak asked Crutchfield.
“Yes,” Crutchfield said.
“What’s it about?” Schurdak asked.
“Gillingham’s charter renewal,” Crutchfield said.
“And what is that?” Schurdak asked.
“Getting our charter renewed. Every four or five years, we have to go to Pottsville or the state to get renewed so we can continue our learning experience,” Crutchfield said.
Other Gillingham students who testified Wednesday included: Kaya Wagner, a fifth-grade student, and Ela Cromis, a sixth-grade student.
On Wednesday morning, Michael A. Whisman, a certified public accountant with Charter Choices, Glenside, took the stand. He said Charter Choices has managed Gillingham’s finances since it opened in 2011.
And he said Pottsville Area has never made any monthly subsidy payments to Gillingham, forcing the charter school to get its funding directly from the state.
In April, Whisman explained how much that comes to. Gillingham’s budget for 2015-16 is $3,073,028. Of that, $2,789,912 is to be paid by the districts, and Pottsville Area is expected to pay $848,467.07.
“Did you ever correspond with anyone in writing at the school district requesting that the payment system be changed so that Pottsville Area School District was paying Gillingham Charter School directly?” Schurdak asked.
Whisman did not offer an immediate response.
“I’m going to represent to you that in the binders before you — and there are nine produced by the charter school — there is no such written communication,” Schurdak said.
“Certainly, verbal communication. I pause as I think back on my communications with Mr. Curran. I have in the past sent emails requesting the district to pay the charter school directly, yes,” Whisman said, referring to Stephen C. Curran, business manager for Pottsville Area.
“And do you have those emails with you today?” Schurdak asked.
“No,” Whisman said.
Looking ahead, the attorneys representing the district and the charter school were not sure Wednesday how many more hearings will be held in this series.
The next one is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. May 12 at the Howard S. Fernsler Academic Center. Another is scheduled to be held there at 9:30 a.m. May 19. And at the end of the day Wednesday, the attorneys discussed the possibility of adding yet another day of testimony.
“All counsel have been very cooperative in trying to coordinate witness and to cooperate with everyone else’s scheduling issues. I will also note for the record that the dates and times for this hearing were the first available dates and times that all counsel could be present, including myself,” the hearing officer, Marc S. Fisher, Allentown, said.