Frank DeVito. Item File Photo
By Gayla Cawley
LYNN — Plans for a proposed second charter school in the city are still alive.
Equity Lab Charter School, led by Frank DeVito, has been invited to move onto the next stage of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education charter school process, where a full application would be submitted.
Equity Lab is a proposed grades 5 to 12 school, with a maximum enrollment of 640 students. DeVito said his intent is to request that the state extends his proposed opening date to 2018, as, if approved, the school would open next year. Equity would be focused on experienced-based learning, rather than textbook reading.
“We were excited because the state has a very rigorous process when they’re reviewing proposals,” DeVito said.
The founders of three proposed Massachusetts charter schools were invited to move on, along with another proposal, which would create a charter school network by opening another school under an existing board of trustees, of the Hampden Charter School of Science.
DeVito, a member of the Waltham-based Education Development Center’s National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools team, where he develops, implements and tests new ways to boost effective practices in high schools, submitted his proposal, along with four other groups. The department also received a letter of intent for an additional charter from the board of trustees of the Hampden Charter School of Science.
Other finalists are for the Map Academy Charter School, which is a competency-based high school model for students between 15 and 23 from Plymouth, Carver and Wareham, and Old Sturbridge Academy Charter Public School, a K-8 system with students from Sturbridge, Brimfield, Brookfield, Holland, Monson, North Brookfield, Palmer, Southbridge, Spencer-East Brookfield, Wales and Webster.
Final applications are due to the state department by Nov. 1. Once applications are received, the state education department staff and external review panelists will evaluate each proposal. Public hearings will be held in the areas where founding groups have proposed opening their schools. Mitchell D. Chester, elementary and secondary education commissioner, will then make his recommendation to the board, and a vote will be held at their February 2017 meeting.
“I appreciate the hard work each of the applicant groups has done to get to this point,” Chester said in a statement. “I will ensure the final applications are rigorously reviewed. We will hold public hearings and consider public input before I decide whether to recommend a charter for any of the proposals.”
DeVito and his team were finalists in a national competition to redesign the American high school, the XQ Super School Project challenge, but failed to win a $10 million prize towards the proposed charter school.
If the school is approved, the state would provide DeVito $800 per student to lease or purchase space. For the first year, he anticipates 160 students, as he expects to serve grades 5 and 6, expanding by one grade each year, which would result in an initial $128,000 from the state. The new school would receive $2.1 million from Lynn Public Schools, or $13,233 per student who switches schools.
DeVito said he would still have to raise about $250,000 for the school to launch and is applying to foundations to make up the difference.
Equity Lab, if approved, would face competition from KIPP Academy, the only other charter school in the city.
City officials have said that charter schools provide choice for parents, but take money away from traditional schools.
DeVito and his team are providing a Family Information Night on Oct. 12 and 25 at 6:30 p.m. for families interested in learning more about the school. The sessions will be held at Building Bridges Through Music, located at 140 Union St., Suite 209.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.
