Lynn Prep proposal a school of hard knocks

LYNN – The Lynn Preparatory Charter school is one of 23 proposed new charter schools now being reviewed by the state’s Department of Education.But Mark Hathaway and Joanne Civitarse, the husband-and-wife team who hope to launch the school next September, have been here before, and, as a result, are braced for last-minute road blocks.Last winter, the LPCS – a K-7 extended-day school with small classes and a focus on bilingual education – won praise and a favorable recommendation from state Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester.But before LPCS made it to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Schools for a final vote, Chester abruptly withdrew his recommendation because of objections raised by the Lynn Superintendent Catherine Latham, who at the time said “private schools are not allowed to become charter schools, and that was the reason the commissioner rescinded the application.”Hathaway and Civitarse founded the Hathaway School in Swampscott in 2003. The school is a small private elementary program that serves mostly Lynn students.The couple had planned to shut the Hathaway School down and start LPCS from scratch.Public school opponentsBut the questions raised about private-to-public conversion were enough to convince Chester to withdraw his support and scuttle the school’s application for the 2010 school year.This time around, Hathaway and Civitarse are back with a new proposal, and have drawn a distinct line between the Hathaway School and LPCS.”If we are approved, the Hathaway School will continue on as it is,” said Hathaway, the school’s business manager – and janitor, bus driver and cook when needed.Both Hathaway and Civitarse, the school’s principal, would resign from their posts at Hathaway and move over to Lynn to head up LPCS. Lynn educators still see problems with the proposal.”It’s still a private-to-public conversion and that’s not allowed,” said School Committee member Vincent Spirito. “Private schools throughout the state will be watching this decision.”Spirito, who spent 40 years in public education, said he isn’t opposed to charter schools.He is a big fan of KIPP academy, Lynn’s high-performing charter school with a long waiting list of applicants, and he also believes that parents should have some choice.Enough resources?However, Spirito feels the LPCS has other problems in addition to the public-private controversy. Spirito said Lynn schools are able to educate the city’s 13,500 students because the system has 1,000 qualified teachers and the necessary resources.He agreed that LPCS’s plans for small classes, high academic standards and extended days are great selling points, but he hasn’t seen any evidence to convince him that the school will be able to attract the teachers, staff and materials needed to deliver on its promises.Hathaway acknowledges that charter schools often face steep hurdles.”In charter schools, teachers’ salaries are much lower, and there is a significant increase in hours,” he said.Education without limitationsBut both Hathaway, who gave up a successful practice as a certified public accountant, and Civitarse, who resigned her post as assistant superintendent of Haverhill Schools, said they have found plenty to make up for the serious pay cuts they took to pursue the dream of running a school designed to intellectually nurture kids.Like other charter school proponents, Hathaway believes the public school system is stacked against kids.”You can’t do anything without negotiating with the teachers’ union and a lot of what happens is decided by a gigantic central office system,” he said. “And there’s no accountability. In Lynn, two schools have been put on probation. If those were charter schools, they would have been shut down.”Civitarse said that LPCS would be able to respond to students needs without jumping through endless bureaucratic hoops.”The charter school movement has allowed me to re-enter public education without the shackles,” she said.If LPCS is approved, Hathaway and Ci