Saugus to hold public hearing on charter school proposal

SAUGUS – A new charter school may be coming to Saugus next year, and the Department of Elementary and Second Eduction is holding a public hearing for input from residents.According to a press release from the department, the Pioneer Charter School of Science, based in Everett, is looking to open two additional schools that will service Saugus, Lynn, Peabody, Danvers, Salem, Woburn, Stoneham, Medford, Melrose and Wakefield.The public hearing will be held at the Saugus Library on Monday, Dec. 10 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.School Committee Chairman Wendy Reed said she still has to look into the specifics of the proposed school, but noted a charter school in town could serve as another option for parents.?I do believe that parents should be able to shop around,” she said. “In a way it just promotes Saugus schools even more. If they go to the presentations and go to the open houses, a lot of the private schools and these charter schools, you?re not going to get the same offerings as Saugus Public Schools. A lot of parents have come back to Saugus and they?ll tell you, they just don?t offer it.”However, Reed said the proposed school could draw away some of Saugus? more science-minded students.?The one here is focused on science and that kind of concerned me because Saugus High, as you know, we have outdated science labs and that may attract kids going into that field if they have state of the art science labs,” said Reed.According to Reed, charter schools fall under the Department of Education and, unlike with private schools, the School Committee would have no involvement.?Private schools in Saugus need School Committee approval on their curriculum,” said Reed. “Charter schools do not. They get it directly from the Department of Education. Charter schools tend to be smaller class sizes and it?s said that more money goes toward education than to personnel. Now, do I know that to be true? No. I don?t know enough to say that?s a fact.”Charter schools are independent public schools that operate under five-year charters granted by the commonwealth, according to the Department of Education website.The website states that once the Board of Education has awarded a charter, the new school has the freedom to organize around the core mission, curriculum, theme or teaching method described in the application. Furthermore, the website states a charter school is allowed to control its own budget and hire and fire teachers and staff. In return for this freedom, the website states a charter school must demonstrate good results within five years or risk losing its charter.School Committee member Arthur Grabowski said he was “very wary” of a charter school coming to Saugus because it could “take away from our schools.”?It?s going to be like cherry-picking,” said Grabowski. “They?re certainly not bound by the same financial and legislative constraints that we are. They seem to do real well, but at the expense of the regular public schools that have to maintain state and federal mandates that these people have to deal with. The biggest one is teachers? contracts. They don?t have any unionized teachers.”In addition to the hearings, members of the public can submit written comments until Friday, Jan. 4, to: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, c/o Charter School Office, 75 Pleasant St., Malden, MA 02148 or by email to [email protected] Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].