Fenix head: Give me a chance

LYNN – When it comes to education Frank DeVito, who is seeking to open The Fenix Charter School in Lynn, is a rabble-rouser.”I feel like I had to become a charter to speak up,” he said.DeVito said it’s unacceptable for people, particular community leaders, to simply say “I don’t believe in charter schools.””Then what is the viable solution?” he asked. “Then come up with a viable solution to what I’m calling the civil war.”His civil war doesn’t stop with public schools. DeVito also said, “I feel my job is to make charter schools uncomfortable.”His concept of education is fairly simple: Project-based lessons that connect students to the real world. His vision includes students engaged, bandying about ideas and conducting research on how to solve real time local problems rather than getting lost in a textbook.”I thought it would be great to have a school that would connect kids to the real world,” he said.He said he also thought that is why it would be perfect to have the school in the JB Blood Building on Wheeler Street where a large part of the building is unoccupied and students would have access to the downtown area.DeVito, an educational consultant whose resume includes advanced degrees from Boston University and Boston College, came under fire when he listed 20 Wheeler St. in the Fenix School application to the state. Economic Development and Industrial Corporation Executive Director James Cowdell, who has jurisdiction over the building, told the state during a public hearing that he had no lease with DeVito nor did he anticipate there being one.”Jim is right. There is no lease but the DOE (Department of Education) knows we can’t have a lease because we’re a non-entity,” DeVito said. “We just had to demonstrate that there is a site we believe is promising. I never said we had a lease.”DeVito also took a lot of heat from Superintendent Catherine Latham and other school officials, including the principal of the Harrington School, where his children go, during the public hearing.”I was kind of heartbroken because I was the only parent at the forum who thanked the Lynn Public Schools for what they’ve done for my kids,” he said.The irony is also that he agrees with much of what Latham said during the hearing, he said.”She’s smart, she’s looking at the end game,” DeVito said. “If you look at places like New Orleans, where it’s all charterized, it’s not good because there is no mechanism to assure equity.”Charter opponents argue that the non-traditional public schools suck money away from the traditional public schools without facing the same rigorous oversight by the state, and there is an inequity regarding the number of English language learners and special needs students.DeVito didn’t disagree. He said there needs to be more equity but he believes he has the answer. The trick, however, will be getting The School Department, School Committee and City Council to support the plan.DeVito’s ultimate idea is to create a network of schools that would pull the LPS, KIPP and the private Catholic schools all under one umbrella where best practices would be shared as well as resources and even revenues.He said he believes revenue sharing is encouraged under the state’s Education Reform Act and though it might be a popular idea in the charter district it should be examined.The state has a website where best practices developed by charter schools are meant to be shared with public school officials but DeVito called the idea laughable.”A website is ridiculous,” he said. “You have to see it in practice.”He would like to see charter schools host professional development days where particular lessons can be demonstrated and conversations can be led.He also believes in extended-day learning so kids have time to participate in drama and music programs as well.”If we had kids go through eight years of that kind of program, wouldn’t you have a great graduate?” he asked.When asked why he hasn’t embraced the KIPP model rather than open his own schoo