MARBLEHEAD – Twenty years ago, the founder of the Marblehead Community Charter Public School received death threats and was driven out of town for her efforts.Monday, the school welcomed state education officials and representatives of charter schools throughout Massachusetts with songs, student presentations and a 20th anniversary celebration.”Twenty years ago, charters were an untested experiment,” Massachusetts Secretary of Education James Peyser said Monday.But Peyser also noted that experiment wasn’t over. “We know charters work. Unfortunately, the controversies remain. As enrollment and demand climbs, expansion is hitting a wall.”Marblehead Community Charter Public School opened with 137 students in grades 5 to 7 in August 1995 as one of the first charter schools in the state following the 1993 Education Reform Act. Today the school has 230 students in grades 4 to 8 and a 200-student waitlist. Like all charter schools in the state, MCCPS must have its charter renewed every five years, This year, it was selected to host the annual charter presentation ceremony, welcoming Peyser, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Mitchell Chester, charter school representatives and alumni as 19 schools were awarded renewed charters and two schools received their first charter.But as Chester said, “it’s not that this was a smooth ride the whole way.”MCCPS Head of School Nina Cullen-Hamzeh told the guests that in 1995, she decided to join the faculty of a school “that existed only on paper” and amidst so much local opposition that the founder received death threats and was driven out of town. But like the Marblehead fishermen who rowed Washington across the Delaware River, the founders “started a revolution that has changed education in our state,” Cullen-Hamzeh said.Now Peyser said that Massachusetts charter schools are the envy of the country. Yet there is a statutory cap on the number of new charter schools, and the demand far outweighs supply.”We have the best charter schools in the country and the most restrictive laws,” Peyser said. “We need to continue to give the opportunity for excellent, enriching public education that (children) so deserve.”And the education at MCCPS was on full display, as students displayed their work and talents to attendees before and during the ceremony.Fourth grade student Drake Wyman showed off the Chinese dragon he made out of folded paper and shared his persuasive essay arguing that a dragon would not be a good pet.”It would smash everything and burn everything,” Wyman explained.Students also performed songs and written monologues where they portrayed historical figures from the Renaissance, and welcomed visitors in French, Spanish and English.And alumni of the 20-year school shared what – years later – their charter experiences meant to them.”This building was so influential for me,” said Jeff Jorge, MCCPS ’98, Buckingham Browne and Nichols ’02, University of Pennsylvania ’06 and Vanderbilt University Peabody College ’14. “After all of that entire educational journey, what was most important was this place.”