New Charter School Saved by Opening Bell
St. Mary's First Such Facility Opens Against Some Odds

By Matt Zapotosky
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 26, 2007

About 160 students arrived for classes at St. Mary's County's first charter school last week, only a few days after a group of 100 parents and volunteers worked feverishly to furnish the building.

A faint odor of fresh paint was still in the air Wednesday morning at Chesapeake Public Charter School in Lexington Park -- a sign of just how close to the opening bell construction crews finished their work.

Actually, they were not quite done. Access to the third floor was blocked with tape and a large wooden board, and the media room was almost void of supplies.

But the classrooms were full of desks, chairs and backpack cubbyholes, and the teachers had laminated nameplates for their doors. The third floor, school officials said, was not meant to be used right away.

"I'm elated," said Ange Funya, a founding member of the charter school and now a curriculum consultant. "It's been a roller coaster. We finally reached the endpoint."

"Roller coaster" was a term used by many to describe the process that led to the charter school's opening. In the months leading up to its first day, the school lost its education director, or principal, and a tour and an open house had to be canceled so construction crews would have more time to work. Those crews put in significant time after hours to make sure the classrooms would be ready for students Wednesday, said Tom Watts, the owner of the building on Great Mills Road.

"To be able to stand out on the sidewalk and see a bunch of classrooms and teachers and kids is very rewarding," he said. "People went so far beyond the norm to make this happen."

Charter schools are independently run but operate within local school systems. Local school boards decide whether a school can open and provide much of the funding, based on enrollment. Maryland will have 30 charter schools this year, including Chesapeake Public Charter School.

Even St. Mary's school board member Cathy Allen, who has been critical of the St. Mary's charter school in the past, said that the building "turned out beautifully" and that she was "pleased to see it open and ready." But she questioned the school's ability to raise funds for its second year of operation, adding that she wished its leaders had waited a year to open.

"They still need a director. There are still pieces that are not ready and won't be ready for a while," she said. "I think sometimes more time is a good thing."

Charter officials said that they have raised enough money for their first year, and that they have $14,000 of their $80,000 goal for the second year. That is a significant amount because fundraising for the second year started just last month, said Julia Nichols, president of Chesapeake Charter School Alliance, which solicits private contributions for the school.

"I'm quite confident that we'll be able to keep fundraising," she said. "Now we're open, and we're running, and the kids are in school. So I think people are going to realize, 'Well, now that it's really happening, I don't mind backing it.' "

Opening day brought a number of St. Mary's County public school officials, politicians and even Capt. Glen Ives, the commanding officer at Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

Others touring the school Wednesday included School Superintendent Michael J. Martirano, Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. (D-St. Mary's), Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-St. Mary's) and St. Mary's County Board of Commissioners President Francis J. "Jack" Russell (D-At Large).

"The charter school in St. Mary's County is destined for success," Martirano said. "We are feeling very, very good right now."

But teachers and students at the school seemed less interested in the magnitude of the event than they were in the usual first-day activities. As first- and second-grade teacher Kim Weaver tried to coach her students to write the date -- "August 22, 2007" -- the kids seemed more concerned with fitting it on one line than pondering its importance to education in St. Mary's.

"It's just the first day of school to them," Weaver said.

Standing in line for the bathroom, though, Weaver's students got a reminder of just how new their school is.

"Remember, the walls have just been painted," Weaver said to a few students leaning against the spotless white surfaces. "It's a brand-new place, and we have to help keep it nice and clean."