Letter to the Editor: Seven Gen Expresses Support for School District

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

As members of the (SGCS) community, we would like to express our support for the East Penn School District in their work to provide all children of East Penn with a stellar education. As a public school, we are fully aware of the difficulties and stresses that all educational institutions are facing in this economic and political climate. With our collective attention focused on the upcoming Pennsylvania primaries on May 17, we want to make clear the following:

• We support public education as a core American value, and as a cornerstone of democracy. We stand against any policy or political movement that seeks to weaken or destroy the public education infrastructure of our communities.
• We support children—the future of our communities, our nation, and the world--and the policies and decisions that meet their needs and help grow their intellectual, social, and citizenship capacities.
• We support teachers as the cornerstone of education: we value their work, their professional commitment, and their expertise, and we feel that supporting teachers is an essential component of any attempts at educational reform.
• We affirm the commitment of Seven Generations to being an asset and a robust community partner in the larger East Penn and Lehigh Valley communities. Our mission is to enhance the educational options available within the public school system.

We are proud to have our charter issued by East Penn School District, one of the strongest school districts in the region, and we seek collaborative opportunities to build even stronger communities through shared commitment to educational and institutional excellence.  

Sincerely,

Facts about Seven Generations Charter School, submitted by SGCS

• Seven Generations Charter School is a bricks and mortar school, located at 154 East Minor St in Emmaus, PA.
• CHARTER SCHOOLS are PUBLIC SCHOOLS, and SGCS is no exception.
• SGCS is chartered for K-12 by the East Penn School District under the Charter School Law of Pennsylvania.While SGCS is open to all students in our community, first preference given to children in the East Penn School District.
• SGCS does not discriminate in its admission policies or practices on the basis of intellectual ability, athletic ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, status as a person with a disability, proficiency in the English language, or any other basis.
• No child has ever been expelled from SGCS, for any reason.
• SGCS has 265 students in K-5, who hail from 24 different school districts in the region. Our plan is to add a grade every year until we reach 12th grade.
• 110 of our students are currently from the East Penn School District (less than 50%).
• SGCS has student waiting lists for every grade.
• Although PA charter school law only requires 75 percent of teachers at charter schools be certified, over 90 percent of SGCS teachers are certified.
• SGCS has an equal percentage of students (12.45%) with special needs IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) in our student body as the other schools in East Penn (~13%).
• Charter schools must meet the same state-mandated education standards as other public schools but with reduced financial resources .
• Our funding is provided by each students home school district, and consists
  of approximately 80% of their calculated per student expenditure. So, for example, we currently receive approximately $8,536 from East Penn for each of the EPSD students who are enrolled at SGCS. This figure is 80% of EPSD’s per-student expenditure of $10,670. East Penn retains the balance.*
• The cost of our school to the East Penn School District represents less than 1% (approximately 0.77%) of their budget.*
• The educational innovations we offer include an experiential, project-based curriculum that promotes mutual respect, creativity, sustainability, and hands-on service learning in nature and the community as well as in the classroom.
• We believe that robust public education is essential to our democracy and to the future of our nation.
• We are committed to being an asset to the community, and a valued entity within the EPSD.

*Extrapolated from the EPSD budget with SGCS EPSD enrollment figures