Judge denies Graystone Academy’s motion for stay

Charter school wanted charter revocation put on hold so it could reopen

Updated at 6:50 p.m. to add material from judge’s opinion 

By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times

A Commonwealth Court judge on Thursday denied a motion by an embattled South Coatesville charter school to stay the revocation of its charter pending an appeal.

Graystone Academy Charter School had hoped to resume classes on Aug. 26 while it attempts to persuade the appellate court that the Coatesville Area School District erred in its November 2011 decision to revoke Graystone’s charter, a decision affirmed on July 30 by the Pennsylvania Charter School Appeals Board.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert “Robin” Simpson, who heard about an hour of argument on the issue during a teleconference on Tuesday, issued a 10-page opinion in which he denied the request. Without a stay, officials have said the school cannot reopen since it has no charter, a situation that affects more than 200 students.

In the opinion, Simpson wrote that Graystone failed to dispute three key findings by the appeals board: nine material violations of its charter, “subpar student performance scores,” and “late-filed audit reports.” The judge agreed with the school district that “any one of the three primary findings” constitutes grounds for charter revocation, making the charter school unlikely to prevail on appeal.

“Arguably, granting a stay would subject the students of the charter school to another year of substandard education and delay their educational advancement,” the judge wrote.

Ken Kilpatrick, a spokesman for Graystone, said the five-member board was reviewing the opinion and was “expected to issue a statement shortly.”

A statement from the Coatesville Area School District said the judge’s conclusion was predicated on the fact that “Graystone could not establish a strong showing that it is likely to prevail on the merits of its appeal … and thus, was not entitled to a stay.”

The statement said all Graystone students and parents will be contacted in the coming days and informed of this final ruling by the appellate court, and it said the district will work with them to ensure that each student is timely enrolled and appropriately placed for the 2013-2014 school year.

“The Coatesville Area School District welcomes these students with open arms and looks forward to long-term productive and successful academic relationships and outcomes with these returning members of the Coatesville family,” the statement said.

Anyone having questions or comments regarding today’s announcements should contact the district solicitor, James E. Ellison, at 484-889-1921, the statement said.