May 28, 2013 2 min read

The Observer-Reporter was neither when it penned its op-ed entitled “Wanting public money, but not the accountability.” The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School has been at the forefront of advocating for increased accountability and transparency among charter and cyber-charter schools for longer than a half-decade. Just a bit of basic reporting would have uncovered that, but apparently hyperbole ruled the day.

In spite of the fact that the Legislature has not yet adopted the heightened reforms we’ve requested, we stand by our principles, providing public information requested through the state’s Right-to-Know Law to whatever entity requests it. In all my time at PA Cyber, I can recall one instance in which a Right-To-Know request was denied and went unappealed. Again, basic reporting was ignored.

The Observer-Reporter references a claim by Washington School District Superintendent Roberta DiLorenzo to have requested information from our school, but failed to contact PA Cyber for a full account of the story. In fact, the request was not made through the Right-To-Know law, nor did it represent an attempt to secure information that is in the public record. The superintendent merely made the request in a desperate attempt to recoup the public money that travelled with the 60 students who exercised their choice to leave her school for better options at ours.

The Observer-Reporter leaves something to be desired in its power of observation, as well. A quick look at the law reveals that Pennsylvania’s public charter and cyber charter schools are already educating their students for approximately 30 percent less than their counterparts in traditional public schools. That hardly backs the newspaper’s premise of the entire op-ed.

Michael Conti

Midland

Michael Conti is the CEO of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School.