Judge lets school, suit proceed

Sorry, I missed this in my re-entry back from vacation. Worthy of a late post, however.

So the Gloucester Community Arts Charter School will be allowed to open next week. However--and this is a big 'however'--the lawsuit filed by Gloucester residents regarding the process of approving the school is also allowed to go forward.

Judge Richard Welch III also refused to dismiss the parents' lawsuit and wrote that the plaintiffs "present considerable evidence" that the state education commissioner and Board of Education "blatantly ignored and violated state law when granting the GCA charter for political reasons."

While the judge held that he could not prevent the charter school from opening as there was not immediate harm (as the school is in its first year, it is 100% reimbursed by the state), he encouraged them to try again in January, when some of the funding for the school will come from the community rather than entirely from the state.
This being the season it is, there were immediate calls for Reville's resignation and statements issued by various sides.
If Judge Welsh should hold that communities are harmed by charter schools in their communities (once the funding is not 100% reimbursed by the state), one wonders where that leaves charter schools across the state.