Pocono Mountain Charter School's charter revoked

'Entanglements' with Tobyhanna church cited; appeal still possible

By Jenna Ebersole
Pocono Record Writer
June 05, 2014

More than 330 students could be looking for a new school — and their teachers for new jobs — after what may be the final step in a fraught charter revocation process ended in victory for the Pocono Mountain School District on Tuesday.

The district has fought the Pocono Mountain Charter School for about six years seeking shutdown, at a cost of at least $920,000 to the taxpayer for legal bills on both sides, a Pocono Record analysis found last month. The fight may be over after Tuesday's decision, pending another possible appeal by the charter school.

The state's Charter Appeal Board, which has been at the center of the battle for several years, voted unanimously Tuesday to revoke the charter. The vote was the board's third in as many years on the issue and confirmed a vote to revoke the charter last summer.

CAB will issue a written decision on the vote within the next few weeks, state Department of Education spokesman Timothy Eller said. But the board concluded that "excessive entanglement existed" between the school and its landlord, the Shawnee Tabernacle Church in Tobyhanna, he said.

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