SusQ Cyber Charter School
History
In 1997, five local school districts met with members of the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (CSIU16) to discuss establishing a cyber entity. Three of the original five school districts approved the charter that created the SusQ-Cyber Charter School in 1998 (Berwick Area School District, Bloomsburg Area School District and Milton Area School District). In 2002, Pennsylvania Act 88 required all charter schools to be chartered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The overriding focus was for the school to deliver an educational program to primarily at-risk high school students who are trying to obtain their high school diploma. In 2003, the SusQ-Cyber Charter School was re-chartered as a public school district for grades 9-12 for an additional 5 years. For its first five years, the school was open exclusively to students in the CSIU16 region. In 2005, enrollment opened to all Pennsylvania students who met the residence and age requirements of Pennsylvania law.
Initially, the school provided courses that were not available in their traditional district's high school. Over time the program evolved to serve students who were underserved by the traditional local public schools. This included students who were pregnant and students who needed to work to support themselves, for example. Other students had medical problems such as auto-immune deficiency, cancer, or asthma that led to them missing a significant number of schools days, due to illness or therapy appointments. Another group of students were gifted. They sought cyber school after leaving their traditional schools to accelerate their studies. They may have entered college with advanced standing, but have a course requirement outstanding to earn their high school diploma. Some public school principals reported referring potential drop out to the school to finish their public education and earn a high school diploma.
SusQ-Cyber Charter School ceased operations effective 31 August 2022, citing declining enrollment as the reason for the closure. SusQ-Cyber was also facing non-renewal of their operational charter by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
See also
- Charter schools in the United States
- Notice of Charges in Support of Nonrenewal of Charter - SusQ-Cyber Charter School
References
- ^ National Center for Education Statistics (2014). "District Details 2011-2012 school year".
- ^ US News & World Report (2014). "SusQ-Cyber Charter School Overview".
- ^ National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data - SUSQ Cyber Charter School, 2012
- ^ Pennsylvania Department of Education (November 14, 2016). "Susq Cyber Charter School Performance report Fast Facts 2016".
- ^ Pennsylvania Department of Education (2014). "Cyber Charter Regulation". Archived from the original on 2014-03-25.
- ^ Susq-Cyber Charter School, Susq-Cyber Charter School Annual report, November 2008